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CIRBE CubeSat finds new radiation belts after solar storm

An artist’s concept of the Van Allen belts with a cutaway section of the giant donuts of radiation that surround Earth.

NASA is highlighting new research from the Colorado Inner Radiation Belt Experiment (CIRBE) CubeSat.

Designed at built at CU Boulder and LASP, CIRBE is conducting sophisticated, fine-grain measurements of the Van Allen Belts.

Following the largest solar storm in two decades, scientists discovered that this storm also created two new temporary belts of energetic particles encircling Earth.

“When we compared the data from before and after the storm, I said, ‘Wow, this is something really new,’” said the paper’s lead author Xinlin Li, a professor atthe Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) and Smead Aerospace. “This is really stunning.”