NASA intends to ride the storm – scheduled for two years.

Scheduled for a duration of two years, the picture to the right depicts the Earth and the outer and inner Van Allen Radiation Belts. The area between the two belts is known as the safe zone whereas the two belts represent a hazard both to satellites that must protect their sensitive components as well as space travelers who must be shielded. (Though the total rads they face are much less than the total amount deemed safe by the Atomic Energy Commission for people working with radioactivity.)

So what causes these radiation belts?

The outer belt in made up of electrons which are believed to come from the Geomagnetic storms. A Geomagnetic storm is a solar wind shock wave or cloud of magnetic field which interacts with Earth’s magnetic field.

The inner belt: Is an accumulation of cosmic rays (positive ions) that are bombarding the earth speeding along with such energy that they often smash other particles making some eliminated while others succeed in ricocheting into outer space. Still others are trapped by Earth’s magnetic field bouncing from one side to the other. In addition to the Positive Ions there are the fragments that the neutrons – these usually escape into space, unless they are a massless neutrino in which case they are radioactive and break up into an electron which eventually escape out into the universe.

That is what they are believed to be. This mission aims to tell us more. And I believe it is a good thing we are looking into it as for some reason this Russian Physicist had developed a method for removing the belts through a so called ‘harmless dissipation.’

We are not really positive one way or the other that the Van Allen belt isn’t a shield. The way that particles move in this magnetic field, they bounce around but hit the edges of the belt area and retreat – providing a cool light show on down on earth (the Aurora Borealis) and protecting the earth.

Just wanted to share another one of the projects NASA has planned that most people down here on Earth don’t even realize could save their lives and tell them cool factoids.

Be prepared – NASA Atlas V rocket will be taking off from Cape Canaveral around 2:30 am Thursday.