The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has confirmed that its Van Allen Probe A disintegrated on its return to Earth, after nearly 14 years in space.
According to an article posted to the website of Astronomy.com, most of the 1300-pound probe burned up upon reentry over the eastern Pacific Ocean early in March. However, the probe’s twin, Van Allen Probe B, is still in orbit and is expected to reenter the Earth’s atmosphere by 2030.
The Van Allen probes were launched in August 2012 in an effort to further our understanding of the radiation environment surrounding our planet. The probes were expected to remain active for about two years. Instead, they successfully operated for nearly seven years, continuing to measure the zone of high-energy charged particles in the Earth’s magnetic field, also known as the Van Allen radiation belts.
Both probes were shut down by NASA in 2019 after they used up their fuel supply and were no longer able to properly orient themselves toward the sun.
The Van Allen radiation belts were first detected in the late 1950s by James Van Allen, a physicist who developed the instruments on the Explorer 1 satellite that made the discovery. Van Allen passed away in 2006.
The Astronomy posting about the disintegration of NASA’s Van Allen probe is available at https://www.astronomy.com/science/nasas-van-allen-probe-a-burns-up-over-the-pacific-after-14-years-in-space/.
