Van Allen Probes Shed Light on Mystery

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Van Allen Probes Shed Light on Decades-old Mystery

New research using data from NASA's Van Allen Probes mission helps resolve decades of scientific uncertainty over the origin of ultra-relativistic electrons in Earth's near space environment, and is likely to influence our understanding of planetary magnetospheres throughout the universe.

Understanding the processes that control the formation and ultimate loss of such relativistic electrons is a primary science objective of the Van Allen Probes and has important practical applications, because of the enormous amounts of radiation trapped within the two Van Allen radiation belts. The belts, consisting of high-energy electrons and protons discovered above Earth's upper atmosphere in 1958 by James Van Allen, can pose a significant hazard to satellites and spacecraft, as well to astronauts performing activities outside a spacecraft.

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