Science: Radiation Belt

Space near the earth is not as beset with micrometeorites as some space pessimists have feared. During last week's Washington meeting of the American Physical Society, Drs. Edward Manring and Maurice Dubin of the Air Force Cambridge Research Center told about the experiences of the Army's satellite Explorer I, which carries two meteorite detectors. One of them, a microphone that picks up the slight vibrations in the satellite's shell that are caused by the smallest dust particles, registered only seven hits during the 120 minutes that the transmitter could be heard. The other detector, a set of delicate coils designed...

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