MISSIONS I Space Probes Launched

摘要

On August 30th, an Atlas V rocket shot two identical probes toward a region of space most satellites dread to enter: the Van Allen radiation belts. These two belts are filled with trillions of charged particles, some of them whipping around Earth at nearly the speed of light. At those speeds, even an electron can damage satellites. But NASA has designed its Radiation Belt Space Probes (RBSP) to thrive in this zone of killer electrons.