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Wednesday, 18 July 2012

Nasa prioritises plasma research to protect orbiting astronauts



Radiation Belt Storm Probe spacecraft

In August 2012, Nasa will launch a pair of probes to measure the Van Allen Radiation Belts, which are two enormous doughnuts of plasma that surround our planet.


The belts are sandwiched between satellites in geostationary and low Earth orbits. The inner belt stays relatively stable, but the outer one unpredictably swells in size as the number of charged particles grows, encompassing many satellites in the process.


By: Mark Brown, Edited by: Duncan Geere


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via Wired.co.uk



http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-07/18/nasa-plasma-mission

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