Posted on 08/03/2023 6:38:40 AM PDT by Jan_Sobieski
The radiation belts around Earth are loaded with dangerous protons and electrons that can damage spacecraft. Now researchers are launching experiments to see if they can clear away the high-energy particles that pose the hazard by blasting them with radio waves.
When humans began exploring space, the first major find was the Van Allen radiation belts, doughnut-shaped zones of magnetically trapped, highly energetic charged particles. The Van Allen belts consist mainly of two rings: The inner belt starts roughly 1000 kilometers above Earth’s surface and extends up to 9600 km, while the outer belt stretches from about 13 500 to 58 000 km above Earth. The location and shapes of the belts can vary, and they can even merge completely.
High-energy protons are found within the area of the inner belt, whose size remains generally stable over the course of years to decades. The outer belt, on the other hand, is home to high-energy electrons and can vary dramatically in size and shape over the course of hours or days.
The huge amounts of radiation in the Van Allen belts can pose major risks for the host of satellites that pass through or orbit within these swaths of space. There are ways to make spacecraft more resistant against this radiation. For instance, spikes on their surfaces known as electron emitters can radiate away excess lower-energy electrons that might otherwise accumulate and cause a spark. In addition, shielding can help keep high-energy protons and electrons from penetrating nonconducting materials and building up inside them, which could lead to a damaging discharge…
(Excerpt) Read more at spectrum.ieee.org ...
I dropped my IEEE membership more than a decade ago, for several reasons. Infestation of stupid, arrogant leftists was one of them.
This Jan fellow, however, who posted the article, has his own agenda. He's pushing the "Moon Landing was a Hoax" lie, using the Van Allen radiation BELTS (they're called "belts" for a very good reason) to claim that a manned mission to the Moon is impossible. He does this despite having been told, repeatedly, how the Apollo missions navigated around the most intense parts and passed through the fringes very quickly.
I suspect that he, and perhaps a couple others, are trying to distract from the ongoing Biden Crime Family scandals.
Maybe Pol Pot was onto something with killing intellectuals.
>> This is ridiculous. Why dont we solve our problems in our back yard before we go messing with God’s universe. <<
What does one have to do with the other?
Sort of. We sent astronauts around the worst of them, and through only the fringes of the outer (weaker) belt.
The radiation belts make certain orbits unsuitable for even unmanned satellites ... radiation and microelectronics don't get along very well.
The belts aren't going away ... they're the result of Earth's magnetic field capturing particles from the Solar wind. It's a good thing.
It’s a crappily worded story. Apparently the intent is not to utterly destory all of the Van Allen belts, but merely to make passage through them safe by pushing them out of the way. It’s almost like describing an aerodynamic vehicle as removing the air from Earth.
We’re locked into the conditions of that V. Belt.
I don’t think we earthwalkers can just clap our hands and “get rid of it”.
Well, the article is from 2014, so did it work?
Just curious, certainly not meaning to encourage the moon-landing-was-a-hoax crows: Why do we never hear about Van Allen belts when they describe launch timing? LIke, we hear, delay...delay...delay... oh, we have to scrub it because the weather. Never delay... delay... oops, now there’s a Van Allen belt? TBF, they DO always talk about “launch windows” without describing why they are when they are.
Much of the Van Allen belts pre-existed any nuclear tests and are there TO PROTECT US FROM SPACE RADIATION.
Your false premise is that astronauts must be sent through the most intense part of the Van Allen radiation BELTS (Which are called "belts" for a very good reason). The Apollo missions used a high angle Earth orbit to navigate around the inner (stronger) belt, and then pass very quickly through the fringes of the outer (weaker) belt.
Your point (A) is utterly and completely FALSE. Your points (B) and (C), therefore, are meaningless.
Joe Biden is a corrupt, influence-peddling criminal.
The total lack of ignorance and ethics in our “scientific” community is just astounding any more. We’ve seen in in human research, vaccines, bringing creatures and worms back to life etc and now this. Just because we can or might be able to do something doesn’t mean we should.
1) The Apollo mission controllers DID pay attention to Solar activity, which affects the thickness and intensity of the belts as well as the radiation environment farther out. A big solar flare might have delayed an Apollo launch, waiting for things to settle down. Even with that possibility, though, passage through the fringes of the outer belt would not have subjected the astronauts to a really serious radiation dose.
2) The inner belt is higher than Low Earth Orbit, where most of today's satellites go. A solar flare might delay the launch of a GEO satellite, but I've never heard of it happening.
OBTW, we had a big solar flare a few months ago, right after a bunch of Starlink satellites got launched. The solar flare caused the ATMOSPHERE to expand slightly and dragged about half of them down out of their very low initial parking orbit.
Why not? Carbon-based life forms are already calling to eliminate carbon, so what the hell.
OK, one last thought: Van Allen belts sound a bit like Earth has a volumnuous but not so massive, ionized hydrogen outer atmosphere layer.
“Launch Window” has to do with when you can launch the rocket so the payload ends up in the right place at the right time, with minimal energy expended. Launches to the ISS are especially critical, since “the right place” is a very small moving object.
“...wiping out the Van Allen belts...” Probably be able to put some mirrors up at the same time to help block/reflect some of those evil sun rays from reaching muvver erf! What a brilliant plan eh? NOT! ATTENTION SHOPPERS! COMMON SENSE IS ON BACK ORDER! 🧐🎆🚫
We have thought that all of those old movies and TV programs about mad scientists trying to destroy the world were just entertainment.
THEY WERE WARNINGS!
MAD SCIENTISTS HAVE TAKEN OVER THE WORLD AND ARE INTENT ON DESTROYING IT!
Me too. Liberal politics had not yet completely taken over TV with their BS.
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