Nasa S Rocket Launch Will Test The Science Package For Future Missions

NASA will test new science equipment for future missions with an Aug. 22 rocket launch from Wallops Flight in Virginia. The Sporadic-E ElectroDynamics Demonstration mission, or SpEED Demon, will fly new instruments alongside legacy instruments that have flown on other sounding rocket missions, but not together. The SpEED Demon instruments will be further refined based on the results of this launch and then flown on a science mission targeting the summer of 2024 from Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands and possibly many other rocket launch opportunities. The SpEED Demon will launch on a 40-foot Terrier-Improved Malemute rocket between August 22 and 1 a.m. August 23. Alternate launch dates are August 23rd through August 27th. NASA’s Wallops Visitor Center will open to the public at 8 p.m. on launch day to see the flight. The missile launch is expected to be visible from the mid-Atlantic/Chesapeake Bay region. Live coverage of the mission is scheduled to begin at 8:40 p.m. on the Wallops YouTube site. While SpEED Demon’s main purpose is to test the instrument package, scientists hope it may be able to measure sporadic E-layers in the ionosphere, the electrified upper part of Earth’s atmosphere made up of ionized gas called plasma. NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) spacecraft has discovered “layers” and “cracks” in the electrically charged part of the upper atmosphere (the ionosphere) of Mars. The phenomenon is similar to the frequently occurring sporadic E layers on Earth studied by SpEED Demon, which can cause unpredictable disruptions in radio communications. This unexpected discovery by MAVEN shows that Mars is a unique laboratory to explore and better understand this highly disruptive phenomenon that can occur on potentially any planet. Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center “Sporadic-E layers are like patchy, invisible clouds of dense plasma that sometimes disrupt radio communications,” said Aroh Barjatya, SpEED Demon principal investigator and director of the Space and Atmospheric Instrumentation Lab at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Calif. Florida. “These layers are seen across the globe, with those in Earth’s mid-latitudes increasing in abundance and activity during the summer,” Barjatya said. “A complete understanding of them is essential to accurately model them and predict their occurrence.” On Earth, sporadic E layers occur from 62 and 87 miles away, a range that is nearly impossible to study in situ with satellites. Only rocket missions like SpEED Demon provide the opportunity to fly through the layers and get direct measurements of this phenomenon on Earth. Electrical currents associated with sporadic E-layers have been measured before, but not with a comprehensive suite of instruments that can provide deeper insight into this activity. A visibility map of the mid-Atlantic region shows how many launch seconds, weather permitting, the Terrier-Improved Malemute missile can be visible in the sky. Credit: NASA Wallops flights “The SpEED Demon demonstrates a complete instrument package in a single rocket science payload. The main payload launches four instrumented sub-payloads, thereby enabling simultaneous measurements over an extended region in space. Such a capability is expected to be used for many other science dives rocket missions in the future,” Barjatya said. SpEED Demon is designed to test the technology and therefore will not wait for exact science conditions to emerge as other science-focused missions do. “But we could be lucky,” Barjatya said. “The current launch window of August 22nd is at the end of the Northern Hemisphere Sporadic Stratus season. So, fingers crossed.” NASA rocket using ‘astronomical forensics’ to study exploding star Reference: NASA rocket launch to test science package for future missions (2022, August 22) Retrieved August 22, 2022, from
This document is subject to copyright. Except for any fair dealing for purposes of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without written permission. Content is provided for informational purposes only.