Autzoo.1501
net.space
utzoo!henry
Wed Mar 24 16:29:31 1982
South Atlantic Anomaly
The South Atlantic Anomaly is an area where, due to some lumpiness
in Earth's magnetic field, the lower Van Allen belt is unusually
close to Earth.  This is relevant to spaceflight because the radiation
dose rate in the SAA is noticeably higher than elsewhere.  The reason
why Skylab had a big thick heavy safe for storing film was that Skylab's
orbit was at a high enough inclination to make it pass through the SAA
area, and the cumulative fogging effect on unshielded film over a period
of several months was considered excessive.