The Bermuda Triangle has been a source of both terror and fascination ever since the mid 19th
century ships planes and people who simply vanish into thin air and of course the long
list of theories and explanations that go with it have given this treacherous part of the Atlantic
Ocean bounded by Miami, Bermuda and Puerto Rico it's rightfully your name the devil's triangle
but did you know that earth is not the only place we can see this scientists have
discovered a cosmic graveyard dubbed the Bermuda Triangle of space a vast region above the earth
that's a threat that could wreak havoc on anything that enters the area welcome to Factnomenal and
today we'll be looking into this cosmic anomaly that has scientists and researchers frantically
buzzing about its threat to spaceships astronauts and even the future of planetary exploration
the earth's magnetic field acts as a protective shield of sorts repelling and trapping charged
particles from the sun these magnetic fields are not uniform and scientists have discovered
the existence of an unusual and disturbing weak spot in the field a dent in our magnetic
field so to speak and it's now serious enough to engage our brightest minds in solving the issue
to understand the danger let's refresh our knowledge of magnetic fields our earth is somewhat
like a bar magnet with north and south poles that represent opposing magnetic polarities there are
invisible magnetic field lines encircling our planet in between these two poles but unlike
a simple bar magnet that you use to conduct experiments the earth's magnetic field is much
more complex it's affected by a number of factors and just a bit unnerving it's not perfectly stable
earth's magnetic poles don't exactly line up with each other and the center line of the magnetic
field is offset by as much as 400 miles from the actual center of the earth the magnetic field
itself originates from the earth's outer core and is the result of a normally unnoticed but
dynamic interaction between our planet's elements and constant motion the metals that are iron-rich
and in vigorous motion below the surface act like a massive generator called the geodynamo and this
creates electric currents which then produce the magnetic field as a result of constant changes
and the complex geodynamic conditions within the earth's core this magnetic field in turn
fluctuates in space and time as well the sun for its part expels a constant outflow of particles
and magnetic fields that we call solar winds along with massive clouds of hot plasma and radiation or
coronal mass ejections when this material strikes the earth's magnetosphere it can get trapped
and held in two belts shaped like a massive donut around the planet these famous pastries
are called the Van Allen belts named after the physicist James Van Allen who first discovered
these belts in 1958 after the launch of explorer 1. humans have known about these for millennia
and since the advent of space exploration they've had to be taken into account for the protection of
astronauts and spacecraft alike now because the earth's magnetic field is offset the Van Allen
belts dip closest to the earth's surface over the area of the Atlantic ocean between Africa
and south America it's this low overhang of the Van Allen belt that worried scientists now call
the south Atlantic anomaly and it's the reason plans for space travel are getting new scrutiny
the van allen belts stretch at an altitude between 620 to 37 000 miles above the surface of the earth
the low altitude of the radiation hot spot puts it within the orbit of particular satellites that
get bombarded by protons and it's a steady and violent bombardment one that exceeds 10 million
electron volts at a rate of 3 000 hits per square centimeters per second the inner part of the van
allen belts consists mainly of high energy protons and the outer region is mainly electrons the
belts trap dangerous particles shooting from the surface of the sun and by doing so they protect
the surface of a planet from harmful radiation but at the south atlantic anomaly our dangerous dent
in space these particles of solar cosmic rays are not being held back the way that they are around
the rest of our earth as a result the solar rays come as close as 124 miles to the earth's surface
and there's an increased influx of energetic particles in this area due to the more intense
solar radiation this pothole in the magnetic field so to speak causes significant problems with
communication satellites and other equipment because the lower magnetic field intensity
allows the inner van allen radiation belt to dip much closer to the earth's surface as exploration
of the universe shifts towards space-based observations astronomers are now dealing with the
effects of this anomaly the hubble space telescope passes through the south atlantic anomaly or
saa about 10 times a day spending about 15 percent of its observation time there and it's unable to
collect astronomical data during these periods which is a significant loss of vital data albeit
necessary northrop grumman's pegasus xl rocket launched nasa's ionospheric connection explorer
satellite to investigate and what it discovered is startling the dent or pothole that is the
saa is actually moving westward and splitting into two as the geomagnetic field evolves the
saa's location keeps changing the radiation is also vastly different at various points in the
saa the european space agency discovered that the lower part of the magnetic field has lost
about 15 percent of its strength over the past 150 years which means the earth could potentially be
more exposed to higher and more dangerous radiation levels although scientists assure us
that it's a danger coming very far in the future it's still coming and therefore is quite alarming
the south atlantic anomaly is a growing problem for space exploration because most satellites
orbit just a few hundred miles above the earth it's widely believed that the higher levels of
dangerous radiation from the saa is undoubtedly the reason for the failure of several spacecraft
if a satellite is hit by a high-energy photon it could short-circuit and cause an event dubbed a
single event upset or seu a notable example is the japan aerospace exploration agency's jaxa x-ray
astronomy satellite more commonly called hitomi it was launched to study high-energy x-rays from
extreme processes throughout the universe but jaxa lost all contact with the expensive and
groundbreaking probe on march 26 2016. it was later confirmed that the spacecraft had been
completely destroyed resulting in a loss of more than 270 million dollars of investment and
countless hours of research and discovery not everyone is convinced that the spacecraft's loss
was due to blasts of radiation from our cosmic dent but the spacecraft is known to have been
affected by the anomaly researchers continuously found hitomi's star tracker running into problems
as it flew over the saa creating issues with the satellite's operations data communications
company globalstar also experienced several losses with their first generation satellites
the result of degradation of electronic components from radiation damage while passing over the saa
computers and instrumentation aboard skylab the international space station and even the spacex
dragon craft have all experienced frustrating issues in the south atlantic anomaly
which leads to a more important question could the high radiation levels of the saa also put our
astronauts at risk there are many low earth orbit spacecraft such as the international space station
that pass through the south atlantic anomaly nasa assures us that the astronauts are safe inside
the iss and other satellites however engineers increasingly worry that this phenomenon will cause
substantial losses in data collection signals and even contact satellites are constructed
with ample amounts of radiation shielding to protect astronauts and they're safe from
harm that might come to the spacecraft itself astronauts also wear dosimeters devices that
measure their personal exposure to ionizing radiation in real time and send out a warning
if they reach dangerous levels however in the event that they might experience direct
exposure to this radiation the iss spacewalks are planned in such a way that they do not take place
during transit across the saa so while astronauts are kept safe the threat to other parts of
missions remains and special care has to be taken passing through the south atlantic anomaly
scientists and engineers are constantly developing better strategies to counter
the potential damage from high energy particles adding more radiation shielding is the obvious way
to go although there's the potential increase in weight of the spacecraft and with it an increase
in cost studies show that semiconductors called self-annealing gallium arsenide circuit chips
are highly resistant to radiation damage placing the more delicate electronic components deeper
into the body of the spacecraft and surrounded by extra layers of protective and radiation resistant
material may be the solution for dealing with the saa as we go deeper into space exploration and
with all the technological advances a hazard like the south atlantic anomaly must be factored in
certainly further study and monitoring of the saa will give us insight into how we could possibly
avoid issues like this even on other worlds beyond earth for example nasa's ionospheric connection
explorer regularly travels through the region and keeps constant tabs on the saa's position
and aside from measuring the saa's magnetic field strength scientists are also studying
the particle radiation with the solar anomalous and magnetospheric particle explorer or sampex the
results of which have shown how the saa's location changes as the geomagnetic field evolves in order
to truly understand how the saa is changing and to protect against future threats global models
of earth's magnetic field are being developed using observations from previous missions as well
as applying the laws of physics as the bermuda triangle of space slowly evolves tracking this
dent in the magnetic field could also help us understand the way our own planet is changing and
help prepare for a safer future the bottom line is the south atlantic anomaly as far as the future of
space exploration goes must be taken seriously in regards to investment technology spacecraft
and most importantly human lives so what are your thoughts on the bermuda triangle of space
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