When the total solar eclipse on April 8 blankets portions of North America in shadow, NASA plans to carry out an unusual operation under cover of that momentary darkness: launching three rockets straight into the dimmed skies in hopes of understanding how the celestial event affects our atmosphere.
… The so-called sounding rockets will be launched 45 minutes before, during, and 45 minutes after the eclipse to collect data on the disturbances caused to particles in an upper level of the atmosphere called the ionosphere by a total eclipse.
… A solar eclipse puts the ionosphere through extreme changes in just a matter of minutes. The region, which extends about 50 to 300 miles above the Earth’s surface, goes from being warm and bombarded with ultraviolet radiation to being abruptly deprived of that energy, only to be slammed with it moments later all over again. To some degree, that process mirrors what happens between the change from day to night. But with an eclipse, that cycle is drastically accelerated, creating “waves” that can ripple through the ionosphere and cause disruption to radio and satellite communications.
… The three rockets, which were used in a similar mission during a partial eclipse in October, will be launched from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, reaching a maximum altitude of 260 miles. Once up there, they’ll take measurements on neutral and charged particle density.
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