NASA confirms Earth's electric field aids atmospheric escape

cnbctv18.com — August 29, 2024 at 10:00 AM UTC

NASA scientists have confirmed the existence of a planet-wide electric field, known as the ambipolar electric field, which aids atmospheric escape and shapes the ionosphere. Measurements from the Endurance mission, launched on May 11, 2022, revealed a change in electric potential of 0.55 volts at an altitude of 477.23 miles. This field exerts an outward force on hydrogen ions, 10.6 times stronger than gravity.

With a significance score of 6, this news ranks in the top 1% of today's 18500 analyzed articles.

Get summaries of news with significance over 5.5 (usually ~10 stories per week). Read by 9000 minimalists.

Timeline:

[5.3]
NASA's New Horizons finds deep space is predominantly dark (gizmodo.com)
183d 9h
Source
[5.4]
Alfvén waves accelerate solar wind, study confirms (iflscience.com)
185d 10h
Source
[5.6]
Scientists discover weak electric field surrounding Earth (futurism.com)
188d 8h
Source
[5.8]
Scientists discover Earth's first invisible electric field (sciencealert.com)
188d 21h
Source
[5.8]
NASA confirms electric field driving Earth's polar wind (gizmodo.com)
189d 4h
Source
[6.0]
NASA confirms Earth's ambipolar electric field exists (universetoday.com)
189d 4h
Source
[5.6]
NASA discovers crucial electric field surrounding Earth (ca.news.yahoo.com)
189d 10h
Source
[6.1]
Scientists measure Earth's first global electric field successfully (phys.org)
190d 5h
Source