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A new robotic device is poised to capture the initial global visuals of Earth’s magnetic field “inhaling” and “exhaling” from the lunar surface, as per NASA’s announcement.
The Lunar Environment Heliospheric X-ray Imager (LEXI) — a tool capable of detecting X-rays reflecting off Earth’s magnetosphere — is included in the payload scheduled for launch into space aboard Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Lander on January 15.
Once it lands on the moon, the instrument will activate before directing its view back toward Earth for six days, gathering images of our planet’s magnetic field by detecting low-energy X-rays bouncing from its surface.
“We anticipate seeing the magnetosphere inhaling and exhaling for the first time,” Hyunju Connor, an astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and the primary NASA representative for LEXI, stated in a release. “When the solar wind is at its peak strength, the magnetosphere will contract and retreat toward Earth, only to expand when the solar wind lessens.”
Related: An ancient solar storm impacted Earth during an unfavorable phase of the sun’s cycle — raising alarms among scientists
A constantly shifting shield
Earth’s magnetosphere is generated by the swirling metal within our planet’s molten core, serving as a barrier against detrimental cosmic rays as well as the electrified solar wind that continuously emanates from the sun. When radiation strikes Earth’s magnetosphere, it is either reflected or ensnared along magnetic field lines before descending on the poles in a phenomenon known as magnetic reconnection.
The ensuing geomagnetic storms can result in breathtaking auroras in our planet’s atmosphere, but they can also damage electronics, erase data centers, and cause satellites to spiral out of control.
This elevates the importance of resolving lingering inquiries about how space particles descend upon Earth (including whether they do so all at once or in bursts).
“We aim to comprehend how nature functions,” Connor remarked, “and through this understanding, we can contribute to safeguarding our infrastructure in space.”
While this month’s expedition marks the first occasion LEXI, or any detector, will capture a comprehensive depiction of Earth’s magnetosphere, it is not the instrument’s inaugural journey into space. In 2012, LEXI, then referred to as STORM (Sheath Transport Observer for the Redistribution of Mass), was launched aboard a sounding rocket to gather X-ray imagery before returning to Earth.
After the refurbishment of several essential components and optics, the instrument is now prepared to soar once more.
“We are attempting to piece together this broad view of Earth’s space environment,” Brian Walsh, a space physicist at Boston University and LEXI’s principal investigator, expressed in the statement. “A lot of physics can be abstract or tough to grasp without years of dedicated training, but this will be science that is visible.”
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