NASA is hoping it will help it see a bigger picture of ionospheric dynamics. Others will work with a ground-based radars and take measurements to ultimately refine current models.

“Understanding the ionosphere and developing models to help us predict disturbances is crucial to making sure our increasingly communication-dependent world operates smoothly.”īesides the rocket launches, several teams of people across the country will also take ionosphere measurements, including a team of students from Embry-Riddle, who will be using high-altitude balloons. “It’s an electrified region that reflects and refracts radio signals, and also impacts satellite communications as the signals pass through,” said Aroh Barjatya, a professor of engineering physics at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida who directs the space and atmospheric instrumentation lab. This NASA graphic shows the visibility path and times, in seconds after liftoff, for Northrop Grummans NG-14 Cygnus cargo launch on an Antares rocket from Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on. The ionosphere is a part of the Earth’s atmosphere between 55 to 310 miles above ground. They have been refurbished with new instrumentation for the upcoming launch. The APEP mission launched during the October 2023 annular eclipse. NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility supported the launch of two suborbital sounding rockets on Nov.

Last October during the annular solar eclipse, the sounding rockets were launched and successfully recovered from the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico. Its like launching fifteen rockets, while only launching three. NASA Wallops Supports Hypersonic Rocket Launches.

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