The picture above (click for full size image) is of a two stage suborbital rocket over Alaska, in front of a beautiful display of aurora borealis. The rocket was launched as part of a NASA study to better understand how the aurora can affect signals from GPS satellites as well as other spacecraft.
The team used a 46-foot sounding rocket (known as a Terrier-Black Brant) to gather data across a 6-mile-thick layer of the Earth’s upper atmosphere where incoming charged particles from the sun interact with the Earth’s magnetic field and atmosphere. On an average day that incoming solar interference doesn’t cause us any problems, but in the case of solar storms and coronal mass ejections, incoming bursts of particles like the ones that cause the northern and southern lights can damage satellites, spacecraft, conventional aircraft, and even electrical grids on the ground.
via POPSCI
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