Basic Information
A Space Hurricane is a form of space weather. So far, only a single space hurricane has been detected. It was in 2014, and occurred directly above the North Pole. It was not directly observed at the time, because few if any people would have been far enough North to see it. Instead it was recorded on monitoring devices and discovered many years later (early 2021) when scientists were reviewing data for an atmospheric study.
The single recorded space hurricane was a huge plasma storm high above the earth, caused by the interaction of solar radiation and charged particles in our atmosphere. The 2014 storm was 1,000 km (over 600 miles) wide, and lasted 8 hours. It was in shape of multiple interlocking cyclone arms (a storm cluster, sorta vaguely hydra-shaped) and it spun counterclockwise just like normal hurricanes do in the Earth's northern hemisphere.
Space hurricanes are likely to cause disruption of satellites and GPS systems while they are raging.
Sources
Game and Story Use
- Could easily be the cause of a space disaster! The plasma could short circuit or burn your spacecraft, satellite, planetary defense system, etc.
- A particularly bad one might cause a cascading chain-reaction of satellites being knocked out of orbit, which could then spiral out of control and cause Kessler syndrome, filling low-earth orbit with deadly clouds of space junk.
- A space hurricane might be caused by a Coronal Mass Ejection, and the two events could combine their effects synergistically. For a scenario that's actually happened once before, see September 1859 Geomagnetic Storm. It would be far worse if that happened again in our modern high-tech world.
- Could be a recurring terrain hazard (see also interstellar terrain) above an important alien planet.
- If your setting needs a way to naturally restrict access to a world (or a region of space) you could have sort of an electromagnetic "monsoon season" that makes it super dangerous to approach for months at a time.
- Given the newness of this phenomenon, the author or GM probably still has plenty of wiggle room for making up their own "facts". It can be whatever swirly energy thingy or negative space wedgie you need for your setting.
- The effects would not necessarily be entirely restricted to space. The storm might cause the end of the world as we know it. If you blend some supernatural elements in, and hand wave a few details, a crazy storm high above the planet could be the trigger for your zombie apocalypse or magical cataclysm.
- Presumably very annoying indeed if your ship is using a solar sail for any reason.