NASA is set to launch three weather rockets during the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024, to study the effects on the upper atmosphere of a brief eclipse of sunlight over part of the planet.
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APEP (atmospheric turbulence around dark zones probe) weather rockets will be launched from NASA’s Walops test center in Virginia to study turbulence in the ionosphere caused by the moon eclipsing the sun, NASA’s website reports.
Similar weather rockets have previously been launched from the White Sands Test Center in New Mexico and successfully returned to earth during an annular eclipse in October 2023. The rockets are being re-instrumented for re-launch in April 2024. The mission is led by Aroh Barjatya, a professor of physical engineering at Embry-Riddle Aeronautics University in Florida, where he manages the Space and Atmospheric Instrumentation Laboratory.
Weather rockets will be launched in three stages: 45 minutes before darkening, during and 45 minutes after darkening. These intervals are important for collecting data on how a sudden solar eclipse affects the ionosphere, creating atmospheric turbulence that interferes with our communications.
The ionosphere is a region of the earth’s atmosphere that lies between 90 and 500 km above the surface.
This is an electrified area that reflects and refracts radio waves, and also affects satellite communications as the signal travels through, Barjatya explains. “Understanding the ionosphere and developing models will help us better predict atmospheric disturbances, which is critical to making sure our increasingly communications-dependent world runs smoothly.”
The ionosphere forms the boundary between Earth’s lower atmosphere – where we live and breathe – and the vacuum of space. It is a sea of particles that become ionized or electrically charged by the sun’s energy or radiation. When night falls, the ionosphere liquefies because pre-ionized particles relax and recombine, becoming neutral. However, Earth’s weather in the atmosphere and near-space can influence these particles, making this region dynamic and difficult to predict the state of the ionosphere at any given time.
AREP missiles will reach a maximum altitude of 420 km. Each rocket will measure the density of charged and neutral particles and the surrounding electric and magnetic fields. “Each of the rockets will release four secondary instruments the size of a 2-liter soda bottle that will measure the same parameters, so the result from three launched rockets will be the same as fifteen,” Barjatya explained. The three secondary instruments were made at Embry University -Riddle, and the fourth is at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.
In addition to the rockets, several teams in the United States will also take measurements of the ionosphere using different means. A team of Embry-Riddle University students will launch a series of high-altitude weather balloons.
When APEP rockets were launched during the 2023 annular eclipse, scientists discovered a sharp decrease in the density of charged particles as the shadow moved through the atmosphere.
The next total solar eclipse in the United States will occur in 2044, so these experiments are a rare opportunity for researchers to collect critical data.
The APEP launches will be broadcast live on the official NASA Wallops Center YouTube channel and the official NASA solar eclipse broadcast.
Source: Racurs
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.