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A new golem is set to capture the first global images of Earth ’s magnetised field " respiration " in and out from the Earth’s surface of the moon , NASAhas herald .
The Lunar Environment Heliospheric X - ray Imager ( LEXI ) — an tool that can detect go - rays bounce off Earth ’s magnetosphere — is part of the load set to launch into space aboard Firefly Aerospace ’s Blue Ghost Lander on Jan. 15 .
An artist’s illustration of Earth’s magnetosphere.
Upon landing on the Sun Myung Moon ’s surface , the instrument will power on before directing its gaze back to Earth for six day , compile image of our planet ’s magnetic field by notice down in the mouth - push go - rays reflecting from its surface .
" We expect to see the magnetosphere breathing out and breathing in , for the first time,“Hyunju Connor , an astrophysicist at NASA ’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt , Maryland and the NASA lead for LEXI , said in a argument . " When the solar farting is very strong , the magnetosphere will shrivel and agitate backward toward Earth , and then expand when the solar wind weakens . "
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An artist’s illustation of LEXI aboard Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lander.
An ever-changing shield
Earth’smagnetosphereis formed by the churning of metal inside our major planet ’s molten core , and shields us from harmful cosmic beam of light as well as the electrically - charged solar wind that launch always fromthe Dominicus . When radiation sickness hit Earth ’s magnetosphere , it either gets reflected or trapped along magnetised playing field lines before raining down on the pole in a process known as magnetized reconnection .
The resulting geomagnetic storms can cause spectacularaurorasto come along in our planet ’s skies , but they can also fry electronics , wipe data point waiter andsend satellites tumbling from place .
This crap lingering doubtfulness about how space speck rain down down on Earth ( including whether they do so simultaneously or in burst ) all the more authoritative to suffice .
" We want to understand how nature behaves , " Connor say , " and by translate this we can help protect our infrastructure in space . "
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While this month ’s voyage is the first time LEXI , or any sensor , will capture a full picture of Earth ’s magnetosphere , it is n’t the instrument ’s first misstep into place . In 2012 , LEXI , then named STORM ( Sheath Transport Observer for the Redistribution of Mass ) , launched into space aboard a sounding rocket to collect hug drug - ray images before falling back to Earth .
" We ’re trying to get this big picture of Earth ’s place environment,“Brian Walsh , a outer space physicist at Boston University and LEXI ’s main investigator , said in the argument . " A lot of physics can be esoteric or difficult to keep an eye on without old age of specific training , but this will be science that you’re able to see . "
