Space Environment

We Will Never Stop Exploring

Space is always being a fascinating place for a human being. We are trying our best to explore space as far as we can and the fact is that with the improving technology we are getting smarter enough to explore the universe, We knew how does it work, how does it react, how it is the greatest creator. We knew all of it but it doesn't mean that it is over. There is a lot to explore yet and with the current rate of our progress, I don't think that there is no limit to our exploration. But the World, as well as the Universe, is not so simple there are some challenges that we have to overcome on and we should.

Space Environment

As I said earlier space is the most fascinating place but anything is not so simple at all. Besides the problems of distance, communication, temperature, power source/fuel there is one more problem in space exploration and that is Space Environment. Space Environment simply means space's environment (The Surrounding or the Conditions around us is known as environment), space is not a quiet or peaceful place to live, Yeah! you probably not going to live in space but we have to face it even in space exploration.

Solar Radiation

Solar radiation is radiant energy emitted by the sun from a nuclear fusion reaction that creates electromagnetic energy. Solar Radiations are caused due to nuclear fusion inside the core of the star that produces this electromagnetic radiation. Solar Radiation particularly Infrared, Visible Light and Ultraviolet light. Basically, here most of the people will think about the sunburns and all the problems that we face on beaches. But it is more dangerous than that yes! we don't feel anything here on earth thanks to our atmosphere, which consist of the ozone layer and blocks the harmful radiation from reaching the earth's surface. If this radiation will directly hit the ground life would probably not possible on the earth. The best example of this mars, once mars were able to sustain life on it but as it lost its magnetic field and the atmosphere got striped (we will talk about it further) mars is not able to sustain the life anymore. That's Horrible! and all our equipment in space rather they are Satellites, Telescopes, Space Stations all of these experiences this radiations daily, these might be okay for the machines but not for humans on the space stations or on the spacewalks that way it is the first responsibility of any space agency to protect there astronauts from the harmful solar radiation, for this they use materials that can reflect the radiation as more as can and other couples of things.

Magnetosphere

Earth's Magnetosphere or Magnetic Field, the most important thing to sustain life on any planet (Planet's magnetic field not earth's). Our parent star Sun given us life, Due to Sun's Heat and light life is possible here on earth. But things are not overed here Sun is our parent star? Yes, it is. Sun has given us life? Yes, he gave. Sun is our necessity? Yes, it is. Sun can take our life? Yes, he can. Sun is made up of huge hydrogen gas, let me mention the sun is not a ball of fire, as I said Sun is a huge ball of hydrogen and due to the nuclear fusion inside the sun's core that produces light (Specifically Electromagnetic radiation) as well as heat and heat is so extreme that hydrogen gets hot enough to ionized and become a plasma. Plasma is the reason why Sun glows. This hot plasma is a mixture of ionized hydrogen, helium and a small number of heavy elements. The solar plasma is heated up to a point that the sun's gravity could not hold it anymore and this plasma escapes the sun gravity but like it, an ionized matter (plasma) travels along the sun's magnetic field and this flow of charged particles is continuous. These Solar Winds are so dangerous unless we are not having protection. Earth's Magnetosphere is that protection, Earth's Magnetic field is generated into its core, the Planetary magnetic fields are formed by the interaction between the convection of interior conducting material (molten rock and metal) and the planet's own rotation causing the formation of an electric current inside the planet These currents are hundreds of miles/kilometres wide and flow at thousands of miles per hour as the earth rotates. The powerful magnetic field passes out through the core of the earth, passes through the crust and enters space basically extends all way into space, giving us strong protection against the harmful solar wind. People on Earth, it is harmless, but this solar wind can damage our satellite's computers, so much harmful for the astronauts outside the earth's protection (ISS is under the earth's protection).

Cosmic Rays

Cosmic rays are high-energy protons and atomic nuclei that move through space at nearly the speed of light. They originate from the sun, from outside of the solar system in our own galaxy. Cosmic rays were discovered by Victor Hess in 1912. primary cosmic rays, which originate outside of Earth's atmosphere, about 99% are the nuclei of well-known atoms (stripped of their electron shells), and about 1% are solitary electrons (that is, one type of beta particle). Of the nuclei, about 90% are simple protons (i.e., hydrogen nuclei); 9% are alpha particles, identical to helium nuclei; and 1% are the nuclei of heavier elements, called HZE ions. These fractions very highly over the energy range of cosmic rays. A very small fraction are stable particles of antimatter, such as positrons or antiprotons. Cosmic rays attract great interest practically, due to the damage they inflict on microelectronics and life outside the protection of an atmosphere and magnetic field, and scientifically because the energies of the most energetic ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) have been observed to approach 3 × 10^20 eV, about 40 million times the energy of particles accelerated by the Large Hadron Collider. One can show that such enormous energies might be achieved by means of the centrifugal mechanism of acceleration in active galactic nuclei. At 50 J, the highest-energy ultra-high-energy cosmic rays have energies comparable to the kinetic energy of a 90-kilometre-per-hour (56 mph) baseball. As a result of these discoveries, there has been interesting in investigating cosmic rays of even greater energies. Most cosmic rays, however, do not have such extreme energies; the energy distribution of cosmic rays peaks on 0.3 gigaelectronvolts.

Space Debris

Space debris, also known as space junk, space waste or space garbage yeah all these terms are used for trash and yes this is trash. This condition is actually man-made. Space exploration is happening now for around 60 - 70 years and all this resulted in pollution, in space because all the remains of rockets and destroyed satellite kept revolving around the earth. Now that's the matter of concern because these remains are travelling at very high speed, and when an object is carrying that much kinetic energy with it no matter whether its size is small or large it would have a large impact on the surface of an object (to which it hits). Astronauts while performing spacewalks are facing these issues because this space debris can cause a cut in their spacesuits and other than this there are many other issues.

All of these are important aspect of the space environment, scientist and engineers work's hard to overcome all of these problems and results in a fantastic scientific module. One thing I can say with 100% guarantee that 

WE WILL NEVER STOP EXPLORING!!!