Facility set up to stop destructive solar rays

China has started construction of a facility in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region that can detect solar bursts.

Known as the Chinese Spectral Radioheliograph (CSRJ), it will be operated by the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

When completed in 2010, the CSRJ will be able to detect solar flares and forewarn of coronal mass ejections (a plasma consisting primarily of electrons and protons) that can disable satellites and knock out power grids.