I
when America's first satellite explorer
one launched more than three decades ago
it discovered the Van Allen radiation
belts it's around the earth and ever
since radiation has caused more than a
few problems for the satellites that
have followed they fail from radiation
as one of the primary players we have we
have a lot of problems in having to go
back in and reprogram spacecraft because
of radiation hits now this spacecraft
called the combined release and
radiation effects satellite or cres will
help remap the radiation belts and by
using that we can determine what types
of radiation protection need to be put
on future spacecraft future spacecraft
will also benefit from new solar power
panels being tested aboard crest
standard panels like these which will
actually power the crest satellite could
someday be replaced by panels like this
which are doubly efficient kress will
also light up the sky with a year-long
series of experiments that will focus in
on energy generated by solar storms
energy that can disrupt radio
transmissions and power supplies here on
earth flying an egg-shaped orbit crests
will release chemical tracers into both
the ionosphere and the magnetosphere it
will be like painting magnetic field
lines in space so that they're visible
from the ground these will be closely
examined using ground-based telescopes
and special aircraft and one of the aims
of crests is to do specific experiments
in the space surrounding earth to study
how these disturbances propagate how
they grow and decay with an idea toward
being able to predict in the future when
these disturbances will occur and how
large they will be press is a joint NASA
and Air Force project that's managed for
NASA by the Marshall Space Flight Center
in Huntsville Alabama an atlas centaur
rocket will launch cress with its 20
scientific instruments and 24 canisters
filled with chemical tracers just as its
ancestor Explorer one did many years ago
crest will blaze a new trail that's sure
to help clear the way for space flights
to follow in Huntsville this is Mike
Harrington reporting