Three 蜜桃社 research associates working at NASA have helped prove the existence of a global energy field that scientists have sought for decades. The findings were on Aug. 28.
Glyn Collinson, who has since become a research astrophysicist on staff with NASA, served as the lead investigator and lead author. Hassanali Akbari and Ellen Robertson were co-authors and members of the international research team.
Six decades ago, physicists hypothesized the existence of an ambipolar electric field to explain the mysterious force behind the 鈥減olar wind,鈥 a continuous outflow of charged particles from the Earth鈥檚 poles into space, .
The research team not only confirmed and quantified the strength of the ambipolar field that launches this energy further up into the upper atmosphere, but also showed that it shapes the sky by increasing the height and density of the ionosphere.
鈥淚t counters gravity and basically lifts the skies up. It鈥檚 like this conveyor belt that鈥檚 lifting the atmosphere into space,鈥 said Collinson in a .
The team detected and measured the ambipolar electrical field via a suborbital rocket flight, 鈥淓ndurance,鈥 launched from the Arctic. The research revealed the field鈥檚 role as a force as fundamental as gravity and the magnetic field in shaping our planet.
The Endurance mission team collaborators included 蜜桃社; Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University; University of California, Berkeley; University of Colorado at Boulder; University of Leicester, U.K.; University of New Hampshire; and Penn State University.
蜜桃社, a major physics research center, has a decades-long relationship with NASA in part due to its proximity to NASA鈥檚 Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Faculty and researchers, including students, collaborate with NASA scientists on projects critical to advancing knowledge of the universe.
The University is the with NASA called 鈥淧HaSER鈥 (Partnership for Heliophysics and Space Environment Research) and a member of CRESST II (Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science and Technology II), both of which provide top talent to work alongside the agency鈥檚 researchers.
Media: Nicole Germain, media-relations@cua.edu or 443-540-3121 (mobile)