Technical Reports

The near-Earth space environment undergoes daily changes driven by variable conditions in the Sun. Explosive eruptions of energy from the Sun causing minor solar storms on Earth are relatively common and of little consequence. On the contrary, rarely occurring superstorms generate physical changes in the Earth’s upper atmosphere detrimental to satellites, signals from global navigation systems, and radio systems.

While these events’ physics and engineering repercussions have been studied extensively, this is not the case for the related socioeconomic ramifications, despite the growing dependencies on these technologies. Therefore, the report identifies the infrastructures vulnerable to the upper atmosphere effects and quantifies their impacts on LEO satellites, systems offering PNT services, and radio systems through a systematic literature review.