International legal and ethical issues of a future carrington event: existing frameworks, shortcomings, and recommendations
Abstract
Solar-geomagnetic superstorms like the 1859 Carrington Event pose significant risks to electrical power utilities and satellite infrastructure. Damage to this critical infrastructure could have significant legal and ethical ramifications, ranging from worldwide economic crises to international disaster response needs of unseen magnitude. Despite these potential consequences, the legal and ethical frameworks for space weather risk management are only just beginning to be developed by regulatory agencies. Furthermore, existing international regulations and ethical standards are designed for typical natural disasters ( i.e. , floods, droughts, earthquakes, and hurricanes) and may not account for the additional complexity and cascading effects associated with a future Carrington Event, such as combined and large-scale loss of electrical grid and satellite capabilities in countries that typically provide, rather than receive, disaster relief. To address this insufficiency, this article outlines the legal and ethical issues associated with solar-geomagnetic superstorms and provides recommendations for incorporating specific action plans into existing international agreements, national policies, commercial space best practices, and international disaster response law guidelines.
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A current-day Carrington Event would likely cause widespread electrical failure and disruption lasting at least multiple months, potentially years.
“A current day Carrington Event would likely lead to widespread electrical failure and disruption for multiple months at minimum, potentially years (Eastwood et al., 2017; Loper, 2019; Ritter et al., 2020).”
From A Fate Worse Than Warming? Stratospheric Aerosol Injection and Global Catastrophic Risk (2021) · cites this paper as Ritter et al., 2020
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“A current day Carrington Event would likely lead to widespread electrical failure and disruption for multiple months at minimum, potentially years (Eastwood et al., 2017; Loper, 2019; Ritter et al., 2020).”
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- Authors
- Ritter, S., Rotko, D., Halpin, S., Nawal, A., Farias, A., Patel, K., Diggewadi, A., & Hill, H.
- Affiliations
- International Space University (FR)
- Corresponding author
- Ritter, Scott
- Venue
- New Space
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2020-03
- Volume
- 8
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 23-30
- ISSN
- 2168-0256 (ISSN-L)
- 2168-0264
- OpenAlex
- W3011314802
- Cited by
- 10
- References
- 9
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 2
- FWCI
- 0.56
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- New Space (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Space exploration and regulation
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Information Systems and Management › Energy Law and Policy
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Disaster Management and Resilience
- Keywords
- Carrington event, disaster relief, critical infrastructure disruption, international legal framework, moral norms, commercial space
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