A plan to clear energetic protons from the radiation belt

Abstract

The Earth's radiation belts have been a known hazard to satellites since at least 1962, when an American high‐altitude nuclear weapons test named Starfish Prime produced an artificial belt that disabled the first commercial communications satellite, TelStar 1. In the years since the Cold War, thousands of satellites have been put into orbit, and surface charging, high‐energy protons, high‐energy electrons known as “killer electrons,” and other hazards of the inner magnetosphere have continued to take their toll. Satellites can be hardened against these radiation hazards, but some researchers have recently floated a more radical idea: If specially designed transmitters are put into space and set to emit tightly tuned waves, known as electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves, they could potentially push the highly energetic protons out of the Earth's inner radiation belt, clearing the satellite's path.