Van Allen Probes Discover a New Radiation Belt   
       
   Feb. 28, 2013:  Earth's radiation belts were one of the first discoveries of   
   the Space Age. A new finding published in today's issue of Science shows that   
   we still have much to learn about them.  NASA's twin Van Allen Probes,   
   launched just last August, have revealed a previously unknown third radiation   
   belt around Earth.   
       
   "Even 55 years after their discovery, Earth's radiation belts still are   
   capable of surprising us," said Nicky Fox, Van Allen Probes deputy project   
   scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in   
   Laurel, Md. "We thought we knew the radiation belts, but we don't."   
       
   http://tinyurl.com/arp6jlf   
       
   A video from the Goddard Space Flight Center recaps the discovery of the new   
   radiation belt. Play it   
       
   Previous observations of the Van Allen belts dating back to the late 1950s   
   have documented two distinct regions of trapped radiation surrounding our   
   planet, known as the inner and outer radiation belts. Particle sensors aboard   
   the twin Van Allen Probes quickly revealed to scientists the existence of a   
   transient, third radiation belt.  Scientists observed the third belt for four   
   weeks before a powerful interplanetary shock wave from the sun annihilated it.   
       
   Each of the two Van Allen Probes carries an identical set of five instrument   
   suites that allow scientists to gather data on the belts in unprecedented   
   detail. Key data for this discovery came from the Relativistic Electron Proton   
   Telescope (REPT) instrument, part of the probes' Energetic Particle,   
   Composition, and Thermal Plasma Suite (ECT).   
       
   "This is the first time we have had such high-resolution instruments look at   
   time, space and energy together in the outer belt," says Daniel Baker, lead   
   author of the study and REPT instrument lead at the Laboratory for Atmospheric   
   and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado in Boulder. "Previous   
   observations of the outer radiation belt resolved it as a single blurry   
   element. When we turned REPT on just two days after launch, we clearly saw the   
   new belt and a [gap] between it and the outer belt."   
       
   Back in the 1950s when the radiation belts were discovered, they had little   
   effect on ordinary people. Today the radiation belts are crucial to our   
   high-tech society.  Hundreds of satellites used for everything from weather   
   prediction to GPS to television routinely skim the belts, subjecting   
   themselves to energetic particles that can damage solar panels and   
   short-circuit sensitive electronics.  During geomagnetic storms when the belts   
   are swollen by solar activity, whole fleets of satellites can be engulfed,   
   imperiling the technological underpinnings of daily life on the planet below.   
   The Van Allen Probes directly address these down-to-Earth problems   
       
   "The fantastic new capabilities and advances in technology in the Van  Allen   
   Probes allow scientists to see in unprecedented detail how the radiation belts   
   are populated with charged particles, what causes them to change, and how they   
   affect the upper reaches of Earth's atmosphere," says John Grunsfeld, NASA's   
   associate administrator for science in Washington DC.   
       
   For more information about the Van Allen Probes, visit http://ww   
   .nasa.gov/vanallenprobes   
       
       
   Production editor: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA   
       
   More Information and Credits   
   Observations of the new belt were made by scientists from institutions   
   including LASP; NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.; Los   
   Alamos National Laboratory in Los Alamos, N.M.; and the Institute for the   
   Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space at the University of New Hampshire in Durham.   
       
   The Van Allen Probes are the second mission in NASA's Living With a Star   
   Program to explore aspects of the connected sun-Earth system that directly   
   affect life and society. Goddard manages the program. The Applied Physics   
   Laboratory built the spacecraft and manages the mission for NASA.   
       
   The Van Allen Probes were originally known as the Radiation Belt Storm   
   Probes.  They were later re-named after the discoverer of the belts, James Van   
   Allen.  A Sciencecast video introduces the mission   
       
       
   Regards,   
       
   Roger   
      
   --- D'Bridge 3.9   
    * Origin: NCS BBS - Houma, LoUiSiAna (1:3828/7)