At the end of August, NASA scientists made a striking discovery. What’s interesting is that it doesn’t concern distant stars and planets, but Earth. After 60 years of research, the space agency has finally discovered the Earth’s electric field.

The invisible force, which has been sought for more than half a century since the first hypothesis was put forward, has finally been found. The field was called the “polar wind”, with its help you can explain the nuances of the functioning of the Earth’s atmosphere. Scientists say that this discovery is as important for our planet as gravity and magnetic fields.

24 Channels gathered the basic facts about the new discovery.

How did the electric field theory come about?

Scientists began to suspect that there was an electric field above the Earth in the 1960s, after the first space missions were launched. Satellites launched in those years measured the flow of charged particles moving from the atmosphere into space as they flew over the polar regions. This was called the “polar wind.”

Illustrative image of Earth’s electric field / Visualization by NASA

The initial hypothesis was that solar radiation heated the particles, providing them with enough energy to overcome the force of gravity and escape through Earth’s atmosphere, similar to steam evaporating from a pot of water. But this hypothesis turned out to be wrong; charged particles are cold. So scientists had to look for another “polar wind” hypothesis. The most likely candidate was the planet’s electric field, but the instruments at the time were not sensitive enough to measure it.

This field is so fundamental to understanding how our planet works; it was there from the beginning, along with gravity and magnetism. Although weak, it is incredibly important; it counteracts gravity and almost lifts the sky.
says Glyn Collinson, a researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.

How did scientists discover the electric field?

The search for Earth’s electric field began in 2016. Collinson and his colleagues then began working on developing sensors for the Endurance probe. In May 2022, a suborbital rocket carrying eight specialized instruments lifted off from the Svalbard missile range, just a few hundred kilometers from the North Pole. This starting point is ideal for studying the “polar wind.”

Svalbard is the only rocket range in the world where you can fly against the polar wind and make the measurements we need.
– says co-author of the study, space physicist Susie Imber from the University of Leicester in Great Britain.

During the 20-minute flight, Endurance reached an altitude of about 460 miles (768 kilometers) and collected data from 310 miles (518 kilometers) of the atmosphere, where scientists recorded a voltage of 0.55 volts in the atmosphere.

The Endurance mission was funded by NASA and its partner on the project is Andøya Space, which owns the launch pad in Svalbard. The program also used the European Incoherent Scattering Science Alliance Svalbard Radar (EISCAT) in Longyearbyen, which made critical ground-based measurements of the ionosphere.

The Endurance mission team includes scientists from The Catholic University of America, Embry-Riddle Air Force One, UC Berkeley, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the University of Leicester, United Kingdom, the University of New Hampshire and Pennsylvania State University.

Endurance launch from Svalbard / NASA photo

Scientists estimate that the field begins about 250 kilometers above the surface, where atoms in the atmosphere split into negatively charged electrons and positively charged ions, which are 1,800 times heavier than electrons. Given the opposite electric charges of the particles, an electric field is created that binds them together, constantly counteracting gravity and allowing some particles to fly into space, NASA said.

The field’s gravity is 10.6 times stronger than Earth’s gravity, enough to send some particles flying into space at supersonic speeds, he said. Alex Glosser, study co-author and Endurance mission scientist at the Goddard Center.

Interesting! Electrons and ions differ significantly in mass; electrons are so light that a small pulse of energy is enough to force them out of the Earth’s gravitational field. A hydrogen ion, made up of a proton, is 1.836 times heavier than an electron, so the Earth’s gravitational field attracts it. This is how ions and electrons are separated. As oppositely charged particles, they create an electric field.

This electric field is bidirectional, meaning it causes electrons and positive ions to move in opposite directions. The effect is to increase the height of the ionosphere by 271%. That is, some ions (mostly hydrogen and oxygen) fly so high that they can no longer hold on to Earth’s gravity.

According to scientists, the polar wind phenomenon may also exist on other planets, especially Mars and Venus. Glyn Collinson believes that a more detailed study of the planetary electric field could help clarify its influence on the evolution of the atmosphere and oceans.