The
NASA LWS Radiation Belt Storm Probe
Energetic ions and electrons within the Earth’s radiation
belts pose a hazard to both astronauts and spacecraft. The LWS Geospace program will launch two spacecraft, the Radiation
Belt Storm Probes, to quantify the source, loss, and transport processes that
generate the radiation belts and cause them to decay. Observations from the two
spacecraft will enable the development of empirical and physics-based models
for the radiation belts. The empirical models will be used by engineers to
design radiation-hardened spacecraft, while the physics-based models will be
used by forecasters to predict geomagnetic storms and alert both astronauts and
spacecraft operators to potential hazards. Science investigations were selected
in 2006, the RBSP spacecraft will be launched in 2012.
Professor Thorne was on the initial Mission Definition Team
for RBSP and is a Co-I and theory lead on both the ECT (particle) and EMFISIS
(wave) teams. His group at UCLA is currently developing 3-D models for the
interaction between waves and particles, which will be used, in conjunction
with the RBSP observations, to test theoretical models for radiation belt
variability.
http://www.lws.nasa.gov/geospace/HTML/RBSP_HTML/Mission/gsRBSPabout.html
http://lws.gsfc.nasa.gov/documents/geospace/geospace_gmdt_report.pdf