Where does Earth's mysterious 'ring current' come from? NASA and the US Space Force are launching a mission to find out

A new mission will attempt to chart a mysterious ring-shaped current surrounding the Earth, so that researchers can better protect satellites and power infrastructure from charged particles in space. The NASA mission, called STORIE (Storm Time O+ Ring current Imaging Evolution), will try to hunt down more details about this "ring current" that traps charged particles in a doughnut shape around our planet. The payload also aims to answer a big question: do these particles come from the sun , or from Earth ? Wherever they came from, "these particles have important space weather impacts," Alex Glocer, STORIE's principal investigator at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center , said in a recent NASA statement . Investigators are especially interested in what happens when the solar cycle reaches its 11-year peak, which happens to be about now . Imminent launch STORIE will fly to the International Space Station (ISS) as soon May 12 on SpaceX 's 34th Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) mission. NASA will team up with the Space Force to fly the instrument about the Houston 11 (STP-H11) payload as part of the Department of Defense's (DOD) Space Test Program. NASA's STORIE (Storm Time O+ Ring current Imaging Evolution) instrument is shown here installed on the Space Test Program – Houston 11 (STP-H11) payload, a partnership between the U.S. Space Force and NASA, at the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. …