Earth’s protective shield is weakening: Trio of Swarm satellites could reveal how fast the planet’s magnetic field is fading

Earth’s protective shield is slowly weakening, allowing harmful solar winds to penetrate the planet’s atmosphere.

Known as the magnetosphere, this shield extends thousands of miles into space and affects everything from global communication to weather patterns.

The European Space Agency’s Swarm mission aims to map changes to magnetosphere – and, after a year in orbit, it’s now provided a glimpse into its dynamics.

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