NASA's twin Van Allen Probes, launched in August 2012 and originally designed as a two-year mission, are starting a new and final phase in their exploration. On February 12, 2019, one of the twin Van Allen Probes begins a series of orbit descent maneuvers to…
Very low frequency, or VLF, radio communications have been found to interact with particles in space, affecting how and where they move. At times, these interactions can create a barrier around Earth against natural high energy particle radiation in space. VLF…
Earth is embedded in the always-expanding atmosphere of the Sun, called the solar wind, which blows past planets to the edge of the Solar System. Solar wind is typically supersonic, faster than the speed of sound, and when it encounters planets, like Earth, a shock…
NASA's Van Allen Probes enabled the scientists to gather a more precise picture of the structure of Van Allen Belts that shield our planet from the solar radiation. New research shows their shape varies depending on the energy of charged particles constituting…
In a new study that sheds light on space weather's impact on Earth, Dartmouth researchers and their colleagues show for the first time that plasma waves buffeting the planet's radiation belts are responsible for scattering charged particles into the atmosphere.T
Van Allen radiation belts have been found to contain a nearly impenetrable barrier that prevents the fastest, most energetic electrons from reaching Earth.The Van Allen belts are a collection of charged particles, gathered in place by Earth’s magnetic field. They
NASA’s Van Allen Probes mission has discovered a previously unknown third radiation belt around Earth, revealing the existence of unexpected structures and processes within these hazardous regions of space.Previous observations of Earth’s Van Allen belts have long
Antiprotons appear to ring the Earth, confined by the planet's magnetic field lines. The antimatter, which may persist for minutes or hours before annihilating with normal matter, could in theory be used to fuel ultra-efficient rockets of the future.Charged particle
