NASA to launch three rockets for auroral study in Alaska

NASA is preparing to launch three rockets from Poker Flat Research Range in Fairbanks, Alaska. This experiment aims to study how auroral substorms influence the upper atmosphere of Earth. The findings could challenge existing theories and enhance space weather predictions, which are becoming increasingly important as satellites are used more in daily life. The experimental project is called Auroral Waves Excited by Substorm Onset Magnetic Events, or AWESOME. It involves one four-stage rocket and two two-stage rockets that will launch within about three hours. The launch window is set from March 24 to April 6. Led by Mark Conde, a professor of space physics at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the mission includes about a dozen graduate students who will monitor data from various sites in Alaska. NASA manages the rockets’ delivery, assembly, testing, and launch. Conde's research questions how energy from auroras affects the atmosphere. He suggests that acoustic-buoyancy waves may play a larger role in mixing the atmosphere than previously thought. Understanding these processes can help better predict the impacts of space weather. Two of the rockets will launch shortly after an auroral substorm starts, while the larger rocket will launch shortly after the second. They will release colorful vapor tracers at different altitudes, making their movements visible across northern Alaska. This visibility is crucial for capturing the tracers' behavior in relation to atmospheric changes.