An international team of scientists has successfully measured a planet-wide electric field thought to be as fundamental to Earth as its gravity and magnetic fields. Known as the ambipolar electric field, scientists first hypothesized over 60 years ago that it drove atmospheric escape above Earth’s North and South Poles. Measurements from a suborbital rocket have confirmed the existence of the ambipolar field and quantified its strength, revealing its role in driving atmospheric escape and shaping our ionosphere — a layer of the upper atmosphere — more broadly. The paper was published today in the journal Nature.
Category:
Goddard Space Flight Center, Heliophysics, Heliophysics Division, Ionosphere, Science & Research, Sounding Rockets, Sounding Rockets Program
Posted on
August 28, 2024
Sign up for our newsletter:
Categories
1
171
353
2
120
1
1
10
2
65
2
7
134
1
220
1
10
1
10
4
1
32
10
1
1
624
20
344
3
1
1
291
106
11
157
1
25
1
17
3
29
1
1
212
4
20
1
1
1
58
25
18
1
52
10
1
2
23
41
195
1
367
5
4
10
6
2
1
51
44
3
15
18
1
3
24
343
17
1
103
1
1
18
1
87
39
36
101
4
134
10
12
384
5
1
4
5
15
147
4
18
2
198
2
37
1
8
16
25
1
14
6
1
3
11
2
17
2
1
6
6
1
103
43
5
2
10
1
13
1
2
10
2
3
2
149
3
32
3
4
28
11
2
1
3
2
107
4
1
10
14
6
14
29
1
5
1
1
12
43
6
1
3
13
1
1
10
42
14
2
40
11
3
31
1
11
1
262
33
10
1
53
1
6
Blog Posts
Playing the Moon Game
June 24, 2026
NASA Names Sean Gallagher as Chief Information Officer
June 24, 2026