Preface

The discovery of the Van Allen radiation belts in 1958, starting with data from the United States\textquoteright first two successful orbiting spacecraft, Explorer\textquoterights I and III, was an astounding surprise and represented the founding of what we now call magnetospheric physics. Since that time many spacecraft have traversed the radiation belts en route to other more distant parts of Earth\textquoterights magnetosphere and other worlds beyond Earth\textquoterights orbit. After initial climatological models of the radiation belts were obtained in the 1960\textquoterights and early 1970\textquoterights, the main concern about them was the ability of spacecraft and astronauts to survive their intense radiation. And yet there were true scientific mysteries to be solved, glimpses of which came in the 1990\textquoterights from spacecraft like CRRES and SAMPEX. CRRES observed the unexpected creation of a brand new radiation belt and also a variety of unanticipated features including peculiar distributions of strong electric fields deep within the belts during geomagnetic storms