Even though the North Pole and the South Pole face extreme temperatures throughout the entire year, they still have a very special gift that nature has offered. This is in the form of the Northern and the Southern Lights. But till date the scientific reason behind the occurrence of the aforementioned event has remained a mystery.
So is the case with NASA but as we all know the space agency is determined to not leave space-related mysteries unanswered. Hence, they came up with a mission to answer questions behind the occurrence of the lights and this article is all about it. Read to know more.
“It’s sort of hypnotic – kind of like a lava lamp”
Pulsating aurora are a special kind of northern and southern lights that brighten and then dim every few seconds. NASA is launching a rocket from Alaska in hopes of figuring out what causes them. 🚀
More: https://t.co/58v3qu3vhV pic.twitter.com/HO9GkgNFbb — NASA Sun & Space (@NASASun) February 23, 2022
NASA's 'LAMP' to shed light on occurrence of Northern and Southern Lights
NASA's LAMP mission, which stands for Loss through Auroral Microburst Pulsations, will fly above an often-overlooked kind of northern lights to understand and apply a theory on their occurrence while. The LAMP will fly aboard a small rocket launched into space for a targeted few minutes of measurements before falling back to Earth. Scientists at NASA will be closely keeping track at the Poker Flat Research Range and also at a downrange site called Venetie until they see auroras start to pulsate.
The LAMP mission is said to be launched from the Poker Flat Research Range in Fairbanks, Alaska. NASA has scheduled the same as early as Feb. 24, 2022.
What exactly is NASA studying?
Polar Lights aka Aurora Polaris, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions around the Arctic and Antarctic. The lights are also known as an aurora which happens to be the result of disturbances in the magnetosphere caused by the solar wind. These disturbances alter the trajectories of charged particles in the magnetospheric plasma. These particles, mainly electrons and protons, precipitate into the upper atmosphere.
The LAMP will fly above the pulsating aurora while measuring the low-energy particles that cause their occurrence as well as the medium- and high-energy electrons that should also come from a chorus wave. On the ground, a riometer will provide an independent measure of high-energy electrons, so the rocket team can confirm their measurements. NASA has also published a release stating the same.
