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NASA’s Van Allen Probes discovered a previously unknown, transient third radiation belt around Earth, revealing the existence of unexpected structures and processes within these hazardous regions of space. The Van Allen belts are affected by solar storms and space weather and can swell dramatically, and this discovery shows even new belts can be temporarily formed due to particle reactions. “Even fifty-five years after their discovery, the Earth’s radiation belts still are capable of surprising us and still have mysteries to discover and explain,” said Nicky Fox, Van Allen Probes deputy project scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. This discovery shows the dynamic and variable nature of the radiation belts and improves our understanding of how they respond to solar activity. Scientists observed the third belt for four weeks before a powerful interplanetary shock wave from the sun annihilated it.
ASK Interactive (ASK 50)

  NASA in the News NASA’s Van Allen Probes discovered a previously unknown, transient third radiation belt around Earth, revealing the existence of unexpected structures and processes within these hazardous regions of space.

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The Knowledge Notebook: The Folly of Technological Solutionism

By Laurence Prusak   A few decades ago a Massachusetts Institute of Technology researcher, Ithiel de Sola Pool, put out a book called Predicting the Telephone.

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From the NASA CKO: Living in Uncertainty

By Ed Hoffman Project-based organizations like NASA have a paradox embedded in their DNA: the tension between the organization’s need for stability and the inherent uncertainty of complex projects.

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In This Issue (ASK 51)

Don Cohen, Managing Editor Everyone who is familiar with NASA missions knows that most of them involve collaboration among many organizations and individuals.

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COVERThis is a composite of a series of images photographed from a mounted camera on the Earth-orbiting International Space Station, from approximately 240 miles above Earth. Expedition 31 Flight Engineer Don Pettit said of the photographic techniques used to achieve the images: “My star-trail images are made by taking a time exposure of about 10 to 15 minutes. However, with modern digital cameras, 30 seconds is about the longest exposure possible, due to electronic-detector noise effectively snowing out the image. To achieve the longer exposures I do what many amateur astronomers do. I take multiple 30-second exposures, then ‘stack’ them using imaging software, thus producing the longer exposure.” A total of 18 images photographed by the astronaut-monitored stationary camera were combined to create this composite.
On the Cover – Issue 50, Spring 2013

This is a composite of a series of images photographed from a mounted camera on the Earth-orbiting International Space Station, from approximately 240 miles above Earth. Expedition 31 Flight Engineer Don Pettit said of the photographic techniques used to achieve the images: “My star-trail images are made by taking a time exposure of about 10 […]

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Software Engineering Handbook Illustration
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Software Engineering at NASA

By Haley Stephenson   Using a wiki platform, the NASA Software Engineering Working Group has set a new precedent for collaboratively authoring, reviewing, and enabling interactivity for handbooks at NASA.

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Astronaut Don Pettit
Interview with Don Pettit

By Kerry Ellis Astronaut Don Pettit began his career with NASA seventeen years ago and has since flown on three spaceflight missions.

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