(Express) – Internal Space Station (ISS) astronauts were left in a potentially terrifying situation when their computers crashed while flying in a mysterious region known as “the Bermuda Triangle of space”.
Earth’s magnetic field has a weak spot “the size of the continental US” hovering over South America and the southern Atlantic Ocean. Scientists say we are safe from the effects on Earth, but satellites are not so lucky – when they pass through the anomaly they are bombarded with radiation “more intense than anywhere else in orbit”.
Known as the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA), or “the Bermuda Triangle of space” more colloquially, the region sits at the point where Earth’s magnetic field is particularly weak. This means particles of solar cosmic rays are not being held back to the same extent as they are elsewhere above the planet.
As a result, solar rays come as close as 124 miles to the Earth’s surface – in a range of probes in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO). John Tarduno, professor of geophysics at the University of Rochester, explained: “I’m not fond of its nickname, but in that region, the lower geomagnetic field intensity eventually results in a greater vulnerability of satellites to energetic particles, to the point that spacecraft damage could occur as they traverse the area. READ MORE
