An explosion 92 million miles away just grounded Jeff Bezos’ New Glenn rocket

Lead: On Tuesday night a powerful coronal mass ejection (CME) erupted from the Sun and crossed the 92-million-mile gap to Earth in under two days, producing vivid auroras and prompting Blue Origin to stand down the New Glenn launch. Forecasters at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center said the incoming blast included fast-moving charged particles and a strong localized magnetic field that arrived as a sequence of waves. The event produced visible northern lights as far south as Texas, Florida and parts of Mexico and has been classified as a severe geomagnetic storm, with a nonzero chance of an extreme strike.

Key Takeaways

• The Sun emitted a series of coronal mass ejections; the latest was fast enough to travel 92 million miles in less than two days, exceeding 1 million miles per hour (over 500 km/s).
• NOAA forecasters predicted a G4 (severe) geomagnetic storm on Wednesday into Thursday, with a small chance of a rarer G5 (extreme) event.
• Auroras were reported Tuesday night as far south as Texas, Florida and Mexico; another night of visible displays was possible Wednesday night.
• Satellites at the Sun–Earth L1 point detected the incoming solar wind and its magnetic orientation, enabling short-term forecasting of impacts.
• Blue Origin postponed the New Glenn launch citing space-weather concerns, an operational decision that underscores industry sensitivity to geomagnetic risk.
• NOAA warns of potential impacts including GPS degradation, radio disruptions and possible voltage control issues in terrestrial power networks during a G4 storm.

Background

Coronal mass ejections are large expulsions of plasma and magnetic field from the Sun’s corona that, when directed at Earth, can compress and disturb the planet’s magnetosphere. Solar activity follows an approximately 11-year cycle; near-cycle peaks the frequency and intensity of CMEs tends to rise, increasing the odds of disruptive space weather. The scientific community relies on a network of satellites—such as GOES instruments in geostationary orbit and sensors positioned near the L1 point like DSCOVR and ACE—to measure incoming solar wind speed, density and the direction of its magnetic field. Those real-time readings give forecasters a short lead time to warn operators of utilities, satellite fleets and launch teams so they can take protective steps.

Major geomagnetic storms have a measurable history of affecting infrastructure: the 1859 Carrington Event produced telegraph outages and auroras seen near the equator, and the October–November 2003 storms caused satellite and power-grid anomalies. Since many modern systems—satellites, GPS-dependent navigation, long-distance pipelines and high-voltage transmission lines—are more interconnected, even storms that are not Carrington-level can produce costly, cascading effects if key systems are exposed at a vulnerable moment.

Main Event

Early Tuesday, multiple CMEs launched from active regions on the Sun and were visible in ultraviolet imagery from NOAA’s GOES spacecraft. The strongest of these carried a concentrated magnetic field and high particle flux; L1 monitors registered the approaching wave and alerted forecasters that the arrival window would be compressed. NOAA meteorologist Shawn Dahl described the first two waves as “profoundly stronger than expected,” and said the third arrival had the highest energy of the most recent sequence.

As the cloud struck Earth’s magnetosphere, the rapid influx of charged particles energized the upper atmosphere, producing bright auroral displays that tracked unusually far south. Ground- and space-based systems logged radio blackouts and transient GPS errors in some regions; the full scale of impacts depends on how long the magnetic orientation remains southward, a condition that favors strong coupling with Earth’s field. Satellite operators placed sensitive payloads into protective modes and monitored for surface charging and increased drag on low-orbit craft.

Blue Origin announced a precautionary pause of the New Glenn campaign ahead of the scheduled launch window, citing space-weather concerns reported by forecasters. Company engineers said the decision was driven by operational risk assessments for both ground systems and on-orbit stages during a period of elevated charged-particle flux. Launch teams typically avoid fueling and critical operations during strong geomagnetic activity to reduce the chance of electrical anomalies or telemetry loss.

Analysis & Implications

For the commercial launch sector, repeated or unpredictable space-weather interruptions can increase schedule risk and operational costs. Each scrub or delay requires resourcing changes—additional hardware checks, extended ground support, and rescheduling of range assets—which can ripple across other launch manifests. Insurers and customers are taking note: repeated weather-related groundings affect contractual windows and may alter risk premiums for certain orbits or payload classes.

Satellites in geostationary and medium Earth orbits face increased surface and internal charging during strong CMEs, which can lead to temporary outages or long-term degradation of electronics. Operators of critical satellite services—communications, weather, and GNSS infrastructures—are tightening contingency plans, including redundancy switching and maneuver planning. Terrestrial utilities are also on alert; a G4-level storm can produce voltage control problems and transformer stress that, if not managed, can cause wide-area outages.

Globally, the event highlights gaps in preparedness: many grid and critical infrastructure systems were designed before modern levels of satellite reliance. Policymakers and regulators may push for updated standards and mandatory reporting of space-weather mitigation steps. Research and operational forecasting capacity—satellite replacement, better magnetosphere models, and improved early-warning cadence—will influence how well future storms are absorbed without major service interruptions.

Comparison & Data

These comparisons show the recent event ranks among the more severe storms of the modern monitoring era but is below the historical Carrington-class extreme. The immediacy of impacts often depends less on nominal classification than on the orientation and duration of the interplanetary magnetic field, which controls how efficiently the solar flow couples with Earth’s magnetosphere.

Reactions & Quotes

Forecasters noted that two earlier waves arrived sooner and stronger than models had predicted, reducing lead time for operators to react.

NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (paraphrased)

Industry officials said the launch pause was a standard precaution: when forecasts show elevated charged-particle flux and unstable magnetic orientation, teams avoid critical operations.

Blue Origin statement / news report (paraphrased)

Satellite operators reported placing sensitive instruments in safe mode and rerouting services where possible to limit exposure during peak activity.

Commercial satellite operator briefings (paraphrased)

Unconfirmed

• Whether the storm will intensify to a confirmed G5-level remains uncertain until magnetospheric measurements stabilize.
• The precise duration and global distribution of power-grid impacts have not been fully assessed and will depend on local grid conditions and operator mitigations.
• Details about the New Glenn launch reschedule and any hardware-level effects to the vehicle have not been released in full by Blue Origin at time of reporting.

Bottom Line

This sequence of CMEs underlines how space weather can disrupt both space- and ground-based operations: it produced visible auroras, forced precautionary launch decisions for a major commercial rocket, and raised short-term risks to satellites and electrical infrastructure. The event also demonstrated the value of modern monitoring assets at L1 and geostationary orbits, which gave operators actionable warnings even as some waves arrived stronger and sooner than expected.

Going forward, the industry will likely see more conservative operational rules around launches and satellite critical phases during periods of elevated solar activity, as well as renewed calls for investment in forecasting, hardening of systems, and international coordination to mitigate cascading effects of severe geomagnetic storms.

Sources

• Ars Technica — news report summarizing the launch delay and storm impacts.
• NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center — official forecasts and technical guidance on geomagnetic storms.
• NOAA / GOES imagery — solar ultraviolet imagery used to observe CME eruptions (official imagery repository).