While everyone across the country will have their eyes on the eclipse (wearing protective eyewear, of course), the scientists at NASA will have their eyes on its rocket launch. On April 8, NASA will launch three rockets from Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia into the Earth’s upper atmosphere to collect data.
The Apophis 2 mission will take place between 2:40 and 4:05 p.m., with rockets scheduled to launch 45 minutes before, during, and 45 minutes after the peak local eclipse. The Atmospheric Perturbations around Eclipse Path sounding rockets will collect data to see how the sun’s sudden disappearance during the eclipse affects the ionosphere — the region of the atmosphere between 55 to 310 miles above the ground — and our communication channels.
“Each rocket will eject four secondary instruments the size of a two-liter soda bottle that also measure the same data points, so it’s similar to results from fifteen rockets, while only launching three,” said Aroh Barjatya, leader of the mission.
Rockets are being used in this study over satellites because NASA can’t guarantee the positioning of the satellites will match the path of the eclipse within the given timeframe. These three rockets were previously launched during the October 2023 annular solar eclipse in New Mexico and refurbished with new instrumentation for the April launch.
Those wishing to catch a glimpse of the launch can check out the live stream on NASA’s Wallops’ YouTube channel or go to the visitor center, which is open from 1 to 5 p.m.
Feature image by U.S. Army/Judy Hawkins, courtesy NASA
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