Van Allen

That improvised moonlet made one of the most important discoveries in space science to this day: It found the what became known as Van Allen radiation belts, which encircle the globe from pole to pole.

One Giant Leap Peter D. Zimmerman 2007

Today these radiation belts are called Van Allen belts.

NPR Topics: News 2010

Today these radiation belts are called Van Allen belts.

NPR Topics: News 2010

Today these radiation belts are called Van Allen belts.

NPR Topics: News 2010

They are concentrated into belts or layers called the Van Allen radiation belts.

Yahoo! Answers: Latest Questions 2009

Furthermore, those satellites not destroyed by the initial HEMP burst would find their solar panels and internal electronics degraded by the highly radioactive particles trapped in the Van Allen belts, particularly in the South Atlantic Anomaly, a portion of the Van Allen belts that dip into low-earth orbit due to the shape and inclination of the Earth's magnetic field.

A Nuclear Blast in Space Would Wipe Out Satellites 2011

Among the more persistent claims is that astronauts could not have safely passed through the Van Allen belt, the band of radiation encircling Earth, and that no stars appear in many photographs of astronauts on the moon.

Neal Thompson: 50 Years Later: The Alan Shepard Freedom 7 Flight Neal Thompson 2011

For example, the astronauts were inside a capsule and passed quickly through the Van Allen belt.

Neal Thompson: 50 Years Later: The Alan Shepard Freedom 7 Flight Neal Thompson 2011

So, Professor Fleming says that he discovered, while working on a biography of Van Allen, that the great scientist was immediately willing to help bomb what he'd just found.

A Very Scary Light Show: Exploding H-Bombs In Space 2010

KRULWICH: The generals thought that the Van Allen belt might be like a highway where you could blow up a bomb in one place and then move the blast down the belt so it could be targeted, say, over Moscow.

A Very Scary Light Show: Exploding H-Bombs In Space 2010