Nasa Issues Warning of Solar Superstorm 2012 - "One Billion Could Die!"

Originally posted by studio500
Yet in the below video David Morisson from NASA says that there is no threat from a solar flare.

So who is making this up?

It seems to me that Michio Kaku is always talking about extreme possibilities, once again he says perhaps......This guy is losing more and more credibility in my opinion. Dr Doom.

Check out the video around 2.45mins, who do you believe?

edit on 25-4-2011 by studio500 because: (no reason given)

I believe the intuitive thinker...not the stagnant old man.
Such is life. Such is the end of life.

reply to post by clearmind


I dont have to imagine big cities with power outages. I lived through the big east coast blackout of 1965 and another in the 1980's (dont remember which year specifically). I lived through the blackout in 2003 when hurricane Isabell took out power from North Carolina all the way to DC. All of these affected large metropolitian areas. Know what happened??? Some people had to make coffee on their charcoal grills !!! It was really terrible having coffee that tasted like smoke. One lady I worked with had an electric pump on a well. She had to take baths with bottled water. Horrible I tell ya. Soda without ice. You cant imagine the trauma from something like that. You get my point? We muddled through like we would if something like this occured. We'd have to rebuild power lines but we'd have the men to do it. They had power back in all the above situations in just a few days in most cases. With the hurricane some outlying areas were without power for a month because of the amount of trees and power lines down. But even they got their power back eventually. This wouldnt bring power lines down it would affect the transformers and relay stations and those could be brought back on line pretty quickly too.

I saw this story reported on the BBC lunchtime news around 3 months ago.

At the time, I thought it was rather odd to mention this on lunchtime news. The report was very matter of fact.
From my recollection, it was odd because it was talked about in a very passive way.

Along the lines of "Ah - so this type of solar event could knock us back to the stone age?"
"Yes. It would take us years to recover."

I watched the evening news in the hope for a little more info - and it wasn't reported whatsoever.

Either way - this is bound to happen eventually so there's no point worrying about it.

We've set ourselves up for a big fall with regards to our technological way of living. But hey - we've come from sticks and stones and I'm sure we're more than capable of recovery...

reply to post by Awolscout


The way to properly rate the threat of any event is to figure in two basic factors.

Factor 1 - How likely is it to actually happen over a reasonable period of time. The less likely it is to happen or the longer the period of time involved the less the threat.

Factor 2 - How serious would it be if it did happen. Obviously the less severe the less threat. But an event as severe as a global electronics and power grid killer has to rate high on the threat level chart even if the probability is low.

I, for one, would rather be prepared and nothing happens instead of not being prepared if it did happen.

Lets examine the effect such an event would have on various aspects of different systems.

1 - The Power Grid - It would be bad enough to lose the heavy duty high voltage transformers that could take months to years to completely replace. But we would also lose all the electronic and electrical controls at the generating and sub stations. In a coal, natural gas, hydroelectric, wind, or geothermal plant that would be just one more thing to add to the list of replacement parts needed. However, in a nuclear powered plant they would lose all ability to control the nuclear core and/or the used fuel storage tanks. There are a few reactors of more recent design that are capable of being self limiting as the temperature rises. But most reactors ABSOLUTELY MUST have a constant supply of water even after being shut down. And that is assuming they were actually shut down before the solar EMP wave hit. In either case we are looking at a large number of reactors going into meltdown mode.

2 - Transportation - All vehicles that depend on computers or other electronics like electronic ignition would be inoperative. While some of the older cars and trucks might be able to be recovered they would not be able to provide nearly enough transportation of people and goods to do any good. Also keep in mind that even really old cars with only spark coils would most likely have such coils burned out and have to be replaced. For newer vehicles that depend on high level electronics to operate there would be little chance of getting more than a very few of them back on the road.

3 - Food Supply - With transportation and computerized logistic systems fried the supply of fresh and canned/boxed food supplies would be completely stopped. I doubt that any large city has much more than a weeks worth of food on hand at any one time. Throw in the lack of police control and the looters would quickly wipe that out too.

4 - Hospitals - Most, if not all, hospitals have back up generators of sufficient size to keep urgently needed equipment running for a time. But I doubt that even the best equipped hospitals would have enough fuel for a week of generator operation. Keep in mind that they are just prepared for a general blackout such as would be expected from a storm or tornado. They would still be able to receive fuel deliveries for extended outages. But with a solar EMP there would be no re-supply trucks and even if there were they would have no way to pump the fuel into them at the terminals.

5 - Police and Fire Protection - Without power for communications equipment and no working vehicles they would be as useless as a newborn puppy. We would have no police protection from looters or any other criminals. Even if they confiscated bicycles they would still have no means of communication. The same goes for fire protection.

6 - Water Supply - Once the water towers were drained dry there would be no fresh water. Referring back to the fire protection issue; even if they could somehow get a pumper to your fire they would have nothing to pump. The only dependable water supply's would be natural artesian and hand pumped wells. Unfortunately those, for the most part, only exist in small rural communities.

7 - Where were you when TSHTF??? - Anybody at work or school too far from home to easily walk the distance would be stranded away from their home and family. I know many executive types who work 30 to 60 miles from home but very few who are in good enough shape to walk that distance under emergency conditions.

8 - Personal Security - Say you are one of the prepared ones and have food, cooking fuel, and water for several months. Unless you also have a high security underground bunker you will have to defend those supplies from the raiding gangs that will be an inevitable result of such a catastrophe. Even a fairly large family with plenty of weapons is no match for several hundred desperate and also armed raiders looking to steal your food and water.

OK, so the probability is pretty low. But the consequences of not being prepared are so dire that it is still something to be concerned about. Our politicians are too busy funding their pet contractors and projects so they can get kickbacks to be responsible and do what is needed to harden our electronic infrastructure against such an eventuality. You see; that won't get them votes and campaign funds for their re-election to their cushy jobs.

Actually, we can do things about it. Improvements to the powergrid and better emergency shutdown procedures could pretty much negate such an event. So people should worry about it, and make the necessary precautions.

I don't think we are in imminent danger of "1 billion dying," but better prepared than not.

reply to post by karen61057


You really don't understand what it would be like if an EMP event from terrorism or a solar flare hit. There would be no way to take care of basic necessities for months to years. Yes, they can fairly quickly rebuild power lines and such but there are not enough people or spare parts to rebuild a totally destroyed electrical and electronic infrastructure on a nationwide or international scale. Comparing storm damaged power lines to total destruction from an EMP pulse is like comparing apples to oranges; they are totally different situations.

The fear mongering and pre 2012 "we are all going to die is getting out of hand, maybe this ATS should change it name to TSHTF dot com....

Let think for a minute this WILL ACTUALLY HAPPEN, what can you do? can you live off the land for 4 to 6 years?
Can you fend off militias and landlords?

If no, dont worry, If YES why worry?

reply to post by kix


Actually this is just the kind of thing ATS is set up to cover. If that bothers you maybe ATS isn't the web site for you.

While I respect the opinions of others who disagree with me I also respect people who share that respect of other peoples opinions.

Nasa Issues Warning of Solar Superstorm 2012 - "One Billion Could Die!",

Would a moderator please change the title of this thread? NASA has issued no such warning, and they most certainly never said 1 billion people could die. Here is the official NASA statement about the solar maximum that is just getting started:

science.nasa.gov...

Basically in their eyes it's just another solar maximum, it's a constantly repeating pattern. And this one is a slow starting one at that. There's no NASA prediction of a "superstorm" or mass deaths.

reply to post by babybunnies


I still remember how to wash clothes by hand. I know how to light a fire and cook over it. I can even make candles. I know how to make soap. I can still read books by candlelight as I've done it before. Get a hold of some old old encylopedias from the 30's or 40's. They will give you a lot of information on how to do things by hand without electricity. Back then most electricity was used for lights and radios and not much more.

reply to post by circuitsports


Funny you should say that ,I hadn't done any exercise in 15 years, in the last six months I'm back down to my ideal weight and am fitter than i was when i was 18. Halfway towards your plan, only thing I need now is to watch a few Ray Mears videos. Flippant comment I know but it's as much as i can do to help me and mine along with putting a supply of food away.

I am really looking forward to 31/12/2012, so I don't have to listen to this # anymore. I suppose it's going to be the world ending in 2017 then. I thought the world was going to end at the end of the last Millenium?

Ah, that's better!

reply to post by Seekeye2


One billion could die....here is the link to the youtube video. Come on guys! If anyone at NASA actually said one billion could die then it would be all over the news.

What a perfect ploy for FEMA camps to come into play but I don't see it happening.

reply to post by tuttrup


I didn't post the video originally, it was someone else.

When that video was made we hadn't had the article's which cam out in 2010, therefore at best the video is yesterday's chip paper.

The fact that this information made it into the mainstream (Yahoo) in 2010, is enough to make me believe that the is a clear and present danger from this type of event, what's interesting is that nobody has saught to follow it up with a mainstream article about how this situation will be rebuffed.

Perhaps maybe because despite the severity of the warnings issued, it is perhaps an expsense too far presently, or maybe the finer details of how the scenario will be handled, are still yet to be riddled out.

Either way the threat is real, and is something the man in the video tried to play down.

Oh and I'm not talking about Nibiru or Elenin here, I'm talking about the solar maxim.

reply to post by heineken


in the worst case scenario...many people not knowing what the hack is going on will remain at home waiting for the elctricity to come back ..until..inevitable..hunger drives them out to the wild..not knowing what to do..what to eat..where is safe


Probably true but I thought immediatly about what occurs when the power goes out. On my block almost anyone who is home at the time comes outside to see if something local is responsible. Like a down power line or the power company working on a transformer or something.I've seen it several times. I go outside to see whats up and then I look across the street and Mrs Johnson is looking out her front door and Tootie next door is on her front porch. I think that people wont hunker down right away. They will go out and see what stores are open and working. (will generators work ??? I dont know.) If there is no way for anyone to get any news about the situation it could get ugly but again I dont think that will be the first thing that happens. I think that people will work locally to fix things and to find any information they could. If the army starts rolling into town with bull horns the chit will certainly hit the proverbial fan.

Appreciate it if some one could tell me what kind of damage a solar flare would do to electrical equipment including the parts it would most likely damage.

Originally posted by dizTheWiz
Appreciate it if some one could tell me what kind of damage a solar flare would do to electrical equipment including the parts it would most likely damage.

Go back a few posts and read my rather long post on the damage a solar flare or nuclear EMP would cause. It will answer most of your questions.

You can see it here - www.abovetopsecret.com...

This will happen I believe at some point. Would The dark side of the earth at the time of the event emerge unaffected by this??


P.s Morrison is on the cover up. His face doesn't look trustworthy to me. Just look at the thumbnail from his vid YouTube and tell me you trust him !!! Lol

I would take a wild guess that it would fine to break out the 'ol BBQ grill and some ice cold beer. What else would there be to do if we are having to fend for ourselves against those of whom out there that have not taken the proper precautions to stock up on H2O, and food?