During this Saturday's Solar Annular Eclipse, NASA is Set to Launch Three Rockets to Study our Atmosphere

In this mission, NASA intends to further study the effect that eclipses and the consequent decrease in sunlight have in our upper atmosphere.

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Launching from White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, the three rockets will target the ionosphere.

This Saturday, October 14th, space enthusiasts will once again witness a celestial event: an annular solar eclipse that will be visible in various regions of the United States. The ring of fire, as is also known, will be observable in the states of Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, and Texas.

The annular eclipse will begin in Oregon at 9:13 AM PDT and will end around 12:03 PM CDT in Texas. However, those in the vicinity of the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, might also observe trails of scientific rockets speeding toward the shadow of the eclipse.

Flying Towards the Ring of Fire

Not just space enthusiasts will be interested in this ring of fire, but also a group of researchers who are part of the Atmospheric Perturbations around the Eclipse Path (APEP), a mission led by Aroh Barjaty, a professor of engineering physics at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. This mission aims to learn more about the ionosphere before, during, and after the eclipse's peak.

The Ionosphere

The ionosphere is a critical and dynamic region of Earth's upper atmosphere, situated approximately 80 to 600 kilometers above the Earth's surface. This atmospheric layer is characterized by its high concentration of ions and free electrons, making it electrically charged.

The ionosphere plays an essential role in radio wave propagation and communication systems, as it reflects and refracts radio signals, allowing them to travel huge distances over the Earth's surface.

“If you think of the ionosphere as a pond with some gentle ripples on it, the eclipse is like a motorboat that suddenly rips through the water,” Barjatya said. “It creates a wake immediately underneath and behind it, and then the water level momentarily goes up as it rushes back in.”

As mentioned in this study an eclipse condenses a sunset and sunrise into a brief period of about 90-120 minutes, occurring while the adjacent parts of the ionosphere remain fully illuminated by sunlight. Launching rockets and instruments during a solar eclipse offers scientists a unique opportunity to investigate the ionosphere within a simulated day/night cycle.

“Rockets are the best way to look at the vertical dimension at the smallest possible spatial scales,” said Barjatya. “They can wait to launch at just the right moment and explore the lower altitudes where satellites can’t fly.”

More About the Rockets

Sounding rockets are suborbital rockets used for scientific research in areas such as astronomy, atmospheric science, and space physics. They are designed to carry instruments into the Earth's upper atmosphere or near-space environment, allowing scientists to conduct experiments in microgravity or in regions of the atmosphere that are otherwise difficult to study.

In this mission three Black Brant IX sounding rockets will be used which are the fourth in the group of rocket systems using the 17.26 inch diameter Black Brant V rocket motor.

The first rocket will be launched around 35 minutes before the eclipse reaches its local peak, capturing data on the ionosphere as the eclipse begins. The second one will be deployed when the ionosphere experiences its maximum protection from solar radiation, and approximately 35 minutes after the eclipse has ended, the third rocket will be launched just when solar radiation once again reaches the ionosphere.

Each rocket will release four compact scientific instruments designed to observe alterations in electric and magnetic fields, as well as changes in density and temperature.

If these endeavors prove successful, they will mark the inaugural occasion of simultaneous measurements gathered from multiple locations within the ionosphere during a solar eclipse.

This will not be the final journey for these rockets. They will be recovered and launched again in April 8th 2024 from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, during the much-anticipated total solar eclipse.