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NASA Rocket Takes First Multi-Point Look Inside Radio-Disrupting Clouds
NASA's SpEED Demon sounding rocket provided the first multi-point measurements of sporadic E layers. The results reveal these radio-disrupting metallic clouds are complex and structured rather than smooth.
Why it matters
Understanding these layers helps reduce errors in GPS phone location and prevents radio interference for air traffic and marine communications.
The details
The rocket launched from Virginia's Wallops Flight Facility on Aug. 24, 2022. These clouds are located approximately 60 miles (100 kilometers) above Earth. Researchers observed structures resembling cinnamon rolls, likely caused by Kelvin-Helmholtz billows. The findings were published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics.
What's next
Researchers are continuing to use multi-probe strategies for future missions, with papers from later flights currently in preparation.
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NASA owns SpEED Demon
a NASA sounding rocket — a suborbital research rocket — that flew five detectors through one of these layers simultaneously... called the sporadic E Electrodynamics Demonstration, or SpEED Demon
Aroh Barjatya works at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Aroh Barjatya, the mission’s principal investigator and a professor of engineering physics at Embry-Riddle
Henry Valentine works at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Henry Valentine, the study’s lead author, who conducted the work at Embry-Riddle
Henry Valentine works at U.S. Naval Research Laboratory
and is now a researcher at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory
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