Blue Origin Rocket Launch Halted After Earth Slammed By “Cannibal” CME

Update (1200ET):

NASA postponed the launch of the New Glenn heavy-lift orbital rocket, developed by Blue Origin, on Wednesday due to “highly elevated solar activity.”

“New Glenn is ready to launch. However, due to highly elevated solar activity and its potential effects on the ESCAPADE spacecraft, NASA is postponing launch until space weather conditions improve,” Blue Origin wrote on its X account. 

NG-2 Update: New Glenn is ready to launch. However, due to highly elevated solar activity and its potential effects on the ESCAPADE spacecraft, NASA is postponing launch until space weather conditions improve. We are currently assessing opportunities to establish our next launch…

— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) November 12, 2025

Last night, a severe G4 geomagnetic storm hit Earth’s atmosphere. A second round is expected today, with a third CME that could be G3/G4 strength. 

“Arriving earlier than expected, two CMEs struck Earth on Nov. 11th. The closely-spaced sequence of impacts produced a severe (G4) geomagnetic storm. Auroras spread across almost every US state with sightings as far south as Florida, California, Texas, Arizona and Alabama,” SpaceWeatherNews wrote in a note earlier. 

Gemma Richardson, a solar storm expert with the British Geological Survey, told Sky News, “Space weather can have a real impact on the lives of people across the planet.”

“BGS records real-time data of geomagnetic conditions, underpinning the national forecast service. Our data suggests that this event could be one of the biggest storms we’ve seen in 20 years,” Richardson noted. 

*   *   * 

Three coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that erupted from the sun in recent days are expected to merge into a powerful “cannibal CME” and smash into the Earth’s atmosphere on Wednesday, triggering intense geomagnetic activity that could make the northern lights visible across much of the United States.

“As many as three CMEs are approaching Earth, including today’s fast-moving X5-class CME from sunspot 4274,” SpaceWeatherNews wrote in a report on its website. 

Here’s a close-up movie of the X5.1 flare from AR 4274, followed by a stunning post-eruption arcade formation. One of the most eruptive events of this solar cycle. pic.twitter.com/VvT6kCeCBZ

— Edward.Vijayakumar (@edwanx) November 11, 2025

The website that tracks solar flares continued, “There is a chance that the three CMEs will merge into a single ‘Cannibal CME,’ a potent type of storm cloud that could cause a severe G4-class geomagnetic storm when it arrives on Nov. 12.”

Via SolarHam data. 

SpaceWeatherNews said if the geomagnetic storm develops, northern lights would descend to mid-latitudes and become visible in more than half of the Lower 48.

Now this is very alarming. The report continued:

A ‘GROUND LEVEL EVENT’ IS UNDERWAY: Today’s X5-class solar flare from sunspot 4274 hurled a fuisillade of energetic protons toward Earth. Some of the particles are so powerful, they are penetrating the atmosphere all the way to the ground. “This is a very significant event,” says Professor Clive Dyer of the Surrey Space Centre. “Neutron monitors around the world are detecting it.”

This is called a Ground Level Event (GLE). GLEs of this magnitude are rare; they happen only once or twice every solar cycle. “This one is comparable to the GLE of Dec. 13, 2006,” says Dyer. That makes it a ~20-year event.

For comparison, during the 2006 GLE, passengers on high-latitude air flights experienced a peak dose rate of 25-30 microSieverts per hour at cruising altitude. This translated to an estimated 20% increase in the total effective radiation dose. Something similar may be happening now.

“This is a very significant event and analysis will help us prepare for larger events such as a repeat of Feb. 23 1956, which is soon to have its 70th anniversary and gave a thousandfold increase in radiation at 40000 feet,” says Dyer.

NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center ranks the incoming solar event a 4 out of 5 on NOAA’s space weather scale, meaning it’s classified as “Severe.”

SWPC warned, “Detrimental impacts to some of our critical infrastructure technology are possible, but mitigation is possible.” 

A Carrington-class storm would be absolutely catastrophic for power grids and the AI infrastructure being installed at lightning pace. And there are others. 

… Which US power grid is most at risk? Find out here.

Also, Solar Cycle 25 has peaked (more here). 

During my climate talks, some have trouble visualizing simultaneous overlapping solar cycles — so I created this diagram. pic.twitter.com/laB1ItLsNO

— John Shewchuk (@_ClimateCraze) February 3, 2024

Triple Solar Storm Alert – X5 Solar Flare/BIG CME

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