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Part 1 of 2 Parts
     In July of 1962, the U.S. military sent a fourteen thousand kiloton nuclear warhead two hundred and fifty miles into space. This experiment was called Starfish Prime. The warhead was believed to be well out of range of the satellites in orbit at that time when it was detonated. However, in the months that followed satellites began to fail including Telstar, the first telecommunication satellite. The scientists discovered that high-energy electrons were generated by the radioactive debris from the detonation. The electrons were trapped by the magnetic fields of the Earth and were damaging the electronics in the satellites.
     The Starfish Prime experiment and similar Soviet space tests are a relic of the early days of the Cold War. Most spacefaring nations have many satellites of their own in orbit that would be damaged by any nuclear detonation to destroy enemy satellites. Therefore, it is unlikely to for such nations to consider orbital nuclear detonations. The single exception is North Korea. They have missiles and nuclear warheads but do not have a single satellite. Such a possible surprise nuclear blast to eliminate military and communication satellites has been referred to as a possible “Pearl Harbor of space.”
     To counter the possibility of a surprise nuclear detonation against satellites in orbit, scientists have been working on a solution. There are three experiments in progress now. One is already in orbit and two are being prepared for launch in 2021. These experiments are aimed at collecting data about how to remove high-energy electrons from the radiation belts around the Earth. This process is called radiation belt remediation (FBR). It already happens naturally when radio waves from space or from Earth including those generated by telecommunications and lightning knock electrons trapped in the Earth’s Van Allen radiation belts down into the upper atmosphere where they loose energy. The visual manifestation of the process is referred to as aurorae.
     Craig Rodge is a space physicist at the University of Otago. He said, “Natural precipitation happens all the time.” However, it would not be practical to rely on the natural processes to remove high-energy electrons from the radiation belts caused by nuclear detonations which can have fluxes of electrons a million times higher than the Van Allen radiation belts.
     NASA has launched missions to probe the Van Allen radiation belts. The probes were launched in 2012 and they dipped in and out of the Van Allen belts as they orbited. The mission ended last year. The knowledge gained illuminated the natural remediation processes. It showed how radio waves resonate with high-energy electrons, scattering them along magnetic field lines and removing them from the radiation belts. Geoff Reeves is a space physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory. He said, “Compared to 10 years ago, we just know so much more about how these wave-particle interactions work.” 
    Researchers are now ready to try artificial remediation by beaming radio waves into the radiation belts. The U.S. Navy has very low frequency (VLF) antenna towers which are used to communication with submarines at sea. Dan Baker is the director of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and a lead investigator on the Van Allen Probes. He says that their scientists have already tested using the VLF to beam radio waves into the radiation belts. There has also been talk of using the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program in Alaska and the giant dish of the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico for the same purpose.
Please read Part 2