Engineers in Britain are moving to construct a ground-based system that would provide early warning for potentially harmful space weather phenomena.
According to The Daily Star, the space weather monitor will be built in either Cornwall or Scotland, and is expected to come online within two years.
Michael Aspinall, an engineer from Lancaster University who is part of the detection team, explained that space weather phenomena such as solar flares can have a significant detrimental effect on infrastructure on Earth.
"No electricity means no computers, no communication, no navigation. Planes would be grounded, satellites disabled, and mobile phones useless," he said.
The engineer also argued that without such "ground-based detectors," the United Kingdom is essentially "flying blind on the impacts of an extreme space weather event."
"We can't stop space weather events happening but if we know when they are coming we can prepare vulnerable sectors and help ensure that events of this kind are safely managed," he added.
Once operational, the system will feed the data it collects directly to the Met Office.