RBSP
As part of NASA’s Living With a Star program, APL is designing and building the Radiation Belt Storm Probes. The two identical spacecraft will chase each other in their orbits around the Earth to gather data on the ever-changing radiation belts that surround the planet.
APL is helping to build the RB-SPICE instruments on each probe, which will sense the distribution of hydrogen and oxygen ions in the space around the Earth. This information will be used by engineers to design radiation-hardened spacecraft and by forecasters to predict the effects of geomagnetic storms, which could pose a threat to astronauts or spacecraft. The Radiation Belt Storm Probes spacecraft are scheduled for launch in 2012. Please Click here to learn more about RBSP mission.
