NASA reported in a statement that it will launch three sounding rockets during the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024, to study how the Earth’s upper atmosphere is affected. when sunlight momentarily dims over a part of the planet.
Sounding rockets Atmospheric Perturbations around Eclipse Path (APEP) will be launched from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, to study the disturbances in the ionosphere that are created when the Moon eclipses the Sun.
The sounding rockets had already been launched and successfully recovered from the White Sands testing facility in New Mexico, during the annular solar eclipse of October 2023. They have been refurbished with new instrumentation and will be re-launched in a few days during the big astronomical event of the year. The mission is led by Aroh Barjatya, a professor of engineering physics at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida, where he directs the Space and Atmospheric Instrumentation Laboratory.
Details of the launch of probe rockets during the solar eclipse
The survey rockets will be launched at three different times, NASA reported: 45 minutes before, during, and 45 minutes after the maximum local eclipse. These intervals are important for collecting data on how the sudden disappearance of the Sun affects the ionosphere, creating disturbances that have the potential to interfere with our communications.
The ionosphere:
It is a region of the Earth’s atmosphere that is between 90 and 500 kilometers above the ground. It is an electrified region that reflects and refracts radio signals, and also affects satellite communications as the signals pass through it.
It forms the limit between the Earth’s lower atmosphere – where we live and breathe – and the vacuum of space. It is formed by a sea of particles that are ionized, or electrically charged, from solar radiation.. As night falls, the ionosphere thins as previously ionized particles relax and recombine back into neutral particles. However, Earth and space weather conditions can affect these particles, making it a dynamic region and difficult to predict at any given time..
“Understanding the ionosphere and developing models that help us predict disturbances is crucial to ensuring our increasingly communications-dependent world runs smoothly“explains Barjatya.
Often it is difficult to study short-term changes in the ionosphere during an eclipse with satellites, because they may not be in the right place or time to cross the eclipse path. Since the exact date and times of the total solar eclipse are known, NASA can launch guided sounding rockets to study the effects of the eclipse at the right time and at all altitudes in the ionosphere.
As the shadow of the eclipse passes through the atmosphere, it creates a rapid, localized sunset that triggers large-scale atmospheric waves and small-scale disturbances. ANDThese disturbances affect different radio communication frequencies. Collecting data on these disturbances will help scientists validate and improve current models that help predict potential disturbances to our communications, especially high-frequency ones.
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APEP rockets are expected to reach a maximum altitude of 420 kilometers. Each rocket will measure the density of charged and neutral particles and the surrounding electric and magnetic fields. “Each rocket will eject four secondary instruments the size of a two-liter water bottle that will also measure the same data pointsso the results will be similar to those of fifteen rockets, although only three will be launched,” Barjatya explained.
More complementary measurements during the solar eclipse
In addition to rockets, several US teams will perform measurements of the ionosphere by various means. A team of Embry-Riddle students will deploy a series of high-altitude balloons. Other researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Haystack Observatory and the New Mexico Air Force Research Laboratory will use various ground-based radars to make measurements. Using this data, a team of scientists from Embry-Riddle and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory is refining existing models.
Together, these various investigations will help provide the pieces of the puzzle needed to see the big picture of ionospheric dynamics.
News reference:
https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/skywatching/nasa-to-launch-sounding-rockets-into-moons-shadow-during-solar-eclipse/
