US scientists to develop planetary 'shield' to protect Earth from harmful solar flares

The Sun keeps spewing solar material into space in the form of solar flares and solar storms and now scientists from the US are proposing to set up a magnetic deflector between the Earth and Sun, which will act as a shield.

This shield will protect Earth from all the harmful emissions generated by the Sun as they hold the capacity to devastate all our communication system and shut down electric grids worth $20 trillion.

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According to the reports, the proposed 'shield' would be installed at a distance of 329,000 km from Earth and would consist of a 1 lakh ton copper coil that would use magnetic fields and the concept of Lorentz force to deflect harmful particles from the Sun.

The estimated cost this proposed project would settle around $100 billion with an alternate option of constructing the shield directly in space.