NASA Experiment to Track Space ‘Doughnut’ Encircling Earth

Produced VideoWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available.Music Credit: "A Gift” by Nicholas Smith [PRS] from Universal Production MusicAdditional Imagery: J. Goldstein, Johns Hopkins APLSound Effects: Pixabay

After being installed on the International Space Station, NASA’s STORIE mission will scan outward, away from Earth, to image energetic neutral atoms (ENAs) from Earth’s ring current. It will view one slice of the ring current at a time, but as it orbits Earth, STORIE will build up a complete view of this invisible, doughnut-shaped band of particles. In this animation, the curved orange lines represent field lines in Earth’s magnetic field, and the moving wedge of green rays represents STORIE’s field of view as the space station orbits the planet.Credit: NASA/Gonzalo Cucho-Padin

This model shows how particles flow between Earth’s magnetotail (left) and the inner magnetosphere (right), separated approximately by the curved white line in the lower chart. Earth is represented as the black and white circle, and the solar wind is flowing into the simulation from the right. The color represents the portion of the velocity flowing either sunward (blue) or anti-sunward (red). The line plot in the upper chart represents the instantaneous speed of flows entering the inner magnetosphere at different locations along the white curved boundary.Credit: NASA/Alex Glocer

This simulation shows fluctuations in the doughnut-shaped ring current during a solar storm. The ring current is more intense at the yellow end of the spectrum and less intense toward purple. The ring current can be very dynamic in time, and its intensity can vary significantly at different locations in space. Credit: NASA/Austin Brenner