NASA Renames Radiation Belt Mission to Honor Pioneering Scientist

Nov. 9, 2012

Dwayne Brown
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov

Geoff Brown
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md.
240-228-5618/443-778-5618
geoffrey.brown@jhuapl.edu

RELEASE: 12-392

NASA RENAMES RADIATION BELT MISSION TO HONOR PIONEERING SCIENTIST

WASHINGTON -- NASA has renamed a recently launched mission that
studies Earth's radiation belts as the Van Allen Probes in honor of
the late James Van Allen. Van Allen was the head of the physics
department at the University of Iowa who discovered the radiation
belts encircling Earth in 1958.

The new name of the mission, previously called the Radiation Belt
Storm Probes (RBSP), was announced Friday during a ceremony at the
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel,
Md.

"James Van Allen was a true pioneer in astrophysics," said John
Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator for NASA's Science
Mission Directorate at the agency's headquarters in Washington. "His
ground breaking research paved the way for current and future space
exploration. These spacecraft now not only honor his iconic name but
his mark on science."

During his career, Van Allen was the principal investigator for
scientific investigations on 24 Earth satellites and planetary
missions, beginning with the first successful American satellite,
Explorer I, and continuing with Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11. He also
helped develop the first plans for an International Geophysical Year
was held in 1957. Van Allen, who worked at APL during and after World
War II, also is credited with discovery of a new moon of Saturn in
1979, as well as radiation belts around that planet.

Launched Aug. 30 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, the
Van Allen Probes comprise the first dual-spacecraft mission
specifically created to investigate the radiation belts that surround
Earth. These two belts encircle the planet and are filled with highly
charged particles.

The belts are affected by solar storms and coronal mass ejections and
sometimes swell dramatically. When this occurs, they can pose dangers
to communications, GPS satellites and human spaceflight activities.

"After only two months in orbit, the Van Allen Probes have made
significant contributions to our understanding of the radiation
belts," says APL Director Ralph Semmel. "The science and data from
these amazing twin spacecraft will allow for more effective and safe
space technologies in the decades to come. APL is proud to have built
and to operate this new resource for NASA and our nation, and we are
proud to have the mission named for one of APL's original staff."

Operators have powered up all flight systems and science instruments
on the probes. Data about the particles that swirl through the belts,
and the fields and waves that transport them, are being gathered by
five instrument groups designed and operated by teams at the New
Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark; University of Iowa in Iowa
City; University of Minnesota in Minneapolis; University of New
Hampshire in Durham; and the National Reconnaissance Office in
Chantilly, Va.

The probes will spend two years looping through every part of both Van
Allen belts. By having two spacecraft in different regions of the
belts at the same time, scientists finally will be able to gather
data from within the belts themselves, learning how they change over
space and time. In addition, a space weather broadcast will transmit
selected data from those instruments around the clock, giving
researchers a check on current conditions near Earth.

The Van Allen Probes comprise the second mission in NASA's Living With
a Star program to explore aspects of the connected sun-Earth system
that directly affect life and society. The program is managed by
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

For more information about NASA's Van Allen Probes mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/vanallenprobes


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