News tagged with space plasmas

Elusive matter found to be abundant far above Earth

(PhysOrg.com) -- Cold plasma has been well-hidden. Space physicists have long lacked clues to how much of this electrically charged gas exists tens of thousands of miles above Earth and how the stuff may impact our planet's ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jan 24, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (12) | comments 15 | with audio podcast

Cassini chronicles life of Saturn's giant storm

(PhysOrg.com) -- New images and animated movies from NASA's Cassini spacecraft chronicle the birth and evolution of the colossal storm that ravaged the northern face of Saturn for nearly a year.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 18, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Journal receives its first paper from space

EPL (Europhysics Letters) has today gone beyond Earthly limits by publishing its first ever paper submitted from space.

Physics / General Physics

created Nov 11, 2011 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Space storm tracked from sun to earth

(PhysOrg.com) -- For the first time, a spacecraft far from Earth has turned and watched a solar storm engulf our planet. The movie, released today during a NASA press conference, has galvanized solar physicists, ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Aug 19, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 18 | with audio podcast

Zubrin claims VASIMR is a hoax

A next-generation plasma rocket being developed by former NASA astronaut Franklin Chang Diaz called the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR) has been touted as a way to get astronauts to ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jul 13, 2011 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (15) | comments 75

Zapping deadly bacteria using space technology

Technology developed with ESA funding and drawing on long-running research aboard the International Space Station is opening up a new way to keep hospital patients safe from infections.

Technology / Engineering

created May 27, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Goddard building instrument to study reconnection

Whether it's a giant solar flare or a beautiful green-blue aurora, just about everything interesting in space weather happens due to a phenomenon called magnetic reconnection. Reconnection occurs when magnetic ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Apr 29, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

School pupils to study space radiation belts

(PhysOrg.com) -- The Van Allen radiation belts are a hazardous environment, full of 'killer' electrons that can be lethal to orbiting satellites. And when those electrons sometimes hit the atmosphere, they ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Apr 21, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Catching space weather in the act

Close to the globe, Earth's magnetic field wraps around the planet like a gigantic spherical web, curving in to touch Earth at the poles. But this isn't true as you get further from the planet. As you move ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Feb 17, 2011 | popularity 4 / 5 (2) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

First large-Scale, physics-based space weather model transitions into operation

(PhysOrg.com) -- The first large-scale, physics-based space weather prediction model is transitioning from research into operation.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jan 26, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0

Cassini completes Rhea flyby

(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Cassini spacecraft has successfully completed its closest flyby of Saturn's moon Rhea, returning raw images of the icy moon's surface.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jan 14, 2011 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 1

The many faces of the shear Alfven wave

Scientists show that 3-D movies are no longer just for Hollywood blockbusters.

Physics / Plasma Physics

created Nov 08, 2010 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (6) | comments 0

Spacequakes Rumble Near Earth (w/ Video)

Researchers using NASA's fleet of five THEMIS spacecraft have discovered a form of space weather that packs the punch of an earthquake and plays a key role in sparking bright Northern Lights. They call it ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jul 28, 2010 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (21) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Scientists Explore the Mystery of Active Region Outflows

(PhysOrg.com) -- The Japanese Hinode spacecraft that launched in September 2006 contains the Extreme-ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer (EIS), which provides measurements of properties of the solar corona such ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jun 25, 2010 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (5) | comments 1

Scientists Use Atomic Physics Codes to Study Coronal Mass Ejections

(PhysOrg.com) -- Giant eruptions of ionized gas, or plasma, from the Sun called coronal mass ejections [CMEs] produce solar energetic particles that cause spacecraft anomalies and communication interruptions, ...

Physics / Plasma Physics

created Apr 07, 2010 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (6) | comments 0 | with audio podcast