Researchers combined Solar Orbiter observations from the Sun’s far side with NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory observations from the Earth–Sun line to track active region NOAA 13664 for 94 days, from its emergence on 16 April 2024 through decay after 18 July 2024. The region completed three solar rotations and produced the strongest geomagnetic storms since 2003, including the strongest solar flare in roughly 20 years on 20 May 2024.[1][3]
The result demonstrates that a dangerous solar region can evolve for months while repeatedly rotating into and out of Earth-facing view. For a lunar settlement, severe solar-particle events threaten crew radiation limits, unshielded electronics, power systems, communications, navigation, biological archives, and surface operations; warning based only on near-Earth observations can arrive too late for protective action.[1][3]
Integrate continuous far-side and near-side solar monitoring into Ark mission architecture, using data fusion comparable to Solar Orbiter plus Solar Dynamics Observatory. Define storm protocols around pre-positioned crew shelters, redundant power and communications, radiation dosimetry, autonomous safe modes, and preservation of seed, genome, and digital archives; model response times against multi-week active-region evolution and validate shielding for events at least comparable to the May 2024 episode.