Mason scientists to work with the U.S. Navy to avert ‘internet apocalypse’

Colleen Rich — Tue, 08 Aug 2023 16:12:46 +0000

Mason scientists to work with the U.S. Navy to avert ‘internet apocalypse’ Colleen Rich Tue, 08/08/2023 - 12:12

A team of ��AV scientists has received a federal grant of more than $13 million to work with the Department of the Navy to study and better understand increased solar activity that could potentially cause an “internet apocalypse” disrupting all electronic communications on Earth, including satellite communications.

Peter Becker
Photo by Ron Aira/Office of University Branding

Research from the grant, which will total $13.6 million in expenditures over five years, will be done in collaboration with the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), and will include state-of-the-art data mining, analysis, and scientific modeling, among other endeavors, led by Mason faculty, students and staff. Under the terms of the contract, Mason provides scientific support for a broad range of astronomy-related activities that are of interest to the U.S. Navy and the nation at large.

“The main focus is on solar activity and the way it can impact systems on Earth,” said principal investigator Peter A. Becker, a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy within the College of Science. “This is especially important to the Navy—and more broadly the Department of Defense—because high-energy outbursts from the sun can have a strong negative impact on earthly radio and internet communications. And they can also have a detrimental effect on navigation systems and energy grids on Earth.”

The focus on violent solar activity is the most significant research activity for U.S. citizens as eruptions from the sun’s surface can have devastating consequences 93 million miles away on Earth. This violent activity includes bursts of radiation, high-speed electrons, protons and other highly energetic particles that are launched into space and can disrupt technologies such as the internet that we have come to depend on. Much of this activity can reach Earth in less than a day.

Violent solar storms are expected to become more frequent and more severe over the next 10 years, and they possess the potential to severely interfere with radio transmitters, navigation and GPS, satellite operations and communications, and the electric power grid. Being able to more effectively warn of their occurrences will help better protect the public and our infrastructure.

“The internet was simply not designed to handle this level of communication interference, and, consequently, is considered a very ‘soft’ type of infrastructure,” Becker said. “Hence, the period from 2024 to 2028 is a time when the entire internet could conceivably be knocked out for a period of weeks to months in the event of a really extreme solar flare.”

Such a scenario could create “an unprecedented disaster for modern society, potentially triggering a worldwide recession,” Becker warned, because of the world’s heavy dependence on the internet for information, communications and global commerce.

Becker and his team, which also includes several Mason undergraduate students, will also study black holes and neutron stars. These studies will help scientists understand similar processes occurring in the solar atmosphere and how they can affect life on Earth.

Most of the Mason team’s work will be performed at the NRL in Washington, D.C., although space has also been allocated at ��AV’s Fairfax Campus to accommodate visiting NRL scientists working on joint space science research projects.

Others researchers working on Becker’s team include associate research professors Tyrel Johnson and Iulia Deneva; senior research administrator Jessica Hanna; research scientists Jacob Smith, Carlos Braga, Natsuha Kuroda, Eliana Nossa Gonzalez and Craig Johnston; senior research scientists Megan DeCesar and Keiji Hayashi, postdoctoral research fellows Sherry Chhabra, Micah Weberg, and Shaheda Shaik.

“Mason scientists are working to explore and understand the nature and level of these dangerous threats to our infrastructure posed by strong solar activity,” Becker said, “and how to predict extreme events and mitigate the damage.”

Listen now

Listen to Becker discuss the research with President Washington on an episode of the Access to Excellence podcast.

Delve into physics and astronomy at Mason

Civil engineering student draws inspiration from her birthplace

Anonymous — Thu, 18 Feb 2021 20:03:39 +0000

Civil engineering student draws inspiration from her birthplace Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 02/18/2021 - 15:03

Civil engineering major Karla Pineda’s undergraduate career is about to end. Yet, as she prepares to embark on her accelerated master’s program, she reflects on what inspired her to study civil engineering.

Karla Pineda is also a member of Mason's chapter of the American Society for Civil Engineers.

Born in El Salvador, Pineda and her family moved to Northern Virginia when she was 4 years old. She always had an interest in STEM and loved working on tangible projects, so she quickly realized civil engineering was her path.

But visits back to El Salvador led her to concentrate on transportation engineering. “When I traveled home, it was hard to see the harsh difference in infrastructure, especially transportation infrastructure, and that made me more interested in the transportation side of civil engineering,” she says.

Pineda is specifically interested in the intersection between transportation and sustainability. “In El Salvador, and many other places, you can clearly see how pollution has affected the lands and the communities. I know we can do better, we have one earth, and we have to make changes.”

She sees transportation as an accessible path to pursue sustainable efforts because almost everyone uses some form of transportation regularly. “There are little modifications we can make in transportation engineering that will have a huge impact,” says Pineda. Changes like recycling asphalt, using more sustainable materials, and adjusting one’s lifestyle can make a difference.

Mason’s student club, Engineers for International Development (EfID), fascinated Pineda because of their mission to tackle these grand challenges, one small change at a time. Currently, she serves as the vice president and works with the president and the executive board to coordinate events centered around sustainability.

“Typically, we take a trip down to Ecuador in the winter and summer to help a village build a sustainable water supply, but with COVID-19, we haven’t been able to do that,” she says. “We have gotten creative to help the village from a distance and creating other socially distanced events. We’ve hosted a few tree planting events throughout the community, and I worked with other members of the club to translate guides and information to send to the village in Ecuador.”

As part of her accelerated master’s program in transportation engineering, Pineda has already started taking graduate courses during her undergraduate education. She says she chose the accelerated master’s option because it made sense for her long-term career goals and allows her to learn more about transportation engineering. “Getting a master’s in one year instead of two is a great opportunity. I get to take graduate courses in my undergraduate career, and in five years, I come out with a solid foundation of knowledge in civil and transportation engineering,” she says.

“I love school, I love to learn, and the bachelor’s program gives a strong foundation in civil engineering, but I want to be prepared for a career in transportation engineering,” says Pineda.

Topics

Civil Engineering

accelerated masters

Engineers for International Development (EfID)

Sustainability

transportation engineering

Sustainable Infrastructure

Sustainable Infrastructure

Mason scientists to work with the U.S. Navy to avert ‘internet apocalypse’

Delve into physics and astronomy at Mason

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Civil engineering student draws inspiration from her birthplace

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