Mission Design & Timeline
Instruments & Science Objectives
The Radiation Belt Storm Probes Mission (RBSP) is part of NASA’s Living Star Program that will study the Van Allen Belts surrounding Earth. Living with a Star Missions are part of a Geospace Program that is exploring fundamental processes that operate throughout the Solar System especially focusing on those that generate hazardous space weather phenomena near Earth and could affect solar system exploration. Studying Earth Radiation Belts will greatly improve several applications such as spacecraft operations, systems design, mission planing and astronaut safety. RSP studies the sun’s influence on Earth and near-Earth Space by examining the Radiation Belts on different scales and time frames. The Mission sends two spacecraft into highly elliptical orbits to study the Radiation Belts for at least 2 years to complete the mission’s objectives. Living with a Star is managed by NASA’s Goddard Spaceflight Center. The RBSP Mission is managed by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. JHU/APL built and implemented the Spacecraft and is responsible for spacecraft operation.