NASA Earth magnetosphere investigator satellites
The
Van Allen Probes
, formerly known as the
Radiation Belt Storm Probes
(RBSP),
[1]
were two
robotic spacecraft
that were used to study the
Van Allen radiation belts
that surround Earth.
NASA
conducted the Van Allen Probes mission as part of the
Living With a Star
program.
[2]
Understanding the radiation belt environment and its variability has practical applications in the areas of spacecraft operations, spacecraft system design, mission planning and astronaut safety.
[3]
The probes were launched on 30 August 2012 and operated for seven years. Both spacecraft were deactivated in 2019 when they ran out of fuel. They are expected to
deorbit
during the 2030s.
Overview
[
edit
]
NASA's
Goddard Space Flight Center
manages the overall
Living With a Star
program of which RBSP is a project, along with
Solar Dynamics Observatory
(SDO). The Johns Hopkins University
Applied Physics Laboratory
(APL) was responsible for the overall implementation and instrument management for RBSP. The primary mission was scheduled to last 2 years, with expendables expected to last for 4 years. The primary mission was planned to last only 2 years because there was great concern as to whether the satellite's electronics would survive the hostile radiation environment in the radiation belts for a long period of time. When after 7 years the mission ended, it was not because of electronics failure but because of running out of fuel. This proved the resiliency of the spacecraft's electronics. The spacecraft's longevity in the radiation belts was considered a record-breaking performance for satellites in terms of radiation resiliency.
[4]
The spacecraft worked in close collaboration with the
Balloon Array for RBSP Relativistic Electron Losses
(BARREL), which can measure particles that break out of the belts and make it all the way to Earth's atmosphere.
[5]
[6]
The Applied Physics Laboratory managed, built, and operated the Van Allen Probes for NASA.
The probes are named after
James Van Allen
, the discoverer of the radiation belts they studied.
[4]
Milestones
[
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]
Launch vehicle
[
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]
On 16 March 2009 United Launch Alliance (ULA) announced that NASA had awarded ULA a contract to launch RSBP using an
Atlas V
401 rocket.
[9]
NASA delayed the launch as it counted down to the four-minute mark early morning on 23 August. After bad weather prevented a launch on 24 August, and a further precautionary delay to protect the rocket and satellites from
Hurricane Isaac
, liftoff occurred on 30 August 2012 at 4:05 AM EDT.
[10]
End of mission
[
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]
On 12 February 2019, mission controllers began the process of ending the Van Allen Probes mission by lowering the spacecraft's perigees, which increases their atmospheric drag and results in their eventual
destructive reentry
into the atmosphere. This ensures that the probes reenter in a reasonable timespan, in order to pose little threat with regards to the problem of
orbital debris
. The probes were projected to cease operations by early 2020, or whenever they ran out of the necessary propellant to keep their solar panels pointed at the Sun. Reentry into the atmosphere is predicted to occur in 2034.
[11]
Van Allen Probe B was shut down on 19 July 2019, after mission operators confirmed that it was out of propellant.
[12]
Van Allen Probe A, also running low on propellant, was deactivated on 18 October 2019, putting an end to the Van Allen Probes mission after seven years in operation.
[13]
Science
[
edit
]
The
Van Allen radiation belts
swell and shrink over time as part of a much larger
space weather
system driven by energy and material that erupt off the Sun's surface and fill the entire
Solar System
. Space weather is the source of
aurora
that shimmer in the night sky, but it also can disrupt satellites, cause power grid failures and disrupt
GPS
communications. The Van Allen Probes were built to help scientists understand this region and to better design
spacecraft
that can survive the rigors of
outer space
.
[2]
The mission aimed to further scientific understanding of how populations of relativistic electrons and ions in space form or change in response to changes in
solar activity
and the
solar wind
.
[2]
The mission's general scientific objectives were to:
[2]
- Discover which processes - singly or in combination - accelerate and transport the particles in the radiation belt, and under what conditions.
- Understand and quantify the loss of electrons from the radiation belts.
- Determine the balance between the processes that cause electron acceleration and those that cause losses.
- Understand how the radiation belts change in the context of
geomagnetic storms
.
In May 2016, the research team published their initial findings, stating that the
ring current
that encircles Earth behaves in a much different way than previously understood.
[14]
The ring current lies at approximately 10,000 to 60,000 kilometres (6,200 to 37,000 mi) from Earth. Electric current variations represent the dynamics of only the low-energy protons. The data indicates that there is a substantial, persistent ring current around the Earth even during non-storm times, which is carried by high-energy protons. During geomagnetic storms, the enhancement of the ring current is due to new, low-energy protons entering the near-Earth region.
[14]
[15]
Scientific results
[
edit
]
In February 2013, a third, temporary radiation belt was discovered using data gathered by the Van Allen Probes. After a few weeks, the third belt was destroyed by a burst of solar wind.
[16]
Spacecraft
[
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]
The Van Allen Probes consisted of two spin-stabilized spacecraft that were launched with a single Atlas V rocket. The two probes had to operate in the harsh conditions they were studying; while other satellites have the luxury of turning off or protecting themselves in the middle of intense space weather, the Van Allen Probes had to continue to collect data. The probes were, therefore, built to withstand the constant bombardment of particles and radiation they would experience in this intense area of space.
[2]
Instruments
[
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]
Because it was vital that the two craft make identical measurements to observe changes in the radiation belts through both space and time, each probe carried the following instruments:
- Energetic Particle, Composition, and Thermal Plasma (ECT) Instrument Suite;
[17]
The Principal Investigator is Harlan Spence from
University of New Hampshire
.
[18]
Key partners in this investigation are
LANL
,
Southwest Research Institute
,
Aerospace Corporation
and
LASP
- Electric and Magnetic Field Instrument Suite and Integrated Science (EMFISIS);
[19]
The Principal Investigator is
Craig Kletzing
from the
University of Iowa
.
- Electric Field and Waves Instrument (EFW); The Principal Investigator is John Wygant from the
University of Minnesota
. Key partners in this investigation include the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Colorado at Boulder.
- Radiation Belt Storm Probes Ion Composition Experiment (RBSPICE); The Principal Investigator is
Louis J. Lanzerotti
from the
New Jersey Institute of Technology
. Key partners include the
Applied Physics Laboratory
and Fundamental Technologies, LLC.
- Relativistic Proton Spectrometer (RPS) from the
National Reconnaissance Office
See also
[
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]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Van Allen Probes: NASA Renames Radiation Belt Mission to Honor Pioneering Scientist"
. Science Daily. Reuters. 11 November 2012
. Retrieved
12 November
2012
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
"RBSP - Mission Overview"
.
NASA
. 28 March 2012
. Retrieved
8 July
2012
.
- ^
Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP)
Archived
2 May 2012 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
a
b
"NASA's resilient van Allen Probes shut down ? Spaceflight Now"
.
- ^
Karen C. Fox (22 February 2011).
"Launching Balloons in Antarctica"
.
NASA
. Retrieved
13 July
2012
.
- ^
Balloon Array for RBSP Relativistic Electron Losses
- ^
"Construction Begins!"
. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. January 2010. Archived from
the original
on 24 July 2012.
- ^
"Probes launched"
.
Space.com
. 30 August 2012.
- ^
"United Launch Alliance Atlas V Awarded Four NASA Rocket Launch Missions"
. ULA. 16 March 2009. Archived from
the original
on 1 August 2009.
- ^
"Tropical Storm Isaac Delays NASA Launch"
. The Brevard Times. Archived from
the original
on 12 November 2020
. Retrieved
26 August
2012
.
- ^
Gebhardt, Chris (14 February 2019).
"Beginning of the end: NASA's Van Allen probes prepare for mission's end"
.
NASASpaceFlight.com
. Retrieved
17 February
2019
.
- ^
"Van Allen Probes Spacecraft B Completes Mission Operations"
.
Applied Physics Laboratory
. 23 July 2019
. Retrieved
10 October
2019
.
- ^
"Ten Highlights From NASA's Van Allen Probes Mission"
.
NASA
. 17 October 2019
. Retrieved
21 October
2019
.
- ^
a
b
Cowing, Keith (19 May 2016).
"Van Allen Probes Reveal Long-term Behavior of Earth's Ring Current"
.
Space Ref
. Retrieved
20 May
2016
.
[
dead link
]
- ^
Gkioulidou, Matina; et al. (19 May 2016).
"Storm time dynamics of ring current protons: Implications for the long-term energy budget in the inner magnetosphere"
.
Geophysical Research Letters
.
43
(10): 4736?4744.
Bibcode
:
2016GeoRL..43.4736G
.
doi
:
10.1002/2016GL068013
.
- ^
Cowen, Ron (28 February 2013).
"Ephemeral third ring of radiation makes appearance around Earth"
.
Nature
.
doi
:
10.1038/nature.2013.12529
. Retrieved
26 March
2024
.
- ^
"RBSP-ETC // About"
. Archived from
the original
on 10 June 2008.
- ^
UNH, Kristi Donahue.
"RBSP ECT team"
.
rbsp-ect.sr.unh.edu
. Retrieved
24 April
2017
.
- ^
Kletzing, C. A.; Kurth, W. S.; Acuna, M.; MacDowall, R. J.; Torbert, R. B.; Averkamp, T.; Bodet, D.; Bounds, S. R.; Chutter, M.; Connerney, J.; Crawford, D.; Dolan, J. S.; Dvorsky, R.; Hospodarsky, G. B.; Howard, J. (1 November 2013).
"The Electric and Magnetic Field Instrument Suite and Integrated Science (EMFISIS) on RBSP"
.
Space Science Reviews
.
179
(1): 127?181.
doi
:
10.1007/s11214-013-9993-6
.
ISSN
1572-9672
.
External links
[
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]
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Launches are separated by dots ( ? ), payloads by commas ( , ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ).
Crewed flights
are underlined. Launch failures are marked with the † sign. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in parentheses).
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