What is a radiation belt?
The van Allen radiation belt is an area around the country that contains a large number of trapped energy particles. It consists of an inner belt with a high -energy protons and an outer electron band. The belt was named after the University of Iowa's professor, who had influenced his discovery. The radiation belt represents a risk for electronics and astronauts that pass it, so that spacecraft usually requires countermeasures of this threat if they need to go through the region.
James van Allen helped persuade the mission planners to include the Geiger counter in the Explorer 1 to detect charged particles. This spacecraft discovered the inner radiation belt after it was launched on January 31, 1958. The outer belt was first detected pioneer 3 , lunar probe, December 6, 1958.
The inner radiation belt consists mainly of high -energy protons. The protons in the inner belt come from a radioactive disintegration of neutrons in the upper atmosphere. These neutrons came from collisions between space rays and atomic cores in space. Magnetic fields above about 62 miles (100 kilometers) from the terrestrial surface tend to maintain these particles captured above the atmosphere. Occasionally, however, these particles hit the atmosphere and produce auroras, polar depictions of lights in the sky.
On the other hand, the outer radiation belt is made mainly of electrons. It is significantly further from the ground than the inner belt, sometimes reaches a distance of 10 earth radii. The number of particles in the outer belt also tends to change more than in the inner belt. It is assumed that the particles trapped in external radiation come from the sun and are transmitted to the ground with the solar wind.
radiation in van Allen belts can cause damage to electronics and human health. Satellites in the orbit of the bikeThe country had their electronics destroyed by activity from geomagnetic storms. The spacecraft passing through the belts is experiencing a similar increase in radiation levels. Astronauts in the radiation strips would receive a much higher dose of radiation than in the low orbit of the country. Therefore, mission planners must develop methods of protection of spacecraft and astronauts from van Allen strips during interplanetary missions.