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Scientists discover ‘Killer Electron’

New Delhi, Wed, 18 Jul 2007 NI Wire

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July 18: USScientists claim to have discovered the force behind ‘killer electrons’ that cause a major hazard to spacecraft, astronauts and satellites at New Mexico's Los Alamos National Laboratory. The report has been published in the July issue of the journal ‘Nature’ Physics.

Scientists claimed that this theory might be beneficial for saving the life of astronauts, who may be shot dead through thrust of electron entering on the shell of the earth. According to study published in the journal, ‘Killer electrons are found in the outermost of Earth's doughnut-shaped radiation belts, which circle the Earth and are bound by the planet's magnetic fields. They travel at near light speed and charged with a thousand times more energy than the average dental X-ray.’

“I think we show conclusively they do not come from further out [in space]. They are accelerated in the radiation belt itself," said Reiner Friedel, the member of the researcher team. The team has detected the killer electrons in massive amount on the outermost of Earth's doughnut-shaped radiation belts using satellite detectors to probe the outer radiation belt.

Earlier Scientists were thinking since long time where the killer particles come from and how they accumulate in the radiation belts. The case has not been solved till this theory has been proved. But the reason have been found, why the satellite, spacecraft became damaged within a few seconds if chemical coat is not applied to them.

According to study, “ the excess amount of these charge particles when falls collectively on an object, these particles can pierce the object with few milliseconds when the object was in high motion. The clashing of object and particles generates electromagnetic field.

“This discovery may aid scientists in ongoing efforts to protect satellites and astronauts from the particles' damaging effects”, said Friedel.

"The particles pose a danger to humans because of cumulative radiation exposure and also by damaging the spacecraft on which they are dependent. One common effect is that they cause solar arrays to degrade, and those often supply power to spacecraft," said Mike Xapsos, a researcher at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center unaffiliated with the new research.

“We cannot control this kind of space weather any more than we can control the Earth's weather. However, having a better understanding of the process helps us make more accurate predictions of when spacecraft can expect trouble and how to deal with it," added Xapsos.

The scientist can now be better aware about the problems that can come in the way of astronauts. The scientists team can now analyse better when to cross the earth and when to not.


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Comments:

Abhijeet Hargange

July 25, 2007 at 12:00 AM

I think there are two ways of understanding the world.
First one Electonics..
Second... Let it be covered.
But I think the first way is sufficient to get known the world.

A.K.Shukla

July 19, 2007 at 12:00 AM

We are unable to understand/resolve the mistry of universe however we have been working on it with several billions of dollars spent on the project. The power who has created this all has unlimited such miracles which can not be understood without understanding him. In fact we have not reached yet to the tip of the iceberg or creations of the nature. Hence this route may not be sufficient to understand the creations of God.


 

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