NASA Finds 3rd Radiation Belt: Radiation Manipulating Human Evolution

The Van Allen radiation belts are donut-shaped rings of so-called ‘killer electrons’ that encircle our planet.

They can often swell dramatically in response to solar storms and other space weather, posing serious dangers to communications and GPS satellites, as well as humans in space. 

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It was previously believed there were two Van Allen belts, but particle detection instruments aboard twin probes launched last summer have revealed the existence of a third, transient radiation belt.

Scientists were able to observe the formation of the third belt, which persisted for four weeks before a powerful interplanetary shock wave from the Sun annihilated it.

‘After decades of studying the radiation belts, this was a completely new phenomenon,’ said Harlan Spence of the University of New Hampshire, who is part of the team which operates the probes.

‘With the Van Allen Probes’ instruments we now have the “eyes” capable of seeing such remarkable phenomena.

‘We look forward eagerly to the rest of the mission in order to establish how often such extreme radiation belt structures and dynamics may occur.’

The Van Allen belts were the first major discovery of the Space Age.

Data sent back from NASA’s Pioneer 3 and Explorer IV spacecraft, both launched in 1958 and both carrying instruments built by James Van Allen, showed the presence of two distinct rings of high-energy electrons.

At the time of their discovery, they were thought to be relatively stable structures, but subsequent observations have shown they are in fact dynamic and mysterious.