NASA is about to launch 3 rockets to 'penetrate' the solar eclipse

Engineers from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center called the total solar eclipse on April 8 "a few precious minutes", because the three rockets mentioned above will carry a special mission.

According to Live Science, NASA explained that the scientific equipment brought into the sky by the three above-mentioned rockets will be responsible for studying the changes that take place during the brief moment of darkness covering the Earth due to a solar eclipse.

The sudden transition between day and night is known to cause temperatures to plummet, even enough to trick many animals into performing nocturnal behaviors.

But scientists still understand little about how this brief moment of darkness affects the ionosphere, the part of Earth's upper atmosphere that covers the sky between 90 and 150 km above the surface. planet face.

Ultraviolet radiation from the Sun often separates electrons from the annulus, forming abundant charged particles that rise to the upper part of the atmosphere and create this layer.

Therefore, the ionosphere thins when the Sun is cold, as ions then recombine into neutral atoms, before being torn apart again by the next dawn.

With three rockets ready to go to the launch pad, NASA hopes to collect enough data about the disturbances in the ionosphere when darkness only covers for a few minutes.

This disturbance is expected to affect the operation of radio and satellite equipment.

The solar eclipse on April 8 is an event expected by many Americans because the central band of the eclipse will sweep diagonally across Central America from the southwest, across the United States and part of Eastern Canada.

These areas will see a total eclipse, while some surrounding areas will see a partial eclipse.

Marvin Fry

Update 03 April 2024