VAN ALLEN BELTS AND THE DOUBTS ON MOON LANDING The Moon is one of the most romantic themes,
mentioned in multiple ways throughout the history of literature and poetry. It’s the
favorite thing to stare at for lovers, and even art is full of representations of this
beautiful object. Why are we so fascinated by the Moon? Probably
because it’s the closest body to our Earth, the partner of our little home in the Universe.
It’s the brightest object in the night Sky, even if it just reflects the radiation emitted
by the Sun. In recent years, the moon has become a symbol of scientific progress. With
the moon landing on 20th July 1969, USA established as the world leader of space exploration.
The event was considered as crucial in the Cold War between Americans and Russians. Here’s
the 1962 world-wide known monologue of Kennedy that stated the aim to reach this mysterious
grey object orbiting around our planet: “We choose to go to the Moon! We choose to go
to the Moon...We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not
because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize
and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are
willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win, and the
others, too.» However, some skeptics don’t trust the official
version of Neil Armstrong posing the first step on lunar soil with his famous words «That's
one small step for [a] man, but [a] giant leap for mankind.” They think that the moon
landing is just an incredible conspiracy built by the NASA for the benefit of USA. Opinion
polls taken in various locations have shown that between 6% and 20% of Americans, 25%
of Britons, and 28% of Russians surveyed believe that the crewed landings were faked.
In 2015 the Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti and Terry Wirts had a very interesting interview
in which the NASA astronaut affirmed “we can only fly in lower orbit, that’s the
furthest we can go”. How is it possible that we reached the moon if we cannot fly
in upper layers of our atmosphere? Some detailed explanations are surely needed to solve this
problem, which might be connected with a strange radiation belt, named after an American space
scientist working at the University of Iowa in the middle of last century, discovered
in 1958. Is the moon landing just a big hoax? How can
we prove skeptics wrong? And what are these belts? What’s their name? Why are they linked
with the lunar Apollo missions? If you want to know more about these questions stick with
me and I’ll tell you everything in a moment. We’ll try to dismantle the conspiracy theories
later on in this video. Now, let’s focus on what Terry Wirts intended as lower orbit.
What is it? It is placed between 300 km and 1000 km over our heads. It is the belt in
which important structures orbit, like the International Space Station (ISS), the Hubble
Telescope and other satellites. It’s not difficult to understand that if someone wants
to reach the Moon he must surely exit from this lower region. And the APOLLO missions
went out from this area, indeed. Therefore, if we examine the trajectories of NASA rockets
we’ll notice that there is something really strange. What? They decided not to follow
the shortest path to exit from the lower region, but they made a longer journey.
Why did they take this decision? Well, to explain this we need to deal with something
I mentioned before: they organized their trip to the moon in order to spend the minimum
time in a region named Van Allen belt. What is it? It’s a zone filled with a great
abundance of energetic charged particles, which usually come from the Sun, which constantly
generates the so-called solar wind. Have you ever heard about solar wind? Here’s a simple
explanation: the solar wind is a stream of charged particles released from the upper atmosphere
of the Sun, called the corona. This plasma mostly consists of electrons, protons and alpha
particles (also called alpha rays or alpha radiation, consist of two protons and two
neutrons bound together into a particle identical to a helium-4 nucleus). These particles are
captured from the magnetic fields of planets, usually forming a belt that surrounds the
rotating celestial body. When were they first discovered? In the 30’s
of 20th century an Italian astronomer, Enrico Medi, firstly started to study the possible
existence of ionizing belts, practically areas which are filled with charged particles and
ionized atoms. Unfortunately, in that period Italy was under the fascist dictatorship that
radically went against Medi’s studies. Only in 1958 after the first space missions that
followed the launch of Sputnik by Russia in 1957 (an event that gave birth to the famous
“Space Age”) the existence of this belt was confirmed. The main proves have been given
by the projects Explorer 1 and Explorer 3 which were two of the first satellites built
by the USA, and the region took the name after James Van Allen, an American physicist working
at the University of Iowa. His interpretations of the experimental results given by the space
missions confirmed Medi’s previous conjectures. Even if with the term Van Allen Belts we intend
only the area surrounding our planet, similar regions have been found on other planets,
too. As a matter of fact the formation of these
structures is practically the same for every celestial body, the high-energy charged particles
emitted by the Sun through solar wind are captured by the magnetic field of the planet,
and consequently they get confined in a precise region.
But let’s talk a moment about the terrestrial magnetic field. When we first had the idea
that earth could be a single giant magnet? In 1558 when the French Pierre de Maricourt
wrote the famous “Epistula de Magnete” in which he talked about the existence of
the Magnetic North and South Pole, unveiling the possibility of building a little magnetic
compass. Later on in time, the British physicists William
Gilbert made further studies on the compass, understanding that the reason of his functioning
wasn’t connected with the polar star or other space objects, but with the existence
of the Magnetic North and South Pole. However, the first rigorous theory about magnetism
and his lines of forces was published only in 1832 by Karl Friedrich Gauss.
Nowadays, we have understood that the magnetic field of Earth is like a giant invisible shield
that protects our environment by possible tremendous external threats. Why is it so
important? This field deviates a lot of radiations coming from our Sun. as a matter of fact its
form is strongly asymmetrical. It’s thinner in the area between Earth and the sun, while
much thicker on the other side of our planet. Many animal species have evolved basing on
the existence of this magnetic shield that isolates us from particular emission, and
if this field disappears the entire humanity and natural environment would be at serious
risk. However, let’s return to our problem: scientists
have discovered that the interaction of the magnetic field with solar wind usually generates
some regions filled with high energy charged particles. The shape of this Van Allen belts
is really strange, similar to a big donut centered on our Earth. Scientifically speaking,
this structure is known as a toroid, thinner at the poles and thicker around the equator.
We can distinguish two main radiation regions. The first one is also known as the inner Van
Allen Belt and is located from 1000 to 12000 km from the ground, whereas the second “outer”
one is lighter and extends to 60000 km of altitude from Earth. The first devices that
tried to measure the intensity of this areas failed in their aim as they weren’t prepared
to such high energies. The main concern regarding these belts has
been the possible damage it can cause to a space mission. For a spacecraft moving in
these regions, the presence of energetic particles might result very harmful. As a consequence
of that, hundreds of engineers have thought about how rockets could be shielded by such
dangerous radiations. "Before finding out more about this, be sure
to like or dislike the video so that we can continue to improve and make these videos
better for you the viewer. Plus, be sure to subscribe to the channel clicking the bell
so that you don't miss ANY of our weekly videos." Given the fact that NASA reached the moon,
these problems have been totally resolved by the scientists working in Houston. But
something should make you be really skeptic, what? Have you noticed it? How can we justify
Terry Wirts’ previous statements? How is it possible that today we’re not able to
pass the Van Allen belts when we have already solved this task with older rockets and materials?
How is it possible that modern technology can’t achieve the same aim of 70 years old
devices? Is Wirt wrong, or is the moon landing just a big hoax?
To answer these questions, we need to have a solid conception of technology. Modern devices
are not necessarily able to perform the same tasks of older ones. Take quantum computers
or electric machines as an example. Even if it’s true that they’re not so efficient
as their traditional counterparts, the scientific community continues to invest in them because
there’s a general belief that they will solve more tasks and will be more useful.
There’s a particular period in which modern technology doesn’t perform so well.
Let’s deep more in our case. Today spacecrafts are not anymore able to penetrate the Van
Allen belt because the devices carried by astronauts are smaller and more fragile than
before. As a result of this change in sizes and structures, the interaction with charged
energetic particles turns to be really harmful. Moreover, nowadays the life of NASA astronauts
is a major issue that NASA wants to preserve more than before, when the aim of the research
was mainly political. As we previously said, the moon landing was mainly an achievement
used to mark the prevalence of USA in the Cold War against Russia. At that time the
goal was mostly to reach the Moon before Russians, whereas nowadays other issues are considered
more important. Returning to Wirts’ interview with Samantha
Cristoforetti, it’s necessary to underline the context in which his assumptions were
pronounced. Before saying that we can’t go higher than the lower orbit, he specifies
“right now...”. what does it mean? It means that even if we have already managed
to get through Van Allen belts, “right now”, with the devices we have built in order to
achieve our main goals, we’re not able to perform that previous task. Do you want to
hear a silly comparison? If we are on a Ferrari, we certainly cannot drive through a really
ruined Roman road made out of big stones. Obviously, we have been able to move on that
street for centuries with just a horse, but with the modern technology we have developed,
we can’t anymore. So, it’s really important to understand
the context in which statements are usually made. Wirts’ assumptions shouldn’t be
a sign of the great and terrible moon landing conspiracy, but just a consideration on our
actual spacecraft technology.. To end the debate, we can add a little detail
that will surely clarify our opinion on this topic. The ISS often spends some time in Van
Allen belts without any harmful damage. As a matter of fact, these belts have the so-called
sub-atlantic anomaly that extends these regions to just some hundreds of km of altitude, where
the space station usually orbits. And do you want to know another case in which these particles
reach lower levels of our atmosphere? The polar lights. This is another example that
shows how our magnetosphere has not so defined borders. And the same variability is proper
of the magnetic field itself, as researchers have discovered that it has inverted its polarity
several times in history. Even these changes might affect our organism, which is very fragile
but seems to be destined to further and further places and discoveries.
"This video ends here! Thanks for watching everyone! Did you find this topic exciting?
Are you amazed by the existence of this ionizing belts? Are you excited by the different theories
regarding moon landing? Have you ever heard about Van Allen before? Is there anything
more you want to hear about the magnetic field of Earth? Let me know in the comments below,
be sure to subscribe, and I'll see you next time on the channel!"