NASA’s new Ezie (Electrojet Zeeman Explorer) mission has made its first measurements and is about to reveal crucial details about Earth’s auroral electrochorros.
These are powerful electric currents that flow through our upper atmosphere, where the auroras shine in the sky. This information will help us better understand the connection of the Earth with the space and mitigate the negative impacts of the space climate in society, reports NASA.
With three cubesats, Ezie launched in mid -March to map the auroral electrochorros closely and in detail for the first time. These intense currents are generated in the north and south polar regions of our atmosphere, about 105 kilometers on the ground, when huge amounts of energy are transferred to the upper atmosphere of the earth from the solar wind. The same process can also light colorful auroras (north or south lights) in our heavens.
The Ezie space probes are designed to map the intensity and direction of these currents by studying the emission of oxygen molecules about 16 kilometers (10 miles) below electrochorros. Oxygen molecules emit microwave at a frequency of 118 gigahecks.
However, in the presence of magnetic fields, such as those created by electrochor, this broadcast line is divided through a process called Zeeman unfolding. The more intense the magnetic field is, the more the 118 GHz line is separated. Polarizations, or wave orientations, of the oxygen emission reveal the direction of the magnetic field.
On March 19, one of the three Ezie satellites successfully registered the Zeeman unfolding of the 118 GHz oxygen emission line with its microwave electro -bodied magnetogram instrument (MEM). The observations reveal the intensity and direction of the responsible magnetic field: in this case, the Earth’s magnetic field near the magnetic equator.
The Ezie mission is expected to begin its formal scientific research in approximately one month, after the final checks and calibrations.
