In Antarctica in January,
2013 – the summer at the South Pole – scientists released 20 balloons, each
eight stories tall, into the air to help answer an enduring space weather
question: when the giant radiation belts surrounding Earth lose material, where
do the extra particles actually go? This NASA-funded mission is called BARREL,
for Balloon Array for Radiation belt Relativistic Electron Losses.
Each balloon launched by the
BARREL team floated for anywhere from three to 40 days, measuring X-rays
produced by fast-moving electrons high up in the atmosphere. BARREL works hand
in hand with another NASA mission called the Van Allen Probes, which travels
directly through the Van Allen radiation belts.
The belts wax and wane over
time in response to incoming energy and material from the sun, sometimes
intensifying the radiation through which satellites orbiting Earth must travel.
Scientists need to understand this process better, and even provide forecasts
of such space weather, in order to protect our spacecraft. Credit: NASA
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