Europa Clipper detects solar outburst revealing space-weather forecasting blind spot

NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft has detected an unexpected solar event that reveals a potential blind spot in space-weather forecasting. On December 19, 2024, while en route to Jupiter’s moon Europa, the probe’s Plasma Instrument for Magnetic Sounding (PIMS) recorded a fast-moving solar wind with plasma that was hotter and less dense than typical for its distance from the Sun.

Principal investigator Adrienn Luspay-Kuti led an investigation to determine if the signal was an instrument error or a genuine environmental reading. After confirming the signal was real, the team analyzed data from 17 different spacecraft across the inner solar system. The findings, published in Science Advances, suggest the probe encountered structures associated with coronal mass ejections (CMEs).

This discovery highlights a gap in current forecasting capabilities, which could pose significant risks to future crewed space missions.