So, okay... Cool articles.

(Edge-Localized Modes in plasmas look like solar flares.)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/natur...

(ELM's are distinctly like other cosmic plasma discharges, possibly even the sun.)
http://epsppd.epfl.ch/tarragona/pdf/p1_1...

(We have learned how to prevent Edge-Localized Modes from flaring.)
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?i...

The rest is purely pattern matching, small and large scale parallels and fanciful thoughts. Still, an interesting thought experiment, nonetheless...

Now, if solar flares are really Edge-Localized Modes in an electromagnetic plasma discharge, can we use the same principles we use in the lab to regulate or prevent solar flares?

What could we do with this technology and what would be the implications of this technology if we were able to produce it?

Could we eliminate solar flares and coronal mass ejections in order to limit damage to sensitive electronics in space, and to protect astronauts from (or limit exposure to) charged particles in local space?

What would it take for us to control solar flares? In the lab it merely required minute magnetic fields to bleed off excess charge/plasma so there is no prominence/flare.

I'd assume we would need some type of magnetic field generators at strategic locations around the sun to bleed off energy in a controlled fashion?

Could this be used to prevent geomagnetic storms?

More disturbingly, could this knowledge be used to create a strategic weapons platform to CREATE solar flares preferentially and accelerate charged particles in a controlled fashion, assuming we understand the causes?

Could this be used to bleed off charged particles from the sun in a controlled fashion in order to facilitate easier scientific investigation into solar processes?

I guess I'm envisioning a series of satellites around the sun that would have sensitive equipment for taking scientific measurements, and would communicate with other satellites. What I'm "thinking" is that we'd really only need a line-of sight system of some kind of magnetic generators to channel the flow of plasma between adjacent satellites and or disperse it harmlessly or constrict the flow rather than allowing it to build up to prominence or flare level. If an area is problematic and might form a prominence, flare or ejection, the satellites would activate in that region (magnetic fields or whatnot) to mitigate the effects. And it would only be in the specific region of activity. So, you wouldn't have to power the whole grid at any one time, just the couple units in that particular area.

True, the sun is massive, so it would take a great deal of energy to power the series of satellites around the sun, but in the lab they said that it took a fairly minimal amount of power to generate magnetic fields sufficient to siphon enough plasma to prevent prominences. Though what a "minimal amount" of power to dissipate, channel, or cut off a solar prominence is, I don't rightly know. Could we use the solar radiation from the sun itself to power essentially a big solar panel, or series of them, or siphon some of the sun's plasma and use it to power the system?

I know, I know, this sounds like science fiction, but IF solar prominences and CME's and solar flares are similar to or the same feature as ELM's, wouldn't it be cool if we could use the same process to control them on a solar level as in the lab? I mean what if we could actually keep solar flares from forming? CME's? Gone. Solar wind? not so much of a danger to astronauts anymore. Geomagnetic storms knocking out electronics in orbit and on the ground? A thing of the past. Do you think we'll ever reach that level of technological sophistication? Obviously finding the RESOURCES to do it would be problematic. Might even have to start mining other planets and asteroids and "comets" some day to gather sufficient resources to construct such things...

Pot is stirred. Talk amongst yourselves... =o]