A Particle Accelerator in Space Could Trigger Artificial Auroras

Auroras seem harmonize to the whims of nature , not humanity , which might just be part of their eerie charm . But c’m on , it ’s the 21st century now . Why are we just waiting around ? So here ’s a half-baked idea unearth byMark Zastrow writing in Eos : Let ’s a build a particle accelerator to spark dawning whenever we need .

By “ we , ” I really mean scientist , who have written a serious theoreticalpaper sit a particle acceleratorthat can inject electron ray into space . research worker at Stanford and SRI International have work out the specs for the COMPASS , or the Compact Particle Accelerator for Space Science .

Image viaMarshall et Camellia State

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To be exonerated , COMPASS does not exist , and thepaper published a few months ago in the Journal of Geophysical Researchdoes not turn to out the ( many ) logistic difficulties of build a particle accelerator in infinite . It does , however , limn how such a car could work , devote scientists a revolutionary novel tool for studying how particle behave in Earth ’s magnetic field . Zastrow excuse in Eos :

High above the Earth ’s surface , high - vigour negatron and ions rain down on the atmosphere , spiraling along the planet ’s magnetized field lines . When they chance on the upper atmosphere , they can excite or ionize nitrogen and oxygen molecules and produce radiance displays ofauroras . However , one way to canvass this behavior in even peachy detail is to inject the electrons by artificial means with a spaceborne particle accelerator .

That ’s whatMarshall et al.consider in a raw study , which apply computer simulations to explore the capableness of a small , but herculean , corpuscle accelerator pedal lay at an altitude of 300 kilometre , point at the atmosphere .

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