NASA To Launch 3 Sounding Rockets During Annular Solar Eclipse To Measure Changes in Atmosphere

Many have been waiting for the annual solar eclipse, also dubbed the "ring of fire" eclipse. The event will be seen across the western United States, but NASA scientists will be busy with a mission.

NASA's APEP Mission During the Annular Solar Eclipse

On Oct. 14, the annular solar eclipse will grace the sky. However, NASA will be busy with something else - it will launch three sounding rockets to measure the atmosphere changes during the eclipse.

Aroh Barjatya, a professor of engineering physics at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, will lead the Atmospheric Perturbations around the Eclipse Path (APEP) mission, which was named after the Egyptian deity of darkness.

The tradition claims that Apep would chase the sun god Ra, his arc enemy. When he finally got up to him, an eclipse would happen.

The rockets will launch from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico and will be directed particularly at the ionosphere. The ionosphere's temperature and density will decrease during the eclipse, producing a wave-like effect that may interfere with GPS and other satellite communications.

According to Barjatya, the eclipse is like a motorboat that suddenly rips through the water if you imagine the ionosphere as a pond with some gentle ripples. The water level briefly rises as it rushes back in, leaving a wake immediately beneath and behind it. Considering that all satellite communications pass through this area, it is essential to comprehend and simulate every ionosphere disruption.

He added that they must use the sun while it is out or in the case of an eclipse when it isn't. In all seriousness, the data collection will show the broad impacts of eclipses on the ionosphere at the smallest spatial dimensions.

The sounding rockets and their equipment will move to NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia after the annular eclipse, where they will be relaunched in time for the upcoming total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. The contiguous United States will not witness another significant solar eclipse pair until 2044, so this pair will be the last.

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What Is the APEP Mission?

APEP will use devices like Langmuir probes, electric field probes, magnetometers, ionization gauges, and accelerometers to find variations in the ionosphere. Simultaneous multipoint measurements will be accomplished by ejecting four instrumented deployables from each payload. The ejectables are launched by springs at a speed of 3 m/s and can collect data for 7 to 8 minutes. This makes it possible to measure a bigger area of space.

In the part of the Earth's atmosphere between 90 and 500 km altitude known as the ionosphere, solar radiation ionizes gases or de-electronizes molecules and atoms, resulting in ions and free electrons. Plasma is the name for this state of substance. The ionosphere is a highly dynamic environment influenced by many different processes, including the gravity of the Earth, its magnetic field, the solar wind, the Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF), solar flares, terrestrial weather, and others.

Three Black Brant IX sounding rockets will be launched from White Sands Missile Range on Oct. 14, 2023, during the Annular Solar Eclipse, providing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to examine the dynamics of the Earth's ionosphere. The ionosphere will be examined before, during, and after the maximum eclipse.