Probing Electric Space Around Earth

They were the subject of perhaps the first scientific discovery of the Space Age, and yet we still don't know much about them. The radiation belts that surround Earth are home to killer electrons, plasma waves, and intense electrical currents that can disrupt and destroy the electronics on satellites. But the behavior of the Van Allen Belts - named for James Van Allen, who led the team that discovered them in 1958 - is wildly unpredictable .... http://www.sott.net