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Bianca Bartz
Earthquake Detection via Satellite - NASA's Disaster Avoidance Plan
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Early detection of earthquakes would be incredible, and it might not be such a far off discovery. Leaked information from NASA revealed plans to build a natural disaster avoidance system capable of prematurely detecting events like last month’s earthquake in China’s Sichuan province. The controversial memo reveals the satellites could be capable of detecting an earthquake as much as two weeks ahead of time.
If all goes to plan, the small satellites would be deployed in about two years time.
The image is of the Sichuan Quake:
This USGS map shows the epicenter and aftershock regions of the magnitude 7.9 earthquake that struck Sichuan province, China, on May 12, 2008.
At some point, much of Earth's rock has soaked up water and later been exposed to extreme heat and pressure inside the Earth. Those conditions break apart the water and create the electrically conductive crystals that exist inside most rocks as well as byproducts such as oxygen.
As pressure builds before an earthquake, the oxygen molecules inside the rocks undergo chemical reactions, creating a positive electrical charge that radiates out toward the Earth's surface.
"It's similar to how an electrical charge radiates through a battery," said Freund.
The charge creates a subtle fluorescent, infrared glow and a magnetic field one to two weeks before a major earthquake.
(dsc.discovery)
Via: dsc.discovery
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