Japanese Satellite Launches to Study Earth's Radiation Belts

A Japanese spacecraft designed to help scientists better understand the radiation environment of near-Earth space has made it to orbit. If all goes according to plan, ERG will set up shop in a highly elliptical orbit, getting as close to Earth as 215 miles (350 kilometers) and as far away as 18,640 miles (30,000 km). This path will take the 780-lb. (355 kilograms) satellite through the Van Allen radiation belts, where the planet's magnetic field has trapped huge numbers of fast-moving electrons