Few natural sights are revered as much as the aurora borealis, and scientists at NASA are hoping that two new rocket missions will help illuminate the processes that lead to such a magnificent light display. The two missions, with launch windows that opened January 21, 2025, are aiming for the Alaskan night sky, where auroras shine regularly during the winter.
Auroras are byproducts of the interaction between solar wind and the Earth’s magnetosphere, containing its magnetic field. Following a solar flare or a coronal mass ejection, plasma from the Sun is propelled through space. When this burst of energy reaches the Earth’s magnetic field, electrons start colliding with gasses like oxygen and nitrogen, causing them to give off a vibrant glow that generates auroras.
With the new missions, NASA scientists want to know exactly why these collisions happen in the first place. The missions are part of NASA’s Sounding Rockets program, which launches small rockets containing scientific instruments into space. These rockets usually spend a brief period of time in space (5 to 20 minutes) and travel at lower speeds, making them suitable for some experiments that satellites can't conduct.
