RBSP (x2) - Atlas V 401 - Canaveral SLC-41 - 30.08.2012 08:05 UTC

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Two New Videos of RBSP Launch and Post-Launch Press Conference
http://rbsp.jhuapl.edu/newscenter/newsArticles/20120831.php

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RBSP Press Release
http://www.nro.gov/news/press/2012/2012-10.pdf

RBSP QA final doc
http://www.nro.gov/news/press/2012/2012-11.pdf

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September 7, 2012

Marking The 98th Anniversary Of James Van Allen's Birth

On this day in 1914, James A. Van Allen was born in Mount Pleasant, Iowa. To learn about the life and legacy of the man who led the team that discovered Earth's radiation belts, visit the University of Iowa's excellent compendium of materials here.

http://rbsp.jhuapl.edu/index.php
http://www-pw.physics.uiowa.edu/ProfVanAllen/

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September 12, 2012

Up And Running: Just Hours After Launch, RBSP Takes First Science Steps
 RBSP has begun its 60-day commissioning phase of operations, where all of the spacecrafts' systems and instruments are activated, monitored, and made ready for the two-year primary science mission.

September 12, 2012

The Sounds of Space: New "Chorus" Recording By RBSP's EMFISIS Instrument
 Researchers from the EMFISIS team at the University of Iowa have released a new recording of an intriguing and well-known phenomenon known as "chorus," made on Sept. 5, 2012.

September 12, 2012

 "It couldn't have been scripted any better": New RBSP Instrument Telemetry Provides "Textbook" Excitement
Just under two days after the 4:05 a.m. EDT launch of RBSP, an instrument from the Energetic Particle, Composition, and Thermal Plasma Suite (ECT) began returning "highly understandable, full science data right out of the box."

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October 5, 2012

 In The Loop: RBSP's Instruments Continue to Come to Life
 On Wed., Oct 3, the doors to both Helium Oxygen Proton Electron (HOPE) instruments (one of the three instruments that make up the Energetic Particle, Composition, and Thermal Plasma Suite, or ECT) were opened on the twin RBSP spacecraft. Software has been loaded onto several other instruments, and all of the science instrument teams are busy making adjustments and fine-tuning their instruments as the mission continues to proceed.

October 2, 2012

In The Loop: News from NASA Science as RBSP Records "Earthsong"
 RBSP has provided researchers with the clearest recording ever made of an electromagnetic phenomenon known as "chorus," which is "thought to be one of the most important waves for energizing the electrons that make up the outer radiation belt," says EMFISIS Principal Investigator Craig Kletzing. Read the NASA Science article here.

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October 11, 2012

 A Pioneering Anniversary
 Today marks the 54th anniversary of the launch of NASA's first spacecraft, Pioneer 1, which (along with Pioneer 3) provided data from near-Earth space that contributed to James Van Allen's first characterization of the structure of the inner radiation belt. See a pre-launch photo here and learn more here.

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November 1, 2012

RBSP Completes Commissioning Phase

    Twin NASA spacecraft begin primary two-year operations phase to unlock the mysteries of Earth's radiation belts
On Oct. 28, NASA's twin Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) completed their 60-day commissioning phase, and began their two-year primary science mission to explore our planet's radiation belts, named for their discoverer, James Van Allen.
 
 The commissioning phase, which began just after RBSP's launch on Aug. 30 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, is a standard period during which spacecraft systems are deployed and certified, and instruments are powered up and readied for normal science gathering operations. Each RBSP spacecraft carries an identical set of five instrument suites that will allow scientists to gather data on the charged particles, fields and waves of the Van Allen radiation belts with unprecedented detail. Earth's radiation belts can respond in unexpected ways, often quite suddenly and dramatically swelling and shrinking in response to dynamic changes in the sun.
 
 "We are very pleased to have the RBSP spacecraft successfully complete the commissioning period," said Kim Cooper, newly named RBSP Project Manager at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), which built the spacecraft and will manage the mission for NASA from its Laurel, Md., campus. "Over the past 60 days, the many complex systems on the probes have come to life and started to work together. Progress has been rapid; RBSP's science instrument teams are already recording some illuminating data, and scientists are taking advantage of their best understanding of the mechanics and properties of the radiation belts to date."
 
 In 1958, the team led by University of Iowa professor (and former APL staffer) James A. Van Allen, using observations from Explorer 1 (the first American satellite), made the surprising discovery that intense radiation – highly-energized charged particles that can damage spacecraft and harm astronauts – is trapped by our planet's magnetic field. Later space missions revealed that the radiation occurs in two swaths around Earth. The inner, relatively stable belt, composed mainly of protons, extends from the top of the atmosphere out to an altitude of some 4,000 miles. The outer belt, composed mainly of high-energy, fast moving electrons, extends from about 8,000 miles to more than 26,000 miles above Earth's surface.
 
 To explore these hazardous regions of space, the two sun-pointing RBSP spacecraft will fly in nearly identical eccentric orbits that cover the entire radiation belt region. The spacecraft orbits will reach maximum altitudes between 18,672 mi. and 19,417 mi., and minimum altitudes between 311 mi. and 419 mi.
 
 Learn more about RBSP's instrument suites by visiting http://rbsp.jhuapl.edu/spacecraft/instruments/index.php and in the RBSP press kit (PDF), available here http://rbsp.jhuapl.edu/newscenter/pressKit.php .

http://rbsp.jhuapl.edu/newscenter/newsArticles/20121101.php

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Аппараты переименовали: теперь они называются the Van Allen Probes.

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?collection_id=15504&media_id=155316431

The Van Allen Probes: Honoring the Origins of Magnetospheric Science

Earth's magnetism has captured human attention since the first innovator noticed that a freely moving piece of magnetized iron would always align itself with Earth's poles. Throughout most of history, the origins and physics of this magnetism remained mysterious, though by the 20th century certain things had been learned by measuring the magnetic field at Earth's surface. These measurements suggested that Earth's magnetic field was consistent with that of a giant bar magnet embedded deep inside Earth. However, the magnetic field observed at the surface of our planet is constantly fluctuating. During the 1930s scientists pioneered explanations that such fluctuations were due to streams of particles fr om the sun striking and becoming entrapped within Earth's magnetic field.

 Truly understanding Earth's magnetic environment, however, required traveling to space. In 1958, the first US rocket -- known as Explorer 1 and led by James Van Allen at the University of Iowa -- was launched. By providing observations of a giant swath of magnetized radiation trapped around Earth, now known as the Van Allen Belts, Explorer 1 confirmed that Earth's magnetic environment, the magnetosphere, was not a simple place. We now know that it has a complex shape – compressed on the side facing the sun, but stretched out into a long tail trailing off away fr om the sun -- affected as much by incoming material fr om the sun as Earth's own intrinsic magnetism. This magnetic field constantly fluctuates in response to both internal instabilities and events on the sun. It also provides a home for a host of electrified particles spiraling through this complex system.



 A Scientific American article in 1963 said: "Conditions in the magnetosphere are so diverse and so variable . . . that millions of observations by scores of satellites and rocket probes have only begun to plot the broad outlines of this extension of the Earth into space." The age of magnetospheric science had begun, and it hasn't stopped yet. In 2012, those observations continue with the latest addition to NASA's heliospheric fleet: twin satellites launched on Aug. 30, 2012, originally named the Radiation Belt Storm Probes.

 On Nov. 9, NASA announced that to honor the scientist who helped launched the field, the probes will be renamed the Van Allen Probes. The renaming comes simultaneously with a standard milestone for any NASA mission: the end of commissioning. Commissioning occurs after launch when all the instruments have been turned on and tested. The end of commissioning also marks the beginning of the prime science mission.

 "We are excited to be honoring James Van Allen in this way," says David Sibeck, NASA's mission scientist for the Van Allen Probes at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "This is an important mission that carries on early magnetospheric work. In the past we have only had one spacecraft at a time looking at the radiation belts. The state-of-the-art instruments we have now are going to be able to comprehensively observe all the types of particles and waves in this part of the magnetosphere."

Indeed, the preliminary data returned fr om the Van Allen Probes' first two months already has scientists very excited. The instruments all meet or exceed mission specifications and some papers and publications are already planned based on just the first few weeks of observations.

 The probes have a planned two-year mission, each with a similar orbit that will carry the spacecraft through all parts of the radiation belts. The basic goal of the mission is to understand what causes the belts to swell and shrink in response to incoming radiation fr om the sun. Such changes in the belts can endanger satellites in space that orbit near the belts.

 To distinguish between a host of theories developed over the years on the radiation belts, Van Allen Probe scientists have designed a suite of instruments to answer three main questions. Wh ere do the extra energy and particles come from? Wh ere do they disappear to, and what sends them on their way? How do these changes affect the rest of the magnetosphere? In addition to its broad range of instruments, the mission will make use of its two spacecraft to better map out the full spatial dimensions of a particular event and how it changes over time.

 Scientists want to understand not only the origins of electrified particles – possibly from the solar wind constantly streaming off the sun; possibly from an area of Earth's own outer atmosphere, the ionosphere – but also what mechanisms gives the particles their extreme speed and energy.

 "We know examples wh ere a storm of incoming particles from the sun can cause the two belts to swell so much that they merge and appear to form a single belt," says Shri Kanekal, the Van Allen Probes' deputy mission scientist at Goddard. "Then there are other examples wh ere a large storm from the sun didn't affect the belts at all, and even cases wh ere the belts shrank. We need to figure out what causes the differences."

 Of course, just like Explorer 1, any new spacecraft will provide unexpected observations that can dramatically change the models and theories about a given region of space. The magnetospheric science that James Van Allen helped initiate will surely provide additional surprises as the Van Allen Probes sweep their way through the radiation belts.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/rbsp/news/vanallen-probes.html

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NASA Renames Mission to Honor James Van Allen,
 Pioneering Physicist and APL Trailblazer
November 9, 2012



http://www.jhuapl.edu/newscenter/pressreleases/2012/images/121109_Log.jpg

NASA has officially renamed the recently launched mission to study Earth's radiation belts the Van Allen Probes, in honor of the late James Van Allen. Van Allen was the head of the physics department at the University of Iowa who is recognized for his discovery in 1958 of radiation belts encircling Earth.
The new name of the mission, previously called the Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP), was announced today during a ceremony at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md. APL built the probes and manages the mission for NASA.
"James Van Allen was a true pioneer in astrophysics," said John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate at the agency's headquarters in Washington. "His groundbreaking research paved the way for current and future space exploration. These spacecraft now not only honor his iconic name but his mark on science."
During his career, Van Allen was the principal investigator for scientific investigations on 24 Earth satellites and planetary missions, beginning with the first successful American satellite, Explorer I, and continuing with Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11. He helped develop the first plans for an International Geophysical Year that was held in 1957, and is credited with discovery of a moon of Saturn in 1979, as well as radiation belts around that planet. Van Allen worked at APL both during and after World War II on some of the Laboratory's most prominent early research projects, including the variable time (VT) fuze that helped end the war.
Launched in August 2012, the Van Allen Probes comprise the first dual-spacecraft mission specifically created to investigate the radiation belts that surround Earth. These two belts, filled with highly charged particles, are affected by solar storms and coronal mass ejections and sometimes swell dramatically. When this occurs, they can pose dangers to communications, GPS satellites and human spaceflight activities.
"After only two months in orbit, the Van Allen Probes have made significant contributions to our understanding of the radiation belts," says APL Director Ralph Semmel. "The science and data from these amazing twin spacecraft will allow for more effective and safe space technologies in the decades to come. APL is proud to have built and to operate this new resource for NASA and our nation, and we are proud to have the mission named for one of APL's original staff."
On Oct. 28, the Van Allen Probes completed their 60-day commissioning phase, and began their two-year primary science mission. Each Van Allen spacecraft carries an identical set of five instrument suites that will allow scientists to gather data on the charged particles, fields and waves of the radiation belts in unprecedented detail. Earth's radiation belts can respond in unexpected ways, often quite suddenly and dramatically swelling and shrinking in response to dynamic changes in the sun.
"We are very pleased to have the Van Allen Probes successfully complete the commissioning period," said Kim Cooper, Van Allen Probes project manager at APL. "Over the past 60 days, the many complex systems on the probes have come to life and started to work together. The spacecraft's science instrument teams are already recording illuminating data, and they are taking advantage of their best understanding of the mechanics and properties of the radiation belts to date."
Data about the particles that swirl through the belts, and the fields and waves that transport them, are being gathered by five instrument suites designed and operated by teams at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark; University of Iowa in Iowa City; University of Minnesota in Minneapolis; University of New Hampshire in Durham; and the National Reconnaissance Office in Chantilly, Va. The two Van Allen Probe satellites mark the 65th and 66th spacecraft built and launched by APL since 1961.
The Van Allen Probes will spend the next two years looping through every part of the radiation belts. By having two spacecraft in different regions of the belts at the same time, scientists are finally able to gather data from within the belts themselves, learning how they change over space and time. In addition, a space weather broadcast will transmit sel ected data fr om those instruments around the clock, giving researchers a check on current conditions near Earth.
The Van Allen Probes project is 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. The program is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

http://www.jhuapl.edu/newscenter/pressreleases/2012/121109.asp

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НАСА переименовывает спутники, изучающие радиацонные пояса Земли

 Зонды-близнецы НАСА, исследующие суровые радиационные пояса, опоясывающие Землю, получили новое имя в честь ушедшего из жизни Джеймса Ван Аллена – пионера науки, впервые открывшего эти радиационные зоны, объявило космическое агентство вчера, 9 ноября.

Эти массивные космические аппараты сначала были названы Radiation Belt Storm Probes, когда они были запущены в конце августа этого года. Теперь они будут известны как Van Allen Probes на всё оставшееся время их, предположительно, двухлетней миссии.

Радиационные пояса Ван Аллена состоят из двух областей вокруг Земли, где магнитное поле нашей планеты удерживает триллионы высокоэнергетических солнечных частиц. Джеймс Ван Аллен открыл эти пояса в 1958 г., лишь спустя год после того, как Советский Союз вывел на орбиту первый в мире космический спутник «Спутник-1».

Джеймс Ван Аллен был научным руководителем исследований, связанных с 24-мя земными спутниками, и миссий к другим планетам в течение своей долгой карьеры, сказали представители космического агентства.

28 октября переименованная миссия НАСА завершила мероприятия по вводу оборудования в эксплуатацию и приступила к своей двухлетней научной миссии.

http://www.astronews.ru/cgi-bin/mng.cgi?page=news&news=3004

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NASA's SAMPEX Mission: A Space Weather Warrior
11.01.12



NASA's very first small explorer, the Solar, Anomalous, and Magnetospheric Particle Explorer or SAMPEX, was launched July 3, 1992 to study the zoo of particles and cosmic rays surrounding Earth. Surviving much longer than its expected mission of three years and providing invaluable observations for those who study space weather, the SAMPEX mission is now almost over. In early November, the spacecraft's orbit will decay enough that it will re-enter Earth's atmosphere, burning up completely on re-entry.

 When SAMPEX launched, the sun was just finishing the peak of its 11-year solar cycle and beginning to move toward solar minimum. Scientists were eager to watch what happened in near-Earth space in those first few years, as eruptions on the sun shot out energy and solar material and eventually tapered down into a period of quiet. However, those same effects were also predicted to lead to the spacecraft's demise. As the sun once again ramped up to solar maximum around 2000, the sun's output would create enough atmospheric drag that SAMPEX was expected to tumble out of its stable orbit.

 Contrary to such predictions, SAMPEX is still in orbit having survived that maximum and continuing in orbit long enough to see the sun move toward another solar max, currently predicted for 2013. But time is running out. As the atmosphere near Earth heats and swells in response to the sun's activity, the expansion of the uppermost atmosphere has encased SAMPEX, slowing it down. Soon the 20-year-old spacecraft will succumb to the very space weather it has helped scientists to study. Some time at the end of 2012, the orbit of the five-by-three-foot craft will spiral far enough in that SAMPEX will re-enter Earth's atmosphere, burning up completely and disappearing forever.

 "SAMPEX was launched on a shoe string budget," says Shri Kanekal, a space weather scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Weather Center in Greenbelt, Md. who has been involved with SAMPEX research since its launch. "It was proposed as a minimum one-year mission with a goal of three years, but it lasted for an unexpectedly long time. It has provided 20 years of high quality data, used by nearly everyone who studies near-Earth space."

............................

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/sampex-deorbit.html

«Страж погоды» НАСА, спутник SAMPEX отправляется на пенсию

Самый первый из ряда космических аппаратов Программы малых космических спутников НАСА Solar, Anomalous, and Magnetospheric Particle Explorer, или SAMPEX, был запущен 3 июля 1992 г. для изучения сонма разнообразных частиц, окружающих Землю, и действующих на них космических лучей. Прожившая намного дольше, чем предполагала её запланированная миссия длиной в три года, и постоянно предоставляющая в течение всего своего срока службы ценные сведения специалистам по космической погоде, в настоящее время миссия SAMPEX близка к завершению.

В течение двух десятилетий своей работы спутник SAMPEX, размеры которого составляют всего лишь 1 х 1,5 метра, оставался одним из основных источников данных по изменению радиационного фона вокруг Земли со временем, и пристально следил за радиационными поясами Ван-Аллена, за которыми теперь будет наблюдать запущенная в августе этого года миссия НАСА Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP).

В начале ноября спутник SAMPEX снизится настолько, что сойдёт с орбиты и полностью сгорит при входе в плотные слои земной атмосферы.

http://www.astronews.ru/cgi-bin/mng.cgi?page=news&news=2981

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Спутник SAMPEX войдет в атмосферу 16 ноября - американские военные

МОСКВА, 12 ноя — РИА Новости. Американский научный спутник SAMPEX, предназначенный для изучения магнитосферы, возвращается на Землю после 20 лет работы — 160-килограммовый аппарат войдет в плотные слои атмосферы 16 ноября, свидетельствуют данные Стратегического командования США.
Спутник SAMPEX (Solar, Anomalous, and Magnetospheric Particle Explorer) был запущен с авиабазы Ванденберг 3 июля 1992 года и выведен на орбиту высотой от 520 до 670 километров. Его главной задачей было исследование заряженных частиц и тяжелых ионов в окрестностях Земли.
К моменту запуска SAMPEX Солнце только что прошло через максимум активности, количество вспышек и выбросов плазмы начало снижаться. Данные с борта аппарата позволили ученым понять, как это снижение сказывается на околоземном пространстве.
Начавшийся затем рост солнечной активности должен был похоронить аппарат: ученые полагали, что "разбухание" атмосферы к моменту следующего максимума в 2000 году приведет к торможению аппарата и его сходу с устойчивой орбиты. Но эти предсказания не сбылись — SAMPEX пережил и этот максимум, и почти дотянул до следующего, который ожидается в 2013 году.
Однако вскоре его карьера все же должна завершиться: аппарат уже сильно снизился, сейчас он находится на орбите с апогеем 204 километра и перигеем 189 километров. Американские военные ожидают, что уже 16 ноября SAMPEX войдет в плотные слои атмосферы. Прогноз местоположения "точку входа" спутника пока не дается — слишком велика неопределенность.
Ученые отмечают, что аппарат более чем в три раза перекрыл запланированный срок работы.
"На запуск спутника SAMPEX было потрачено крайне мало средств. Предполагалось, что он проработает год, максимум — три года, но он проработал неожиданно долгий срок. В течение 20 лет он передавал высококачественные научные данные, которые использовали почти все, кто занимался исследованием околоземного пространства", — отметил Шри Канекал из Центра космической погоды имени Годдарда, слова которого приводятся в сообщении на сайте НАСА.
Официально миссия была завершена в 2004 году, однако калифорнийская Aerospace Corporation до последнего времени финансировала прием и обработку данных с этого аппарата.
На смену аппарату SAMPEX пришел инструмент REPT, установленный на борту зондов RBSP, недавно приступивших к работе на околоземной орбите.

http://ria.ru/science/20121112/910452128.html

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Ждемс поздний вечер 04.12.2012
 
 http://novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/forum/messages/forum11/topic11342/message1011053/#message1011053
 http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/agu/nasa-agu-briefings-2012.html

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В ближайшие минуты...


Press Conference at AGU 2012 Fall Meeting to Discuss First Findings from the Van Allen Probes
    
Scientists from NASA's Van Allen Probes mission will discuss some of their preliminary data at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) 2012 Fall Meeting in San Francisco, Ca. on Tue., Dec. 4 at 8:00 a.m. PST.
A press conference titled "New Findings, New Enigmas: NASA's Van Allen Probes Begin their Exploration of the Radiation Belts" will cover reports from the particle and fields and waves teams, including discussion of the comparison of new empirical data to existing models, and new observations that will lead to new investigations.

http://vanallenprobes.jhuapl.edu/newscenter/newsArticles/20121130.php

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AGU 2012 Fall Meeting
 "New Findings, New Enigmas: NASA's Van Allen Probes Begin their Exploration of the Radiation Belts"
 Tuesday, 4 December 2012 - 8:00 a.m. PST

http://vanallenprobes.jhuapl.edu/newscenter/pressKit.php

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NASA Announces Media Briefing on New Van Allen Probes Results

WASHINGTON -- NASA will hold a news conference at 2 p.m. EST, Thursday, Feb. 28, to discuss new observations from NASA's twin Van Allen Probes, which are studying Earth's radiation belts. The briefing will be held at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Kossiakoff Center, 11100 Johns Hopkins Rd., in Laurel, Md.
 
 The new observations have been embargoed by the journal Science until the start of the news conference, which will air live on NASA Television and the agency's website.
 
 The briefing panelists are:
 
 -- Mona Kessel, Van Allen Probes program scientist, NASA Headquarters, Washington
 -- Dan Baker, director of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder
 -- Nicola Fox, Van Allen Probes deputy project scientist, the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md.
 -- Joe Kunches, space scientist, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center, Boulder, Colo.
 
 Journalists unable to attend in-person can ask questions via Twitter after 2 p.m. Feb. 28 using the hashtag #askNASA. To participate by phone, reporters must contact Geoff Brown at 240-228-5618 or Geoffrey.Brown@jhuapl.edu with their media affiliation no later than 10 a.m., Feb. 28.
 
 For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and scheduling information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

 For more information about NASA's Van Allen Probes mission, visit : http://www.nasa.gov/vanallenprobes

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2013/feb/M13-036_Van_Allen_Briefing.html

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http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

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Открыли новый радиационный пояс около Земли    

Van Allen Probes Reveal A New Radiation Belt Around Earth

    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 documented two distinct regions of trapped radiation surrounding our planet. Particle detection instruments aboard the twin Van Allen Probes, built and managed for NASA by The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md., quickly revealed to scientists the existence of this new, transient, third radiation belt.

 A new radiation belt and storage ring has been discovered above Earth; It is shown here using actual data as the middle arc of orange and red of the three arcs seen on each side of the Earth. The new belt was observed for the first time by Relativistic Electron-Proton Telescopes (REPT) flying on NASA's twin Van Allen Probes, which launched on Aug. 30 2012. CREDIT: JHUAPL/LASP

The belts – named for their discoverer, former APL staff member and pioneering physicist James Van Allen – are critical regions for modern society, which is dependent on many space-based technologies. The Van Allen belts are affected by solar storms and space weather and can swell dramatically. When this occurs, they can pose dangers to communications and GPS satellites, as well as humans in space.

 "The fantastic new capabilities and advances in technology in the Van Allen Probes have allowed scientists to see, in unprecedented detail, how the radiation belts are populated with charged particles, and will provide insight on what causes them to change, and how these processes affect the upper reaches of Earth's atmosphere," said John Grunsfeld, NASA's associate administrator for science in Washington,

 This discovery shows the dynamic and variable nature of the radiation belts and improves our understanding of how they respond to solar activity. The findings, published today in the journal Science, are the result of data gathered by the first dual-spacecraft mission to fly through our planet's radiation belts.

 The new high-resolution observations, made by the Relativistic Electron Proton Telescope (REPT) instrument which is part of the Energetic Particle, Composition, and Thermal Plasma Suite (ECT) aboard the Van Allen Probes, revealed there can be three distinct, long-lasting belt structures with the emergence of a second empty slot region, or space, in between.

 "This is the first time we have had such high-resolution instruments look at time, space and energy together in the outer belt," said 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 only resolved it as a single blurry element. When we turned REPT on just two days after launch, a powerful electron acceleration event was already in progress, and we clearly saw the new belt and new slot between it and the outer belt."

 Scientists observed the third belt for four weeks before a powerful interplanetary shock wave from the sun annihilated it. Observations 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.

 "This finding was completely unexpected," said Barry Mauk, Van Allen Probes project scientist at APL. "No one predicted the existence of structure in the outer belt. Observations are now leading the theory."

 Each Van Allen Probe carries an identical set of five instrument suites packages that allow scientists to gather data on the belts in unprecedented detail. The data are important for the study of the effect of space weather on Earth, as well as fundamental physical processes observed around other objects, such as planets in our solar system and distant nebulae.
 "We are able to study these processes just a few thousand kilometers above our own planet's surface," Mauk said. "It is like having a particle accelerator in our own backyard."

 "Even 55 years after their discovery, the Earth's radiation belts still are capable of surprising us and still have mysteries to discover and explain," said APL's Nicky Fox, Van Allen Probes deputy project scientist. "We thought we knew the radiation belts, but we don't. The advances in technology and detection made by NASA in this mission already have had an almost immediate impact on basic science."

 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. APL built the spacecraft and manages the mission for NASA from its campus in Laurel, Md. Goddard manages the program.

 For more information on the Van Allen Probes, visit http://www.nasa.gov/vanallenprobes and http://vanallenprobes.jhuapl.edu .

http://vanallenprobes.jhuapl.edu/newscenter/newsArticles/20130228_2.php

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Специалисты NASA обнаружили еще один радиационный пояс Земли и пока не могут полностью объяснить этот феномен

ВАШИНГТОН, 1 марта. /Корр. ИТАР-ТАСС Иван Лебедев/. Американские ученые обнаружили с помощью научных спутников, запущенных в августе прошлого года, еще один радиационный пояс Земли, который вызвал смятение среди астрономов и специалистов NASA. Объявив в четверг об этом неожиданном открытии, космическое ведомство США назвало его "загадочным" и "феноменальным".

"Мы не знаем, почему мы раньше не видели этот радиационный пояс, - признался ведущий сотрудник Центра космических полетов имени Годдарда Шри Канекал. - Мы не знаем, идет ли речь о каком-то редком явлении. Природа по-прежнему способна удивлять нас".

Канекал сообщил, что третий радиационный пояс был обнаружен космическими аппаратами между двумя другими - уже известными - зонами повышенной радиации, находящимися на высоте в несколько тысяч километров над Землей. "Мы сначала подумали, что это выглядит весьма странно и, наверное, с нашими приборами что-то случилось, - рассказал специалист. - Но время шло, а радиационный пояс оставался на месте. Мы проверили приборы и убедились, что с ними все в порядке".

Однако впереди ученых поджидал еще больший сюрприз. Примерно через месяц после начала наблюдений третий радиационный пояс исчез после мощной вспышки на Солнце, продемонстрировав свой непостоянный характер.

Сотрудники NASA считают, что это открытие меняет нынешние научные представления о радиационных поясах Земли, обнаруженных еще в 1958 году в результате полетов первых советских и американских спутников. Они представляют собой области магнитосферы, в которых накапливаются высокоэнергетичные заряженные частицы, в основном протоны и электроны. Их изучение, в частности, необходимо для подготовки полетов в дальний космос, где существует опасность повышенного воздействия радиации на организм человека.

NASA запустило два спутника-близнеца для изучения радиационных поясов 30 августа прошлого года с помощью ракеты-носителя "Атлас-5", стартовавшей с базы ВВС США неподалеку от космодрома на мысе Канаверал /штат Флорида/. Проект разработан в Центре космических полетов имени Годдарда при содействии ряда других научных лабораторий и рассчитан на два года.

В настоящее время два идентичных космических аппарата находятся на высоких эллиптических орбитах и с помощью многочисленных приборов передают на Землю информацию о процессах, происходящих в ее внутреннем и внешнем радиационных поясах. Спутники следуют друг за другом, что позволяет ученым сравнивать данные, поступающие из одной и той же точки в пространстве с некоторым временным интервалом.

Специалисты NASA рассчитывают получить новые сведения о зарождении потоков элементарных частиц, влиянии солнечной активности на уровень радиации в околоземном пространстве, а также опасности этих явлений для жизнедеятельности человека, в том числе для работы различных радиоэлектронных систем. "Этот проект позволит использовать магнитосферу Земли в качестве естественной лаборатории, чтобы лучше понять, каким образом во Вселенной возникает и распространяется радиация", - заявил сотрудник Лаборатории прикладной физики Университета Джонса Гопкинса Бэрри Мок. По его словам, "в этой области осталось еще немало загадок".

http://www.itar-tass.com/c19/664083.html