NASA has made a groundbreaking discovery by identifying Earth’s third energy field, known as the ‘Polar Wind.’ This field, which has only existed in theory until now, has been confirmed after a 60-year search. It holds significance comparable to gravity and magnetic fields in understanding our planet’s dynamics.
Glyn Collinson, principal investigator of NASA’s Endurance mission at the Goddard Space Flight Center, Maryland, highlighted the field’s importance. According to Collinson, the Polar Wind has existed alongside gravity and magnetic fields since the Earth’s formation. Despite its weakness, it plays a crucial role by counteracting gravity and affecting the upper atmosphere.
The Polar Wind is vital for understanding how Earth’s atmosphere rapidly evaporates at the polar regions. Scientists believe this energy field has been essential in the development of the atmosphere’s upper layer. Observations from the 1960s had detected particles flowing into space at supersonic speeds, but the technology to detect the energy field was not advanced enough at that time.
The discovery was made using observations from a NASA suborbital rocket, which measured the planet-wide electric field. The Endurance mission confirmed the presence of this ambipolar field, revealing its role in driving atmospheric escape and shaping the ionosphere, the upper layer of the atmosphere.
Since 2016, Collinson and his team have been developing sensors for the Endurance rocket mission. The suborbital rocket was launched on May 11, 2022, from Svalbard, Norway. According to Suzie Imber, a space physicist at the University of Leicester and co-author of the study, Svalbard was chosen as it provided the unique conditions needed to measure the Polar Wind.
The mission revealed that hydrogen ions in the Polar Wind are propelled into space by an electric field 10.06 times stronger than gravity. The ambipolar field also increases the ionosphere’s density by 271%, maintaining a higher density at greater altitudes.
Collinson described the field as a conveyor belt that lifts atmospheric particles into space. This discovery opens up new research opportunities, particularly in studying how energy fields on other planets, such as Venus and Mars, have influenced atmospheric evolution. This revelation marks a significant advancement in our understanding of Earth’s atmospheric processes and the broader planetary science field.