NASA has made a space weather forecast for the next 11 years - it turned out to be the most favorable in two centuries.

One of the biggest dangers to space travel is radioactive radiation, and its main

the source in our system is the sun. This is a changeable star, for whose activity a very complex mechanism is responsible. How exactly it works, scientists still do not fully understand.

However, it is known that the Sun passes 11 year oldscycles during which its activity increases or decreases. This is due to the increase and decrease in the number of sunspots on the surface of the star, which are areas of intense magnetic storms. They are a thousand times more powerful than on Earth.

According to a NASA forecast, the next cycle, whichwill begin in 2020, reach its maximum in 2025, however the number of spots may be 30–50% lower than in the previous cycle. That would make him the weakest in the last two centuries.

The NASA report notes that the forecast will help protect not only astronauts, but also unmanned missions and growing constellations of satellites in Earth orbit.

Previously, NASA approved the mission to study the asteroid Psyche, a cosmic body located in the Asteroid Belt, which may be the metal core of an ancient planet the size of Mars.