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A new robot is set to enamour the first global images of Earth ’s magnetic flying field " breathing " in and out from the surface of the synodic month , NASAhas foretell .
The Lunar Environment Heliospheric X - ray Imager ( LEXI ) — an instrumental role that can detect X - ray ricochet off Earth ’s magnetosphere — is part of the payload do to plunge into space aboard Firefly Aerospace ’s Blue Ghost Lander on Jan. 15 .
An artist’s illustration of Earth’s magnetosphere.
Upon landing on the lunation ’s surface , the instrument will power on before take aim its regard back to Earth for six days , pile up images of our planet ’s magnetised battlefield by observe scurvy - Department of Energy decade - beam reflecting from its surface .
" We expect to see the magnetosphere emit out and emit in , for the first time,“Hyunju Connor , an astrophysicist at NASA ’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt , Maryland and the NASA steer for LEXI , tell in a statement . " When the solar wind is very strong , the magnetosphere will shrink and push backward toward Earth , and then expand when the solar wind subvert . "
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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 liquified core group , and shield us from harmful cosmic rays as well as the electrically - charged solar wind that launch constantly fromthe sunshine . When radiation hits Earth ’s magnetosphere , it either gets reflected or trapped along magnetic force field lines before raining down on the pole in a cognitive operation known as magnetic reconnection .
The resulting geomagnetic storms can cause spectacularaurorasto come along in our planet ’s skies , but they can also fry electronics , wipe data servers andsend satellites tumbling from place .
This urinate linger questions about how space particle rain down on Earth ( include whether they do so at the same time or in bursts ) all the more of import to respond .
" We want to sympathize how nature behaves , " Connor said , " and by sympathize this we can help protect our base in space . "
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While this month ’s voyage is the first time LEXI , or any detector , will capture a full picture of Earth ’s magnetosphere , it is n’t the instrument ’s first trip-up into space . In 2012 , LEXI , then named STORM ( Sheath Transport Observer for the Redistribution of Mass ) , launched into place aboard a sounding rocket salad to pull together X - re picture before falling back to Earth .
" We ’re trying to get this large flick of Earth ’s space environment,“Brian Walsh , a space physicist at Boston University and LEXI ’s primary investigator , said in the financial statement . " A lot of physics can be esoteric or unmanageable to watch without years of specific preparation , but this will be science that you could see . "
