NASA is launching rockets into auroras to uncover their mysterious movements — here’s why

NASA is gearing up to launch rockets into the Northern Lights to study their mysterious movements. The research, conducted in Fairbanks, Alaska, is to determine the causes of pulsating, flickering, and dark spots found in auroras. These spectacular light displays are created by charged particles from solar flares interacting with Earth's magnetic field.
Rockets are set to launch from Alaska this week, providing a closer glimpse at these captivating phenomena. By launching them with sophisticated instruments, researchers at NASA want to gain an understanding of how these tiny particles affect an aurora.

To delve deeper into the phenomena, NASA scientists will be using rockets to study the mysterious phenomena in close-up detail. The reasons why some auroras seem to throb, flicker rapidly, or even develop holes in their patterns remain an enigma. This has been accomplished by performing two separate missions from the Poker Flat Research Range in Fairbanks.
One mission, called Ground Imaging to Rocket Investigation of Auroral Fast Features (GIRAFF), will target fast-pulsating auroras, which flash on and off several times per second. The rockets will carry instruments that measure the interactions between electrons in Earth's magnetosphere and electrons from solar flares. This data will help scientists understand the cause of the rapid fluctuations in auroral light. The second mission is dubbed The Black and Diffuse Aurora Science Surveyor. This time, the spacecraft will look more into the darker areas of an aurora, otherwise called "holes". The regions in the auroras are less researched, and hence, the primary goal of this mission is to observe the states that lead to their development. Much is still speculative about the formation of these "holes".

Auroras are phenomenal natural light events that take place in the polar regions. They are formed when charged particles, mainly from solar flares, collide with Earth's magnetosphere. These collisions produce ribbons of light that stretch across the night sky in various colors. Each aurora is unique, almost like a fingerprint, with distinct patterns and movements that scientists are still trying to fully understand. While the role of solar particles and Earth's magnetic field are well established, for instance, reasons for variations in aurorae dances, such as flicker, pulsate, and even dark "holes," are not known.

The fate of these missions greatly depends on the specific weather in Alaska. NASA has stated that wind conditions, which are expected to affect rocket launch timing and trajectory, are a priority. The auroras will be followed as they go across the horizon with cameras located on the ground and transferred in real-time, and then further analyzed for useful data. Ground-based cameras in Venetie, Alaska, which is approximately 130 miles northeast of the rocket launch site, will also help in tracking the trajectory of the rockets.

Although the science of auroras is a relatively recent phenomenon, the phenomenon itself has been around since ancient times. In the 4th century, Aristotle was one of the first scientists to describe the phenomenon of auroras. The term "Aurora Borealis" was coined by astronomer Galileo. Today, those NASA missions would be a centennial extension to continue building, exploring the science behind the northern lights and more generally to get at Earth's magnetic field and the relationship of the Sun with our home planet.
Hoping to reach such a pivotal point, which would bring these findings into sharper relief and enhance the understanding of this aurora process, perhaps also in terms of a pathway leading toward the possibility of forecasting space weather in the years to come.
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