Our Sun, the nearest star, is a enourmous ball of plasma and emits every second millions of tons of high energy material. This happens in the form of Solar Wind, Solar Flares and Coronal Mass Ejections (CME). High energy particles and CME's can reach Earth as fast as 15 hours and electromagnic radiation from Solar Flares travels with the speed of light reaching Earth in 8 minutes. These Solar Storms can cause geomagnetic storms on Earth and are harmfull for satellites, astronauts and our infrastructure on earth. GPS systems, satellite communications and power grids can be effected with a result of power loss, communication loss, ....
ESA is planning for a dedicated space weather observatory which warns us in case of these harmful eruptions of the Sun. The new spacecraft will operate at the fifth Lagrange point at a distance of 150 million km. On this stable position in space the spacecraft is able to observe the Sun and Earth sideways.
