nds far enough out it can enter the satellites orbit and drag it downward. This situation occurred in 1979 and caused the premature fall of Skylab. Astronauts are also at risk during severe space storms. During a storm the astronauts could be exposed to protons that could penetrate their spacesuits. Some storms may be powerful enough to penetrate the space station walls. NASA monitors space weather data to inform and protect their astronauts from any dangerous weather. NASA will postpone or cancel any planned space walks and may order the astronauts to seek shelter in a shielded part of the space station if oncoming weather looks dangerous.Weather in space, similar to weather here on earth, is extremely variable. Conditions in space can go from being very calm to a severe storm in a matter of minutes. Space storms can last for hours or even days. Weather in space follows cycles similar to earth's weather that changes with the seasons. Solar magnetic activity is what causes solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CME), rises and falls every 11-years and geometric storms follow the same pattern. This space cycle goes from solar-minimum to solar maximum every 11-years. Space weather is also somewhat affected by the suns 27-day rotation period that causes streams of fast and slow solar wind to sweep past the earth.Space weather, is created by different processes than the ones responsible for creating weather on earth. Terrestrial weather is created by dense, electrically neutral gas in the earth's lower atmosphere that is shaped by the laws of thermodynamics and fluid dynamics. Terrestrial weather also results from the sun's radiation as it heats the earth's oceans, landmasses, and atmosphere. In contrast, space weather consists mainly of plasma. Plasma is a very sparse gas that consists of an equal number of positively charged ions and negatively charged electrons. These plasma particles are influenced by electric and mag...
