NASA Launches Rockets into Northern Lights to Study Atmospheric Turbulence

NASA, along with Utah State University, launched four rockets into the Northern Lights, or aurora borealis, in Alaska on Monday in order to learn more about turbulence in the upper atmosphere.

Auroras, known for producing a spectacular collage of colors that dance across the night sky, are the result of collisions between particles in the Earth's atmosphere and from solar winds, according to NASA.

But there are still many questions to be answered about this phenomenon, such as the role it plays in Earth's meteorological processes and the impact on the planet's atmosphere. This latest research explores the Earth's response to auroras in the hope of understanding and visualizing turbulent air currents in the upper atmosphere.

As part of NASA's Auroral Spatial Structures Probe (ASSP) mission, scientists successfully launched four rockets into the upper atmosphere at 4:13 am EST, Jan. 26 from the University of Alaska's Poker Flat Research Range, northeast of Fairbanks. The launch carried two experiments: the Mesosphere-Lower Thermosphere Turbulence Experiment (M-TeX) and Mesospheric Inversion-layer Stratified Turbulence (MIST).

Before the rocket barrage took place, researchers waited for 13 nights until conditions were ideal. But early Monday morning proved to be perfect, 40-degree weather with clear skies.

Two of the rockets gathered data that researchers hope will eventually answer questions about turbulence in the upper atmosphere, Alaska Dispatch News reported. The other two emitted a white vapor designed to make turbulence visible in the swath of space about 60 miles from the ground.

"The successful launch of the Auroral Spatial Structures Probe will enable scientists and satellite operators to better understand the energy processes during auroral activity in the thermosphere and its effects on satellites as they orbit Earth," Charles Swenson, principal investigator for the ASSP mission, said in a news release. "Solar winds produce electric currents in the upper atmosphere where auroral activity occurs, and those currents produce heat that can expand the thermosphere which increases the drag on satellites significantly."

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