Now thruster rockets are using more fuel than planned, reducing the life of the satellite. Heating the atmosphere causes an increase in density. For a satellite at 400 km, the increase can be twenty-fold, and the additional drag is sufficient to pull a low Earth orbit satellite into a lower orbit. NASA's ill-fated Skylab, a large space station parts of which landed into sparsely inhabited regions of Western Australia in 1979, is one victim of atmospheric heating after a period of high solar activity. Not only satellites are vulnerable to the Sun's variability.
Astronauts are also at risk.
Sergei Ardeyev, a Russian cosmonaut who spent time on the MIR space station, considered a period of high solar activity a terrifying experience. He recalls seeing strange flashes of light. It is well known that high energy proton radiation can destroy the body's cells. Space weather modelling With the establishment of global space weather studies, help is available. A network of space weather centres around the world collect real-time data from satellites and ground stations.