Scientists study space weather
Utah State University’s Space Dynamics Laboratory (SDL) sent two instruments into the upper atmosphere Feb. 21 as part of NASA’s CODA (Coupling of Dynamics and Aurora) experiment.
Trina Paskett, public relations director for the SDL, said the instruments were launched aboard a Nike-Orion sounding rocket from Poker Flat Research Range, Ala.
The CODA program is the latest in a series of NASA-sponsored experiments designed to study the ionosphere, a thin upper atmospheric region too high for airplanes and balloons, but too low for satellites, Paskett said.
Charles Swenson, principal investigator on the project and a professor at USU in electrical engineering, said the overall goal of the project is to help scientists predict space weather.
Swenson said the SDL is trying to understand things in space they otherwise could not get to.
NASA regularly sends out announcements of opportunity for scientists to launch instruments on missiles left over from “the war we never had” in the 50s, called sounding rockets, Swenson said.
Between 40 and 100 scientists submit 20-page descriptions of their proposals and about one-third of those are funded by NASA, Swenson said.
USU is involved in a sounding rocket project every year or two, Swenson said.
The instruments on the missiles are used to collect data in the ionosphere, Paskett said.
“Space weather is an umbrella term. It’s a way the science community has been trying to explain to the general public what is going on in the ionosphere because most people understand weather forecasts,” Swenson said.
“And there really is weather in space,” he said.
During the 15-minute mission, the two SDL-built sensors collected data as the rocket traveled almost 100 miles into space and continually recorded measurements as it fell back to Earth, Paskett said.
The mission was timed to record data during a diffuse aurora, a condition created by charged particles ejected by the sun, Paskett said.
One of the sensors is the Plasma Frequency/DC Probe (PFP) which measures the number of free electrons along the rocket’s path, giving scientists a measurement of the depth of the ionosphere.
The other sensor is the Atomic Oxygen Experiment (ATOX) which measures the amount of atomic oxygen along the flight. Atomic oxygen occurs as oxygen found on the Earth’s surface rises and splits.
Paskett said this oxygen is extremely reactive and corrosive and is the reason the space program must protect surfaces of shuttles and space stations.
These two sensors are just a small aspect of the overall system, Swenson said.
“We’re just trying to get enough information to predict the weather in space. It’s like when meteorologists measure inside a thunderstorm; we measure a small part to help us understand the bigger picture,” Swenson said.
The SDL is also planning similar launches for both fall 2002 and 2004, Swenson said.
The fall 2002 launch will attempt to measure bands of ions which form from the particles left over from burnt-up meteors, Swenson said.
Measuring “false echoes” from objects which are read up by radar at the equator but are not actually there will be the focus of the fall 2004 mission, Swenson said.
Swenson said the SDL has done amazing things.
“We have some instruments here that few others have or will even attempt to build,” Swenson said.
“Understanding how the space environment affects these systems becomes more important as we become more dependent upon spacecraft in our evolving technological society,” Swenson said.