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SUMMARY:Human control of the Radiation Belts. Protecting satellites from &
 quot\;terrorists&quot\; with nuclear weapons - Craig J Rodger\, Physics De
 partment\, University of Otago
DTSTART:20080617T100000Z
DTEND:20080617T110000Z
UID:TALK12471@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Deb Shoosmith
DESCRIPTION:In the last 10 years there has been increasing discussion as t
 o practical human control of the energetic electron population in the radi
 ation belts. This primarily comes from the perception that numerous valuab
 le spacecraft might be endangered by injections of highly energetic electr
 ons into the inner belt\, and the realisation that such an injection could
  occur through a military or "terrorist" act (although smaller-scale injec
 tions can also take place in very large geomagnetic storms). Hence some US
  and European researchers have been investigating approaches to vastly inc
 rease the loss of these relativistic electrons\, dumping them into the Ear
 th's atmosphere. The manmade control of the Van Allen belts has been terme
 d "Radiation Belt Remediation" (RBR).\n\nIn this seminar I will discuss th
 e reasoning behind RBR-systems\, and consider the atmospheric implications
  of the operation of such a system. I will go on to show that experimental
  measurements demonstrating that some powerful radio communications transm
 itters are currently driving the loss of quite high energy electrons into 
 the atmosphere. These observations also point to the difficultly of buildi
 ng an operational RBR-system.\n\nMy seminar is based on work which was sel
 ected as NERC science highlight for the 2006/2007 period.
LOCATION:British Antarctic Survey\, Room 307
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