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Science Mission Directorate:

Understanding the Sun, Heliosphere, and Planetary Environments as a single connected system is a goal of the Heliophysics Research Program.

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Heliophysics

Artist concept of space weather showing an active Sun with flares and a CME in the upper right, the Earth in the lower right with types of technology affected by space weather to the lower left; satellites, airplanes, the ISS and ground-based electrical lines.

Studying the Sun-Earth connection.

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Latest News

One of 20 balloon launches from Antarctica for the BARREL mission.

NASA’s BARREL Mission Launches 20 Balloons

In Antarctica in January, 2013 scientists released 20 balloons, to study the giant radiation belts surrounding Earth and how they lose particles, ...

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Two giant swaths of radiation, known as the Van Allen Belts, surrounding Earth were discovered in 1958. In 2012, observations from the Van Allen Probes showed that a third belt can sometimes appear.

Van Allen Probes Discover a Surprise Circling Earth

Shortly after the Van Allen Probes launched to study the radiation belts around Earth, they saw something no one had ever seen before: a new ...

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A cutaway model of the radiation belts with the 2 Van Allen Probes satellites flying through them.

Van Allen Probes Discover a New Radiation Belt

Earth's radiation belts were one of the first discoveries of the Space Age. A new finding published in today's issue of Science shows that we still ...

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Press Releases

NASA's Van Allen Probes Reveal a New Radiation Belt Around Earth

02.28.13 - NASA's Van Allen Probes mission has discovered a previously unknown third radiation belt around Earth, revealing the existence of unexpected structures and processes within these hazardous regions of space.
NASA Announces Media Briefing on New Van Allen Probes Results

02.25.13 - NASA will hold a news conference at 2 p.m. EST, Thursday, Feb. 28, to discuss new observations from NASA's twin Van Allen Probes, which are studying Earth's radiation belts. The briefing will be held at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Kossiakoff Center, 11100 Johns Hopkins Rd., in Laurel, Md.

Mission News

Twenty NASA Balloons Studying the Radiation Belts

02.04.13 - Just 96 days since launch, the Van Allen Probes have already provided new insights into the structure and behavior of the radiation belts that surround Earth.
Van Allen Probes Reveal New Dynamics of Radiation Belts

12.05.12 - Just 96 days since launch, the Van Allen Probes have already provided new insights into the structure and behavior of the radiation belts that surround Earth.