Surya: NASA and IBM Release Largest Open-Source Heliophysics AI Model on Hugging Face

IBM and NASA have unveiled a groundbreaking open-source AI model called Surya, designed to predict solar weather and protect critical infrastructure from space-based disruptions. The powerful AI model is trained on 14 years of observations from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO).

Here's a breakdown of what makes this initiative so impactful:

What Is Surya?

• Name Origin: “Surya” is Sanskrit for “Sun,” reflecting its heliophysics focus.
• Purpose: Predict solar flares, coronal mass ejections, and other solar phenomena that can disrupt satellites, GPS, power grids, and telecommunications.
• Availability: Open-source and hosted on Hugging Face.

Technical Highlights

• Foundation Model: Trained on 14 years of high-resolution solar data from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO).
• Data Types: Includes solar coronal EUV images, magnetic field maps, and solar surface velocity data.
• Model Size: 366 million parameters—lightweight enough for broader deployment.

Capabilities & Performance

• Forecasting Power:
  • Predicts solar flares up to 2 hours in advance.
  • Achieved 16% improvement in flare classification accuracy over previous models.
• Use Cases:
  • Early warnings for satellite operators.
  • Infrastructure protection for energy grids and aviation.
  • Academic research in heliophysics and space weather.

Why It Matters

• Economic Risk: A major solar storm could cost the global economy up to $2.4 trillion over five years.
• Recent Events: Solar storms have already disrupted GPS, diverted flights, and damaged satellites.
• Future-Proofing: As humanity ventures deeper into space, accurate solar forecasting becomes essential for safety and continuity.

Open Science Impact

• SuryaBench Dataset: IBM and NASA also released the largest curated heliophysics dataset to support further research.
• Community Collaboration: Encourages scientists and developers to build on Surya for new applications in space weather prediction.

Summary Table

Feature	Details
Model Name	Surya
Developed By	IBM & NASA
Training Data	14 years of solar observations from NASA's SDO
Parameter Count	366 million
Forecast Window	Up to 2 hours before solar flare events
Accuracy Improvement	16% over prior models
Hosted On	Hugging Face

Interaction Between the Earth and the Sun Made SpaceX To Lose 40 Satellites of Starlink Megaconstellation

Amid a new race for satellite megaconstellation, a group of astronomers is already in protest mode to protect the study of the night sky from the thousands of these mega-constellation of satellites launched by private companies such as SpaceX. Although, even the governments like that of China too are launching there own megaconstellation, to feel less envy with the west, while posing threat to astronomy as these orbiting satellites have even surpassed light pollution hindering the clear night-sky view to astronomers worldwide.

Now in a latest, on last Friday a recent geomagnetic storm from the Sun will destroy 40 of the 49 Starlink satellites SpaceX has launched last week. 

Geomagnetic storms are the result of interactions between activity of the Earth and the Sun. That means -- Solar wind, a stream of charged particles from the sun, and the magnetic field of the Earth.

According to the Center of Excellence in Space Sciences under the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, the models indicate a very high probability of an Earth impact with the material whizzing past at a whopping speed of 21,60,000 kilometers per hour. "The impact is unlikely to be very hazardous. Moderate geomagnetic storms are likely," CESS said in a tweet.

Interestingly, the satellites were designed in a way to “take cover from the storm” by flying “edge-on (like a sheet of paper)”, however they failed to carry out the maneuvers required to reach their required orbit.

@cessi_iiserkol work has more relevance now that we saw loss of this scale.

Hope @isro and @IndiaDST can get them better computing hardware. https://t.co/wjbs8lv4KR

— Gareeb Scientist (@gareebscientist) February 9, 2022

It was just a week after Earth was hit by a moderate geomagnetic storm, the Sun once again hurtled powerful eruptions towards the planet. As activities continue to rise on the solar surface, the Sun blasted off a filament eruption that will hit Earth on February 9-10, triggering another geomagnetic storm.

The Elon Musk promoted firm launched the satellites into low-Earth orbit on 3 February from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, United States. but 80% of them are now expected to burn up instead of reaching their intended orbit. "Unfortunately, the satellites deployed on Thursday were significantly impacted by a geomagnetic storm on Friday," SpaceX said in a statement. 

The storm, which was caused by solar activity, made the Earth's atmosphere warm and expand. The denser atmosphere at the initial orbital altitude for SpaceX's satellites caused atmospheric drag to increase up to 50% higher than the company had seen in previous launches.

This resulted to phenomenon that "up to 40 of the satellites will re-enter or already have re-entered the Earth's atmosphere".

Musk said: "We think this is a key stepping stone on the way towards establishing a self-sustaining city on Mars and a base on the moon."

SpaceX has already launched 2,000 satellites and has permission from the US authorities to send up 12,000 in total.