The spacecraft-killing anomaly over the South Atlantic

Astronomy ^ | 17 Feb, 2021 | Doug Adler

[MtnClimber]

A strange dent in Earth’s magnetic field doses orbiting craft with high levels of radiation. It's caused everything from periodic glitches to total mission failure.

The European Space Agency’s Swarm satellites measure the strength of Earth’s magnetic field. In this image, cooler colors (blue) mean lower strength than warmer colors (pink). The large dark region is called the South Atlantic Anomaly

Radiation is a colorless, tasteless, and odorless enemy to both humans and electronics alike. And, thanks to a quirk in Earth’s magnetic field, a region called the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA) regularly exposes orbiting spacecraft to high levels of dangerous particles.

Over the years, the SAA has been responsible for several spacecraft failures and even dictates when astronauts can and can’t perform spacewalks. As the space around Earth becomes filled with an increasing number of craft, what does the SAA mean for the future of spaceflight?

A magnetic anomaly

Earth’s magnetic field is the result of a self-sustaining process called a geodynamo. As molten iron sloshes around our planet’s outer core, it generates massive electrical currents that, in turn, create and reinforce the magnetic field. Earth’s magnetic field itself extends tens of thousands of miles into space, and the area in which the magnetic field interacts with charged particles is called the magnetosphere. The magnetosphere protects life on Earth by deflecting solar wind and cosmic rays, which would otherwise strip away much of the atmosphere, among other detrimental effects.

But not all incoming particles are deflected. Some instead become trapped in two doughnut-shaped regions called the Van Allen Radiation Belts. The inner of the two Van Allen Belts sits an average of about 400 miles (645 kilometers) above the surface of Earth. But the Van Allen Belts are located symmetrically about Earth’s magnetic axis, which is not perfectly aligned with Earth’s rotational axis. The result: The Belts’ distance from Earth’s surface varies around the globe.

The SAA is the region where the inner Van Allen Belt dips closest to Earth — a mere 120 miles (190 km) above the surface. At that altitude, spacecraft in low Earth orbit (LEO) may periodically pass through the SAA, exposing them (and, in the case of manned missions, their occupants) to large amounts of trapped high-energy particles — i.e., potentially damaging doses of radiation.

Lost craft

Radiation from the SAA has undoubtedly affected spacecraft, sometimes leading to their doom. One notable example is the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) X-ray Astronomy Satellite. Also called Hitomi, it was launched into LEO in February 2016 to study high-energy X-rays from extreme processes throughout the universe.

But JAXA lost all contact with the probe on March 26 of that same year. Shortly after, the U.S. Joint Space Operations Center publicly confirmed that it had seen Hitomi break up into at least five pieces. And the largest piece was tumbling, eventually dislodging even more fragments. Hitomi, which had cost upwards of $270 million, was a total loss.

[crusty old prospector]

Oh, mine was the line from the movie “Airplane.”

[headsonpikes]

Thanks for posting - excellent links.

I recall maps in school atlases back in the ‘50s showing the North Magnetic Pole on the mainland of Canada!

Wow! What a huge change!

[Doctor DNA]

Might affect the “Hole in the Ozone” layer, letting in more UV.

[IYAS9YAS]

SuspiciousObservers.org is reporting on these events daily and are saying the same thing.

Yes. That and a severe lack of sunspots. We may truly be headed into a new Maunder Minimum. It won't be pretty.

I live near Albuquerque. Yes, we are desert here, but high desert at well over 5,000 feet. Winters are normally mild here with few really cold days. Some of my trees had already started to bud out the first week of February. But this last weekend and early part of the week we got the tail end of that cold snap.

It reminded me of something I read on a placard at the Coronado State Monument in Bernalillo, NM, which sits very near the Rio Grande just north of Albuquerque. One of the placards talks of the Rio Grande freezing so thick that an ox-cart could be driven out onto the ice. This pre-dated the Maunder Minimum, but was still in what was referred to as the Little Ice Age.

[mbj]

Thank you!

[mbj]

+1 Worth repeating:

...concludes that any modern warming trend has been hijacked by political & environmental agendas, and that the science (tackled below) has been long-ignored and at times deliberately manipulated. <<<<

...
The fact is water vapor is the single largest atmospheric greenhouse gas (2% by volume), Carbon dioxide is second (0.0385% by volume).
...

Water vapor contributes 95% to the greenhouse effect, all other greenhouse gases combined contribute only 5%. Furthermore, the man-made portion of carbon dioxide contributes only 0.117% to the greenhouse effect.

The IPCC does not consider water vapor a greenhouse gas in its reports.

In addition, water vapor absorbs in a much wider band of long wave radiation (4-8 micrometer and 12-70 micrometer bands), whereas Carbon dioxide absorbs in narrow bands (13-16 micrometer) and ozone absorbs in a much smaller narrow band (9-10 micrometer). Thus, water vapor absorbs in a much wider wave length band, it has the single largest greenhouse effect among all the greenhouse gases.

---

Ultimately, the environmental con artists are after money (and power).

[The Antiyuppie]

Climate change.
Trump’s fault.
More money is needed.

[MtnClimber]

If it’s such a problem, then why fly over it? After all, there’s not much else down there.

That is an area I have done a bit of work in. First, all satellites orbit the earth. Some are low Earth orbits, some medium and some high. The low Earth satellites are usually doing a task that is intended to cover the Earth's surface either all at the same time (like GPS or the new Star Link internet sats) or over a period of time (like earth imaging satellites or the space station). These satellites are in full or near polar orbits that are north/south on one side of the orbit and south/north on the other side of the orbit. The satellites are not affected by the Earth's rotation so the Earth spins under the satellite and the ground track looks like a slight spiral. When the time of day lines up with a satellite orbit the anomaly will line up with the satellite orbit and the satellite will pass through it.

[GOPJ]

The South pole is moving toward that ‘anomaly’ The North pole is headed toward Siberia - another reason for the disruption of the so-called Polar Vortex (jet stream) which, in part, drove this last ‘super’ cold spell. As the poles continue to wander toward the equator, expect more cold weather. Very cold.

Feels right ... but do you have a link?

[wombatsrule]

We will have to look into your statement claims due to the fact we have read the polar shifts deviation seem to predictably swing over time from east to west (simplified)

And that still being in the Solar Minimum phase, and almost no CME Coronal Mass Ejection, nor sun spot activity (normal for this period of the 25 stage cycle related to solar distance and CME) then EVERYONE knew that random and extreme cold weather systems flowing from polar vortex areas was a given.

And can someone please show us defined Proof that we have a giant inner cor of Magnetic magma “sloshing” about that creates out polar magnetic fields.?

Blessings

[MtnClimber]

Also, there are geographic poles and magnetic poles. The geographic poles are the locations for the axis of the Earth’s spin. The magnetic poles are due to the magnetic field poles. It is the magnetic poles that wander around and sometimes even totally swap ends.

[MHGinTN]

The demon rats are telling US that throwing more money into the bottomless pit of climate change will stop the process. The Magic Thinking endemic to demon rats is shocking to behold most of the time.

[USAF1985]

That’s why a lot of s-ace craft are radiation hardened with solid gold circuitry. Want to earn some money? Figure out how to salvage derelict spacecraft cheaply...get rich.

[Wuli]

ping

[gitmo]

I’ve heard that Gorilla Glue helps.

[Rio]

And can someone please show us defined Proof that we have a giant inner cor of Magnetic magma “sloshing” about that creates out polar magnetic fields.?

That's what they told me in fifth grade science class, so it must be true.

[PrairieLady2]

I have a weather app that allows me to check weather conditions all over the world. During the cold snap I checked the weather conditions down around the equator only to discover that it was relatively cold there too! Temps were 60’s to 70’s and in some places down into the 50’s. It was warmer in antartica than it was here in the states!

The app is called ‘MyRadar’ and can be found in google app store. Its free and you can purchase addons for it.

[wombatsrule]

Oh, ok, hmms... you trying to trick me?

roflmao

good humor

Blessings

[Tijeras_Slim]

Did radiation lot acceptance tests for many a year. Mostly total dose.

[BenLurkin]

Oddly enough (and probably coincidentally as well) the anomaly is antipodal to that part of the planet which sees repeated, large, and very deep earthquakes.