Astronomers Solve Mystery of Vanishing Electrons in Earth's Outer Radiation Belt

UCLA researchers have explained the puzzling disappearing act of energetic electrons in Earth's outer radiation belt, using data collected from a fleet of orbiting spacecraft. (Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center / Image by Reto Stöckli /Enhancements by Robert Simmon)

UCLA researchers have explained the puzzling disappearing act of energetic electrons in Earth's outer radiation belt, using data collected from a fleet of orbiting spacecraft.

In a paper published Jan. 29 in the advance online edition of the journalNature Physics, the team shows that the missing electrons are swept away from the planet by a tide of solar wind particles during periods of heightened solar activity.

"This is an important milestone in understanding Earth's space environment," said lead study author Drew Turner, an assistant researcher in the UCLA Department of Earth and Space Sciences and a member of UCLA's Institute for Geophysics and Planetary Physics (IGPP). "We are one step closer towards understanding and predicting space weather phenomena."

During powerful solar events such as coronal mass ejections, parts of the magnetized outer layers of sun's atmosphere crash onto Earth's magnetic field, triggering geomagnetic storms capable of damaging the electronics of orbiting spacecraft. These cosmic squalls have a peculiar effect on Earth's outer radiation belt, a doughnut-shaped region of space filled with electrons so energetic that they move at nearly the speed of light.

"During the onset of a geomagnetic storm, nearly all the electrons trapped within the radiation belt vanish, only to come back with a vengeance a few hours later," said Vassilis Angelopoulos, a UCLA professor of Earth and space sciences and IGPP researcher.

The missing electrons surprised scientists when the trend was first measured in the 1960s by instruments onboard the earliest spacecraft sent into orbit, said study co-author Yuri Shprits, a research geophysicist with the IGPP and the departments of Earth and space sciences, and atmospheric and oceanic sciences.

"It's a puzzling effect," he said. "Oceans on Earth do not suddenly lose most of their water, yet radiation belts filled with electrons can be rapidly depopulated."

Even stranger, the electrons go missing during the peak of a geomagnetic storm, a time when one might expect the radiation belt to be filled with energetic particles because of the extreme bombardment by the solar wind.

Where do the electrons go? This question has remained unresolved since the early 1960s. Some believed the electrons were lost to Earth's atmosphere, while others hypothesized that the electrons were not permanently lost at all but merely temporarily drained of energy so that they appeared absent.

"Our study in 2006 suggested that electrons may be, in fact, lost to the interplanetary medium and decelerated by moving outwards," Shprits said. "However, until recently, there was no definitive proof for this theory."

To resolve the mystery, Turner and his team used data from three networks of orbiting spacecraft positioned at different distances from Earth to catch the escaping electrons in the act. The data show that while a small amount of the missing energetic electrons did fall into the atmosphere, the vast majority were pushed away from the planet, stripped away from the radiation belt by the onslaught of solar wind particles during the heightened solar activity that generated the magnetic storm itself.

A greater understanding of Earth's radiation belts is vital for protecting the satellites we rely on for global positioning, communications and weather monitoring, Turner said. Earth's outer radiation belt is a harsh radiation environment for spacecraft and astronauts; the high-energy electrons can penetrate a spacecraft's shielding and wreak havoc on its delicate electronics. Geomagnetic storms triggered when the oncoming particles smash into Earth's magnetosphere can cause partial or total spacecraft failure.

"While most satellites are designed with some level of radiation protection in mind, spacecraft engineers must rely on approximations and statistics because they lack the data needed to model and predict the behavior of high-energy electrons in the outer radiation belt," Turner said.

During the 2003 "Halloween Storm," more than 30 satellites reported malfunctions, and one was a total loss, said Angelopoulos, a co-author of the current research. As the solar maximum approaches in 2013, marking the sun's peak activity over a roughly 11-year cycle, geomagnetic storms may occur as often as several times per month.

"High-energy electrons can cut down the lifetime of a spacecraft significantly," Turner said. "Satellites that spend a prolonged period within the active radiation belt might stop functioning years early."

While a mechanized spacecraft might include multiple redundant circuits to reduce the risk of total failure during a solar event, human explorers in orbit do not have the same luxury. High-energy electrons can punch through astronauts' spacesuits and pose serious health risks, Turner said.

"As a society, we've become incredibly dependent on space-based technology," he said. "Understanding this population of energetic electrons and their extreme variations will help create more accurate models to predict the effect of geomagnetic storms on the radiation belts."

Key observational data used in this study was collected by a network of NASA spacecraft known as THEMIS (Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms); Angelopoulos is the principal investigator of the THEMIS mission. Additional information was obtained from two groups of weather satellites called POES (Polar Operational Environmental Satellite) and GOES (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite).

A new collaboration between UCLA and Russia's Moscow State University promises to paint an even clearer picture of these vanishing electrons. Slated for launch in the spring of 2012, the Lomonosov spacecraft will fly in low Earth orbit to measure highly energetic particles with unprecedented accuracy, said Shprits, the principal investigator of the project. Several key instruments for the mission are being developed and assembled at UCLA.

Earth's radiation belts were discovered in 1958 by Explorer I, the first U.S. satellite that traveled to space.

"What we are studying was the first discovery of the space age," Shprits said. "People realized that launches of spacecraft didn't only make the news, they could also make scientific discoveries that were completely unexpected."

This project received federal funding from NASA and the National Science Foundation. Other co-authors include Michael Hartinger, a UCLA graduate student in Earth and space sciences.

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California - Los Angeles. The original article was written by Kim DeRose.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Drew L. Turner, Yuri Shprits, Michael Hartinger, Vassilis Angelopoulos. Explaining sudden losses of outer radiation belt electrons during geomagnetic storms.Nature Physics, 2012; DOI: 10.1038/nphys2185

Scientists Produce World's First Magnetic Soap

The liquid crystal progression of each surfactant was investigated by the solvent penetration method (i.e. phase cut). A small amount of surfactant was placed on a microscope slide under a coverslip. The slide was mounted on the cover slide and heated until the sample was fluid and completely isotropic. After slow cooling (1.0 °C min-1) to 25 °C, a drop of water was added to the edge of the coverslip. As the water penetrated the surfactant, a concentration gradient was established, from water at one side to pure surfactant at the other, enabling the entire range of mesophases to be observed in the field of view. (Credit: Image courtesy of Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL))


ScienceDaily (Jan. 23, 2012) — Scientists from Bristol University have developed a soap, composed of iron rich salts dissolved in water, that responds to a magnetic field when placed in solution. The soap’s magnetic properties were shown with neutrons at the Institut Laue-Langevin to result from tiny iron-rich clumps that sit within the watery solution. The generation of this property in a fully functional soap could calm concerns over the use of soaps in oil-spill clean ups and revolutionise industrial cleaning products.


Scientists have long been searching for a way to control soaps (or surfactants as they are known in industry) once they are in solution to increase their ability to dissolve oils in water and then remove them from a system. The team at Bristol University have previously worked on soaps sensitive to light, carbon dioxide or changes in pH, temperature or pressure. Their latest breakthrough, reported inAngewandte Chemie, is the world’s first soap sensitive to a magnetic field.

Ionic liquid surfactants, composed mostly of water with some transition metal complexes (heavy metals like iron bound to halides such as bromine or chlorine) have been suggested as potentially controllable by magnets for some time, but it had always been assumed that their metallic centres were too isolated within the solution, preventing the long-range interactions required to be magnetically active.

The team at Bristol, lead by Professor Julian Eastoe produced their magnetic soap by dissolving iron in a range of inert surfactant materials composed of chloride and bromide ions, very similar to those found in everyday mouthwash or fabric conditioner. The addition of the iron creates metallic centres within the soap particles.

To test its properties, the team introduced a magnet to a test tube containing their new soap lying beneath a less dense organic solution. When the magnet was introduced the iron-rich soap overcame both gravity and surface tension between the water and oil, to levitate through the organic solvent and reach the source of the magnetic energy, proving its magnetic properties.

Once the surfactant was developed and shown to be magnetic, Prof Eastoe’s team took it to the Institut Laue-Langevin, the world’s flagship centre for neutron science, and home to the world’s most intense neutron source, to investigate the science behind its remarkable property.

When surfactants are added to water they are known to form tiny clumps (particles called micelles). Scientists at ILL used a technique called “small angle neutron scattering (SANS)” to confirm that it was this clumping of the iron-rich surfactant that brought about its magnetic properties.

Dr Isabelle Grillo, responsible of the Chemistry Laboratories at ILL: “The particles of surfactant in solution are small and thus difficult to see using light but are easily revealed by SANS which we use to investigate the structure and behaviour of all types of materials with typical sizes ranging from the nanometer to the tenth of micrometer.”

The potential applications of magnetic surfactants are huge. Their responsiveness to external stimuli allows a range of properties, such as their electrical conductivity, melting point, the size and shape of aggregates and how readily its dissolves in water to be altered by a simple magnetic on and off switch. Traditionally these factors, which are key to the effective application of soaps in a variety of industrial settings, could only be controlled by adding an electric charge or changing the pH, temperature or pressure of the system, all changes that irreversibly alter the system composition and cost money to remediate.

Its magnetic properties also makes it easier to round up and remove from a system once it has been added, suggesting further applications in environmental clean ups and water treatment. Scientific experiments which require precise control of liquid droplets could also be made easier with the addition of this surfactant and a magnetic field.

Professor Julian Eastoe, University of Bristol: “As most magnets are metals, from a purely scientific point of view these ionic liquid surfactants are highly unusual, making them a particularly interesting discovery. From a commercial point of view, though these exact liquids aren’t yet ready to appear in any household product, by proving that magnetic soaps can be developed, future work can reproduce the same phenomenon in more commercially viable liquids for a range of applications from water treatment to industrial cleaning products.”

Peter Dowding an industrial chemist, not involved in the research: “Any systems which act only when responding to an outside stimulus that has no effect on its composition is a major breakthrough as you can create products which only work when they are needed to. Also the ability to remove the surfactant after it has been added widens the potential applications to environmentally sensitive areas like oil spill clean ups where in the past concerns have been raised.”

Germany's ROSAT Satellite Could Come Crashing Down Somewhere On Earth As Soon As Friday

Germany's ROSAT Satellite Could Come Crashing Down Somewhere On Earth As Soon As Friday | Popular Science@import "/files/css/1857af3413d9ad8bd2f9d3926af8ec39.css";@import "/files/css/33f6b7ecb4513ed2fe6c670880a27187.css"; home Login/Register Newsletter Subscribe RSS GadgetsComputersCamerasSmartphonesVideo GamesCarsConceptsHybridsElectric CarsScienceFuture of the EnvironmentEnergyHealthPopSci Eco TourTechnologyMilitaryAviationSpaceRobotsEngineeringDIYProjectsHacksToolsAuto DIYMore From Our Partner: Toolmonger GalleriesVideosColumnsThe GrouseSex FilesGreen Dream Innovation ChallengesHow It WorksFeatures Tweet Digg Germany's ROSAT Satellite Could Come Crashing Down Somewhere On Earth As Soon As Friday By Clay Dillow Posted 10.19.2011 at 11:59 am 6 Comments
ROSAT Artist's rendering. German Aerospace Center View Photo Gallery

If you’re feeling lucky after NASA’s UARS satellite fell safely from orbit into the middle of the Pacific--rather than into the middle of Portland--let’s hope your luck doesn’t run out. The German Aerospace Center says the retired ROSAT satellite’s orbit is rapidly decaying, and pieces of it could start falling from the sky as early as Friday and up until Monday. That should make for an exciting weekend.

The 2.69-ton ROSAT is roughly the size of a minivan, and though parts of it will burn up in the atmosphere upon reentry, experts think as many as 30 pieces will survive the plunge to Earth. There’s no telling where they might land, of course, and pretty much every bit of real estate between 53 degrees north and 53 degrees south is a candidate landing zone.

See our gallery of the space race's greatest falls to Earth. (List compiled by Jonathan's Space Report.)

Related ArticlesNASA's Falling UARS Satellite Found in Remote South PacificSolar Storm Turns Communication Satellite to an Out-of-Control 'Zombiesat'As Zombiesat Approaches, Other Satellites Have to Flee Along Intricate PathsTagsTechnology, Clay Dillow, falling satellites, german aerospace center, rosat, satellites, SpaceThat landing will be rough. ROSAT rings the Earth once every 90 minutes. Its reentry speed will be some 17,400 miles per hour, though it will slow considerably as it enters the atmosphere. Moreover, it won’t land in any one place. When UARS returned to Earth last month, two dozen pieces are believed to have scattered across a 500-mile swath of ocean. If ROSAT were to come down upon a populated land area, the impact points would be many.

But remain calm. The odds of that happening are very slim. In fact, the likelihood of someone somewhere on Earth being struck by a piece of ROSAT has been roughly calculated to 1-in-2,000--slightly higher than the odds with UARS because there are more and larger pieces coming down this time. But spread those already-long odds among the billions of people living between 53 degrees north and 53 degrees south, and your personal odds of being struck down by space debris are more like 1-in-14 trillion.

[AP]

Previous Article: Smartphone Accelerometers Could Be Used To Eavesdrop On Nearby DevicesNext Article: European Alternative to GPS Lifts Off Tomorrow From South America, Via Russian Rocket 6 Comments Link to this comment Sprite 10/19/11 at 12:58 pm

Another one bites the dust! Hey! Hey!

Link to this comment Grunt 10/19/11 at 2:15 pm

Interesting side note of hacking, and so on....

Allegations of cyber-attacks causing the failureIn 2008, NASA investigators were reported to have found that the ROSAT failure was linked to a cyber-intrusion at Goddard Space Flight Center. This was also reported through Bruce Schneier's blog, a highly-regarded commentary on IT security issues.

The root of this allegation is a 1999 advisory report by Thomas Talleur, senior investigator for cyber-security at NASA. This advisory is reported to describe a series of attacks from Russia that reached computers in the X-ray Astrophysics Section (i.e. ROSAT's) at Goddard, and took control of computers used for the control of satellites, not just a passive "snooping" attack. The advisory stated:

"Hostile activities compromised [NASA] computer systems that directly and indirectly deal with the design, testing, and transferring of satellite package command-and-control codes."

The advisory is further reported as claiming that the ROSAT incident was "coincident with the intrusion" and that, "Operational characteristics and commanding of the ROSAT were sufficiently similar to other space assets to provide intruders with valuable information about how such platforms are commanded,". Without public access to the advisory, it is obviously impossible to comment in detail. However it does seem to describe a real intrusion, there is a plausible "no attack" explanation for ROSAT's failure, and the report is claimed to link the two incidents as no more than "coincident". IT security remains a significant issue for NASA, other systems including the Earth Observing System having also been attacked.

Link to this comment JediMindset 10/19/11 at 3:02 pm

@Grunt,
wtf are you talking about.

on a serious note, i hope a piece lands on my lawn.

_________________
The people of the world only divide into two kinds, One sort with brains who hold no religion, The other with religion and no brain.

- Abu-al-Ala al-Marri

Link to this comment Grunt 10/19/11 at 3:24 pm

JediMindset,
Fair question, I found the above information near the bottom of

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ROSAT

I was just adding more interesting information to this article, other than another satellite falls down.

Link to this comment JediMindset 10/19/11 at 5:07 pm

@Grunt,

ohhh ok. thanks for the information.

_________________
The people of the world only divide into two kinds, One sort with brains who hold no religion, The other with religion and no brain.

- Abu-al-Ala al-Marri

Link to this comment Grunt 10/21/11 at 8:08 am

I hoped bringing up the hacking would inspire more conversation. I guess it did not help.

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This month, we examine all the ways we're looking for extraterrestrial life, within our solar system and beyond.

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Dextre, the Space Station's Robotic Arm, Will Try its Hand at Satellite Refueling

Dextre, the Space Station's Robotic Arm, Will Try its Hand at Satellite Refueling | Popular Science@import "/files/css/6edcefdeec368e2924b9d287beacf12b.css";@import "/files/css/33f6b7ecb4513ed2fe6c670880a27187.css"; home Login/Register Newsletter Subscribe RSS GadgetsComputersCamerasSmartphonesSmart TVsVideo GamesMore From Our Partner: CEAGCarsConceptsHybridsElectric CarsAuto DIYMore From Our Partner: DriversideScienceFuture of the EnvironmentEnergyHealthPopSci Eco TourTechnologyMilitaryAviationSpaceRobotsDIYProjectsHacksToolsAuto DIYMore From Our Partner: Toolmonger GalleriesVideosColumnsThe GrouseSex FilesGreen Dream How It WorksAuto DIYFeatures Facebook Digg Stumbleupon Reddit Print Email Dextre, the Space Station's Robotic Arm, Will Try its Hand at Satellite Refueling Finally, gainful employment for Canada's space robot By Clay Dillow Posted 06.16.2011 at 11:20 am 7 Comments
Dextre NASA View Photo Gallery

Dextre, the Canadian robot living idly on the exterior of the International Space Station, will freeload no more. Dextre’s first major job as the ISS’s man on the outside will demonstrate key technologies that will hopefully lead to future robotic systems that can refuel satellites in orbit, creating a new breed of legacy satellites that don’t have to be scrapped simply because their fuel supplies have dwindled.

Take a look inside Dextre's toolbox

Dextre--or the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator--is a two-armed robot designed to assist with spacewalk activities on the ISS and, in some cases, replace those extravehicular activities. But thus far, Dextre has been more of a helping hand, performing menial tasks like unpacking cargo.

Related ArticlesDextre is Alive, Well, and on VacationJapan Plans to Send its Own Tweeting Humanoid Robot to the ISS in 2013Commission's Final Report to NASA Recommends In-Space RefuelingTagsTechnology, Clay Dillow, dextre, international space station, ISS, robotic arm, robotics, robotsBut it’s now Dextre’s time to cut its teeth on some real cutting-edge space labor. When Atlantis launches for the ISS next month, it will deliver Dextre a collection of fittings and tools that match up to the fixtures integrated into various satellites and spacecraft. Dextre will use these over the next two years to demonstrate that a robotic system is capable of refueling a satellite in orbit, paving the way for a future robotic mission that will try to refuel an aging NOAA weather satellite.

But this isn’t simply pumping gas. The current crop of satellite in orbit--that more than 350 commercial satellites and another 100 government-backed satellites--weren’t designed with refueling in mind. They pack no systems to aid in robotic navigation or the reflectors or symbol language that computer vision systems often use for robotic vehicular docking.

These satellites were basically designed to never be refueled at all, so there are myriad problems spanning robotics, satellite design, navigation systems, and computer vision that have to be solved before a robotic mission can launch. On top of all that, Dextre will also demo rudimentary satellite repair capabilities.

That’s a big job, but the payoff is potentially huge. Satellites, of course, are expensive to build and very expensive to haul into orbit. Extending their lives could spell big savings down here on the ground while helping us get the most out of our space investments. As such, NASA hopes to partner with a commercial entity to develop a satellite refueling and servicing business--a collaboration that, if Dextre is successful, could launch a robotic mission to refuel that NOAA satellite and potentially nine other satellites that by that point will be running on fumes.

[Discovery News]

Previous Article: Archive Gallery: Going Deep With Vintage SubmersiblesNext Article: Herschel Telescope Spots a Star Spewing Powerful Water Jets into Interstellar Space 7 Comments Link to this comment Aldrons Last Hope 06/16/11 at 1:19 pm

The company that builds this is an amazing company and has been on the cutting edge of robotics for the last 20 years

http://sm.mdacorporation.com/

Link to this comment B.V. 06/16/11 at 1:25 pm

would be nice to know what kind of fuel they were using

Link to this comment boka 06/16/11 at 1:54 pm

The space station Arm and B.C. Bud. Canada's most famous exports.

Link to this comment yosemite 06/16/11 at 3:14 pm

its funny cause history tends to show that whenever money is saved it is never reused to fuel stuff like more satellites. more often than not the money is given to something else :(

Link to this comment drchuck1 06/16/11 at 4:30 pm

hydrazine is the fuel, mr. negative :)

Link to this comment beantown179 06/16/11 at 10:35 pm

Unfortunately the Canadian Dexter began destroying parts made in Boston after the Bruins won the Stanley Cup.

Link to this comment --HyperNova-- 06/19/11 at 9:27 pm

This can possibly bring an end to satellite's being scrapped due to their low level or gas. Canada has done a phenomenal job in the assistance of the International space station

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