Earth radiation belts

Abstract

The effects induced by the space environment on space vehicles and astronauts no longer need to be demonstrated. The nature of this environment varies greatly between low orbits and higher orbits such as the geostationary orbit and beyond. In this chapter, we attempt to describe the space environment relative to ionizing particles. To do this, we give a description of the radiation belts. The dynamics in then detailed with two different time scale: the solar cycle time scale and the storm time scale. © 2006 Springer.