Killer Electrons

[KX4QC]

KICKER: WHEN "KILLER ELECTRONS" JOIN THE CHORUS

PAUL/ANCHOR: For our final story, we turn to deep space -- and some new insights into an old discovery that could pose serious dangers for space travel. John Williams VK4JJW shares those insights.

JOHN: They're called chorus waves but these disturbances, first discovered in the earth's magnetic field decades ago, are apparently nothing to sing about.

For one thing, scientists realise these bursts of energy are not necessarily limited to the earth and nearby planets; their presence may pose dangers to deep space travel.

When the waves are converted to audio, the signals are said to chirp, mimicking birdsong. The dark side to this sweet song is the discovery that the waves are capable of accelerating particles to almost the speed of light - a rate that would endanger astronauts and spacecraft passing through them. Scientists have dubbed these particles "killer electrons."

The finding was made recently by researchers at Beihang University in China and published in the journal Nature. The researchers detected the chorus waves through use of NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale mission, a study of the earth's magnetic field that utilises four satellites flying in formation.

Earth isn't the only planet experiencing this phenomenon. Scientists now know that the waves can occur near any planet in our solar system with a magnetic field. In fact, a magnetic field is no longer a prerequisite: The waves have been found on Venus too, which has no magnetic field. They are created instead when solar wind enters the atmosphere from transient fields. All of which leads scientists to a chorus of questions.

This is John Williams VK4JJW.

(NPR, PEG HART WA2YBZ, SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, LIVE SCIENCE)

Thank you

https://www.arnewsline.org/

Well, should folks be going for long space journeys, or maybe better to send smart sensor-packed robotic missions?