Safety on earth is an illusion. The things that happen once in a while for our satellites is going to happen for us too, sooner or later. For now, we are safe under the invisible protection of the earth's magnetic field, which protects us against the continuous flow of cruel waves of high energy particles fired from the sun.
Geological records revealed that the current north pole was actually in the south around 780 thousand years ago. In a very short period of time, maybe three thousand years or so, the north and south poles switched their position. 200 thousand years age, the earth experienced another magnetic pole replacement. Evidently, the intensity of magnetic field had dropped to 10% of its maximum at the time of replacement. In such conditions, solar winds can easily hit the earth's surface along with every thing on it. Studies show that the magnetic filed has already lost 10% of it's strength. But don't worry, we have enough time to come up with some ideas to protect us from this threat.
Magnetic field of the earth fighting the solar wind.
