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WASHINGTON — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration  is monitoring solar storms to protect us down here on earth.

The NOAA will launch a new satellite into space from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Center on Sunday.

NOAA’s deep space climate observatory will be used to predict the next solar storm to allow officials to take protective steps, potentially saving trillions of dollars.

“Any such burst would affect the entire hemisphere that happens to be facing the sun at the moment across all national borders, across continents, across everything.  So, these are big events,” said NOAA representative.

Solar storms can disrupt mobile communications, short-circuit computer systems and even knock out entire power grids.

One of the most devastating examples was the collapse of the hydro-Quebec power network in 1989.

That storm left over six million people in the dark for nine hours.