NASA suborbital probe detects another electric field around Earth

A group of scientists described the events that have taken place since the first spacecraft flew over Earth in 1968: Unexplained supersonic particle wind ‘leaking’ from Earth’s atmosphereThis phenomenon, considered as a third electric energy field in addition to the tropospheric and ionospheric fields, was called the bipolar field because it counteracts gravity and throws particles into space above the poles.

However, although it had been widely theorized and its existence inferred, there remained a major practical challenge: directly measuring this electric field in the Earth’s upper atmosphere, a weak medium found in extreme conditions.

Now, an international team of scientists has used observations from a suborbital rocket on NASA’s Endurance mission to successfully measure the strength of the dipole field for the first time: a change in electric potential of 0.55 volts.

How does the ambipolar electric field work?

Theoretically, the dipole field begins in the ionosphere, a layer of the atmosphere between 80 and 1000 km high. In the 250 km layer, extreme ultraviolet and solar radiation ionizes atmospheric atoms; It removes negative electrons from atoms and turns them into positive ions.

The lighter, free electrons will try to fly into space, but the heavier ions will tend to sink toward the ground. This etheric plasma environment in which this “dance” takes place tries to maintain charge neutrality, which gives rise to an electric field. To balance free electrons and ions.

This area is called ambipolar because ions pull downward and electrons pull upward. Like a hot air balloon, solar radiation heats the atmosphere and it “inflates” due to the increased kinetic energy between the different motions of the particles. As a result, the distance to the top of the atmosphere (the exosphere) increases, Reducing the effect of gravity on higher particlesand the ions escape from the poles.

How did scientists measure the “new” electric field?

Since it was already known that the dipole field would be very weak, NASA launched the Endurance mission to study the processes that lead to atmospheric escape. The team, led by astronomer Glyn Collinson of the Goddard Space Flight Center, used data from these sounding rockets launched from the Andøya Missile Test Center in Norway to study the He was able to measure the change in electrical potential of the ambipolar field.

“Half a volt is almost nothing: it is as powerful as a watch battery,” Collinson said. “But it is just the right amount to explain the polar wind,” he concluded.

Although extremely low, the charge is sufficient to repel hydrogen ions With a force equivalent to 10.6 times the gravityhurling them into space at supersonic speeds measured at both poles of the Earth.

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