Re: Question: what is the SAA on the map showing orbital paths?

On Sat, 30 Jul 2005 02:53:13 -0500, Matt Wiser wrote:

> I've seen this on a orbital chart in the Space Shuttle
> Operator's Manual and on the map in Mission Control in
> Houston showing the SAA. The former calls it the South
> Atlantic Anaomly. What exactly is it?
> Just curious.

The South Atlantic Anomaly is a place roughly above South
America where the Earth's geomagnetic field allows the
inner Van Allen Belt, which is normally weell above LEO,
to dip down hundreds of miles _into_ LEO.

Thus an LEO orbit that happens to pass thru the SAA gets
a eather above-average radiation dose for a few minutes
every orbit. Needless to say it's a potential problem for
anything not rad-hardened... like humans :)

--
Chuck Stewart
"Anime-style catgirls: Threat? Menace? Or just studying algebra?"



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