NASA has renamed the two satellites designed to investigate the Earth's radiation belts from the very verbose Radiation Belt Storm Probe A and Radiation Belt Storm Probe B to the simpler Van Allen Probe A and Van Allen Probe B. The new names are a tribute to James Van Allen, the physicist who discovered the belts in 1958.
Launched into an elliptical orbit on 30 August 2012, the two spacecraft are investigating solar storms and the effect they have on Earth's Magnetic field and Van Allen belts.
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