What Space Weather Means For You

What Space Weather Means for You

In space, invisible, fast-moving particles from the Sun and other sources in deep space zip around, their behavior shaped by dynamic electric and magnetic fields. There are so few of these particles that space is considered a vacuum, but what’s there packs a punch. Together, we call all of this invisible activity space weather — and it affects our technology both in space and here on Earth.

This month, two new missions are launching to explore two different kinds of space weather.

Scrambled signals

Many of our communications and navigation systems — like GPS and radio — rely on satellites to transmit their signals. When signals are sent from satellites down to Earth, they pass through a dynamic zone on the upper edge of Earth’s atmosphere called the ionosphere.

Gases in the ionosphere have been cooked into a sea of positive- and negative-charged particles by solar radiation. These electrically charged particles are also mixed in with neutral gases, like the air we breathe. The charged particles respond to electric and magnetic fields, meaning they react to space weather. Regular weather can also affect this part of the atmosphere.

Influenced by this complicated web of factors, structured bubbles of charged gas sometimes form in this part of the atmosphere, particularly near the equator. When signals pass through these bubbles, they can get distorted, causing failed communications or inaccurate GPS fixes.

Right now, it’s hard to predict just when these bubbles will form or how they’ll mess with signals. The two tiny satellites of the E-TBEx mission will try to shed some light on this question.

As these CubeSats fly around Earth, they’ll send radio signals to receiving stations on the ground. Scientists will examine the signals received in order to see whether — and if so, how much — they were jumbled as they traveled through the upper atmosphere and down to Earth.

All together, this information will give scientists a better idea of how these bubbles form and change and how much they disrupt signals — information that could help develop strategies for mitigating these bubbles’ disruptive effects.

Damaged satellites

The high-energy, fast-moving particles that fill space are called radiation. Every single spacecraft — from scientific satellites sprinkled throughout the solar system to the communications satellites responsible for relaying the GPS signals we use every day — must weather the harsh radiation of space.

Strikes from tiny, charged particles can spark memory damage or computer upsets on spacecraft, and over time, degrade hardware. The effects are wide-ranging, but ultimately, radiation can impact important scientific data, or prevent people from getting the proper navigation signals they need.

Space Environment Testbeds — or SET, for short — is our mission to study how to better protect satellites from space radiation.

SET aims its sights on a particular neighborhood of near-Earth space called the slot region: the gap between two of Earth’s vast, doughnut-shaped radiation belts, also known as the Van Allen Belts. The slot region is thought to be calmer than the belts, but known to vary during extreme space weather storms driven by the Sun. How much it changes exactly, and how quickly, remains uncertain.

The slot region is an attractive one for satellites — especially commercial navigation and communications satellites that we use every day — because from about 12,000 miles up, it offers not only a relatively friendly radiation environment, but also a wide view of Earth. During intense magnetic storms, however, energetic particles from the outer belt can surge into the slot region.

SET will survey the slot region, providing some of the first day-to-day weather measurements of this particular neighborhood in near-Earth space. The mission also studies the fine details of how radiation damages instruments and tests different methods to protect them, helping engineers build parts better suited for spaceflight. Ultimately, SET will help other missions improve their design, engineering and operations to avoid future problems, keeping our space technology running smoothly as possible.

For more on our space weather research, follow @NASASun on Twitter and NASA Sun Science on Facebook.

Meet the other NASA missions launching on the Department of Defense’s STP-2 mission and get the latest updates at nasa.gov/spacex.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.

John dan Carol McGuirk - Perancis - Gereja Paris Dan Acara Amal Untuk Tuna Wisma Di Tengah Tragedi Pemboman Prancis

John dan Carol McGuirk – Perancis – Gereja Paris Dan Acara Amal Untuk Tuna Wisma Di Tengah Tragedi Pemboman Prancis

Sabtu pagi, 14 November 2015, kami bangun di kota yang sangat sunyi. Biasanya, kota sudah bising dengan suara orang-orang berangkat ke kantor, mengerjakan pekerjaan rumah, membawa anak-anak ke sekolah, membawa anjing jalan-jalan, bertemu teman-teman, atau ikut kegiatan seni yang selalu ada di sekitar kami di kota yang indah ini. Namun, kemarin, suasana sangat sepi. Sepi yang aneh. Orang-orang…

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rulandtafego

5 years ago

Tulisan Kuno berumur lebih dari 3.500 tahun, yang mampu mengubah bahkan sudah mengubah hidup saya dan saudara.. dan yang sudah mengubah dunia.. Alkitab, Firman Tuhan! • 𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐚, 𝐑𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐤𝐚𝐧, 𝐋𝐚𝐤𝐮𝐤𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐚𝐧 𝐒𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐤𝐚𝐧 𝐤𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐝𝐚 𝐬𝐞𝐦𝐮𝐚 𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠, dan hidup kita akan berbeda. 😇 To GOD be the Glory! "𝘼𝙣𝙘𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙒𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙨" @fountainviewacademy Holy words long preserved for our walk in this world, They resound with God's own heart Oh, let the Ancient words impart. • Words of Life, words of Hope Give us strength, help us cope In this world, where e'er we roam Ancient words will guide us Home. • Ancient words ever true Changing me, and changing you. We have come with open hearts Oh let the ancient words impart. • Holy words of our Faith Handed down to this age. Came to us through sacrifice Oh heed the faithful words of Christ. #jesusmysavior #jesuslovesyou #godblessyou https://www.instagram.com/p/Bz1-nHcFYU4/?igshid=191s4hj6s775v

Three Ways to Travel at (Nearly) the Speed of Light

One hundred years ago, Einstein’s theory of general relativity was supported by the results of a solar eclipse experiment. Even before that, Einstein had developed the theory of special relativity — a way of understanding how light travels through space.

Particles of light — photons — travel through a vacuum at a constant pace of more than 670 million miles per hour.

All across space, from black holes to our near-Earth environment, particles are being accelerated to incredible speeds — some even reaching 99.9% the speed of light! By studying these super fast particles, we can learn more about our galactic neighborhood.

Here are three ways particles can accelerate:

1) Electromagnetic Fields!

Electromagnetic fields are the same forces that keep magnets on your fridge! The two components — electric and magnetic fields — work together to whisk particles at super fast speeds throughout the universe. In the right conditions, electromagnetic fields can accelerate particles at near-light-speed.

We can harness electric fields to accelerate particles to similar speeds on Earth! Particle accelerators, like the Large Hadron Collider and Fermilab, use pulsed electromagnetic fields to smash together particles and produce collisions with immense amounts of energy. These experiments help scientists understand the Big Bang and how it shaped the universe!

2) Magnetic Explosions!

Magnetic fields are everywhere in space, encircling Earth and spanning the solar system. When these magnetic fields run into each other, they can become tangled. When the tension between the crossed lines becomes too great, the lines explosively snap and realign in a process known as magnetic reconnection. Scientists suspect this is one way that particles — for example, the solar wind, which is the constant stream of charged particles from the Sun — are sped up to super fast speeds.

When magnetic reconnection occurs on the side of Earth facing away from the Sun, the particles can be hurled into Earth’s upper atmosphere where they spark the auroras.

3) Wave-Particle Interactions!

Particles can be accelerated by interactions with electromagnetic waves, called wave-particle interactions. When electromagnetic waves collide, their fields can become compressed. Charged particles bounce back and forth between the waves, like a ball bouncing between two merging walls. These types of interactions are constantly occurring in near-Earth space and are responsible for damaging electronics on spacecraft and satellites in space.

Wave-particle interactions might also be responsible for accelerating some cosmic rays from outside our solar system. After a supernova explosion, a hot, dense shell of compressed gas called a blast wave is ejected away from the stellar core. Wave-particle interactions in these bubbles can launch high-energy cosmic rays at 99.6% the speed of light.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.

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rulandtafego

5 years ago

Asuransi melindungi investasi dan aset anda dari resiko yg tidak terduga.

Palalangon Kampung Kristen di Wilayah Santri

Gereja Sahabat.id Palalangon menjadi kampung Kristen yang eksis di tengah suku Sunda yang Islami. Penduduknya menjunjung tinggi warisan leluhur dan mencantumkan marga di belakang namanya. Tak sulit menebak jika ada orang yang menggunakan nama belakang Simanjuntak atau Situmorang. Bisa dipastikan mereka beretnis Batak. Atau jika menggunakan marga Wattimena dan Marantika. Mereka pasti berasal…

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