Van Allen Probes Stories
Editor’s Note: NASA updated this article on Wednesday, March 11, to reflect confirmation of Van Allen Probe A’s re-entry. NASA’s Van Allen Probe A re-entered Earth’s atmosphere at 6:37 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, March 11, almost 14 years after launch. From 2012 to 2019, the spacecraft and…
Key Points The largest solar storm in two decades hit Earth in May 2024. For several days, wave after wave of high-energy charged particles from the Sun rocked the planet. Brilliant auroras engulfed the skies, and some GPS communications were…
After seven years of operations, and upon finally running out of propellant, the second of the twin Van Allen Probes spacecraft will be retired on Friday, Oct. 18, 2019. Spacecraft A of the Van Allen Probes mission will be shut…
Editor’s Note: The U.S. Space Force confirmed Van Allen Probe A spacecraft re-entered the atmosphere at 6:37 a.m. EDT on March 11, 2026, over the eastern Pacific Ocean region, at approximately 2 degrees south latitude and 255.3 degrees east longitude.…
Two tough, resilient, NASA spacecraft have been orbiting Earth for the past six and a half years, flying repeatedly through a hazardous zone of charged particles around our planet called the Van Allen radiation belts. The twin Van Allen Probes,…
Encircling Earth are two enormous rings — called the Van Allen radiation belts — of highly energized ions and electrons. Various processes can accelerate these particles to relativistic speeds, which endanger spacecraft unlucky enough to enter these giant bands of…