Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) are a series of twin spacecraft launched in 2012 to study Earth’s Van Allen radiation belts. The probes were designed to understand how these belts are created and how they interact with the solar wind. RBSP consists of two identical spacecraft, each equipped with six state-of-the-art instruments. The probes orbit Earth at an altitude of about 13,000 miles (21,000 kilometers), passing through the radiation belts every four days.
The Van Allen radiation belts are named after James Van Allen, who discovered them in 1958 using data from the Explorer 1 satellite. The belts are made up of charged particles that are trapped by Earth’s magnetic field. These particles can be dangerous to astronauts and spacecraft because they can damage electronic equipment. However, the particles also create beautiful auroras when they interact with the atmosphere.
The innermost region of the Van Allen belts is known as the slot region. This region is where most of the charged particles are found and where they pose the greatest threat to spacecraft. The RBSP mission will help scientists understand how thisregion is formed and how it changes over time.
The outermost region of the Van Allen belts is called the plasmasphere. This region contains a soup of plasma, or ionized gas. The plasma is thought to play a role in protecting Earth from harmful space weather events such as solar flares. The RBSP mission will also help scientists understand how this region forms and changes over time.
Instruments on board each RBSP spacecraft include:
An Electric Field Vector Sensor (EFI) – Measures electric fields in space
A Magnetic Field Sensor (MFS) – Measures magnetic fields in space
An Energetic Particle Spectrometer Suite (EEPS) – Measures high energy electrons and ions
A Relativistic Electron Proton Telescope (REPT) – Images energetic electrons