NASA RBSP Mission

NASA has successfully launched its first dual-spacecraft mission radiation belt storm probes (RBSP) into orbit aboard an Atlas V 401 rocket from the Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, US.

The first RBSP spacecraft separated from the Atlas rocket’s Centaur booster, while the second spacecraft followed 12 minutes later.

Each of the two satellites, weighing just below 1,500lbs, have been specifically created to probe into the hazardous regions of near-Earth area, called the radiation belts.

Over the next two years, the satellites will loop through every part of the two belts, which are named after their discoverer James Van Allen.

The two belts, which enclose the Earth, are filled with highly-charged particles that could disrupt communications, GPS satellites and even human space-flight due to solar storms and coronal mass ejections.

NASA Washington Science Mission Directorate associate administrator John Grunsfeld said that the mission would enable scientists to understand how the planet’s radiation belts are populated with charged particles, causes that change them and the impact of these processes on the upper reaches of Earth’s atmosphere.

"The information collected from these probes will benefit the public by allowing us to better protect our satellites and understand how space weather affects communications and technology on Earth."

"The information collected from these probes will benefit the public by allowing us to better protect our satellites and understand how space weather affects communications and technology on Earth," Grunsfeld said.

The data about the particles across the belts, and the fields and waves that transmit them, will be collected by five instrument suites.

RBSP satellites have been strengthened with special protective plating and rugged electronics so that they could operate and survive within the two belts.

In addition, a weather broadcast will transmit selected data, which will help scientists gauge the current conditions near the Earth space.

Over the next two months, operators will boost up all flight systems and science instruments and deploy long antenna booms.

RBSP is the second mission in NASA’s ‘Living With a Star’ (LWS) programme in order to explore aspects of the connected Sun-Earth system.

Image: Atlas V 401 rocket takes off with NASA’s radiation belt storm probes (RBSP). Photo: courtesy of NASA.