
Van Allen radiation belt - fisian
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Allen_radiation_belt
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alexgmcm
It was interesting how they dealt with this for the Apollo missions.

Shortly before the launches Operation Starfish Prime took place and one hope
was that detonating nuclear bombs in the upper atmosphere might deform the Van
Allen belts or indeed that the extra energy might displace them entirely.

However, it actually strengthened the radiation belt, fortunately it
dissipated relatively quickly and it was safe for the lunar missions.

[https://thewire.in/the-sciences/apollo-11-van-allen-
radiatio...](https://thewire.in/the-sciences/apollo-11-van-allen-radiation-
belts-translunar-injection)

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api
I love the "hold my beer" era of US / USSR atomic testing.

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dryd3n
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Plowshare](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Plowshare)

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segfaultbuserr
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_Explosions_for_the_N...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_Explosions_for_the_National_Economy)

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Nicksil
Non-mobile:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_Explosions_for_the_Nat...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_Explosions_for_the_National_Economy)

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TomMckenny
using nukes to improve petroleum extraction. oh the irony.

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cossatot
These belts are created (at least mostly) by Earth's magnetic field capturing
or deflecting incident radiation, which therefore shields Earth's surface from
the radiation and (I believe) protects life.

Earth's magnetic field isn't stable with time and has (geologically) frequent
pole reversals. We don't have a great idea of how long this process takes,
whether it is near-instantaneous or takes hundreds of years (or perhaps
longer?). The poles are currently 'wandering' relatively fast and some
geophysicists think this may be a sign of a pole reversal to come.

I wonder about how the Van Allen belts fair during a pole reversal, and if for
some time interval the amount of incoming radiation on the Earth's surface is
much greater, perhaps at dangerous levels.

Earth also has a much stronger geomagnetic field than other rocky planets
because it has a solid iron-nickel inner core that rotates inside of a liquid
iron-nickel outer core, inducing the magnetic field (the so-called
'geodynamo'. If the resulting Van Allen belt is indeed a safeguard to the
development of life on Earth, it may be part of the reason that Earth is
unique in life development versus its neighbors.

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Symmetry
One important thing they do is protect our atmosphere from blowing away in the
solar wind, which is more of a law of averages sort of thing and not much gets
lost in just a hundred years. I'm not sure that the charged particles the Van
Allen belt stops would actually reach all the way to the surface of the Earth.
I haven't heard of radiation danger up at the poles when the aurora is out.

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mrtnmcc
Also related:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Atlantic_Anomaly](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Atlantic_Anomaly)

Our low-Earth orbit satellites go a bit berserk each time they pass through
the SAA. Star trackers used for orientation estimation pick up lots of pixel
snow.

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hownottowrite
Couple of nice references:

Observation of high intensity radiation by satellites 1958 Alpha and Gamma J A
Van Allen Journal of Jet Propulsion [http://www-
pw.physics.uiowa.edu/ProfVanAllen/1958_VanAllen_O...](http://www-
pw.physics.uiowa.edu/ProfVanAllen/1958_VanAllen_ObservationOfHighIntensityRadiationBySatellites1958AlphaAndGamma_JPL_28_588-592.pdf)

Apollo Experience Report - Protection from Radiation Technical Note TN D-7080,
March 1973
[https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/tnD7080RadProtect.html](https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/tnD7080RadProtect.html)

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jngreenlee
The "Proposed Removal" is interesting. I also read elsewhere that it was
thought nuclear blasts could clear holes for astronauts to travel through.

