The Van Allen Probes mission successfully launched on August 30, 2012.
The Applied Physics Laboratory is responsible for the implementation and instrument management for the Van Allen Probes.
NASA is conducting the Van Allen Probes mission as part of the Living With a Star program.
In February 2013, a third temporary Van Allen Radiation Belt was discovered by using data gathered by Van Allen Probes.
The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory ( APL ) manages the mission and is building and will operate the Van Allen Probes for NASA.
The Van Allen Probes consist of twin spacecraft studying the extreme and dynamic regions of space known as the Van Allen Radiation Belts that surround Earth.
In a news conference by NASA's Van Allen Probe team, it was stated that this third belt is a product of mass coronal ejection from the Sun.
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center manages the Living With a Star program of which the Van Allen Probes is a project, along with Solar Dynamics Observatory ( SDO ).
In 2013, NASA reported that the Van Allen Probes had discovered a transient, third radiation belt, which was observed for four weeks until it was destroyed by a powerful, interplanetary shock wave from the Sun.
APL has designed many spacecraft for the Department of Defense, including the Transit ( satellite ) series, and scientific spacecraft for NASA, including the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous, New Horizons, MESSENGER, STEREO and the Van Allen Probes.