Right: Astronauts on the Moon, an artist's concept. Solar protons accelerated to nearly light speed by the explosion reached the Earth-Moon system minutes after the flare-the beginning of a days-long "proton storm." The blast sparked an X-class solar flare, the most powerful kind, and hurled a billion-ton cloud of electrified gas (a "coronal mass ejection") into space. On January 20th, 2005, a giant sunspot named "NOAA 720" exploded. Last month, though, there were no humans walking around on the Moon. Astronauts will be out among the moondust and craters, exploring, prospecting, building. In the decades ahead we can expect to see habitats, greenhouses and power stations up there. NASA is returning to the Moon-not just robots, but people. Researchers discuss what it might have done to astronauts on the Moon. The biggest solar proton storm in 15 years erupted last week.
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