{"id":1373,"date":"2022-05-12T20:42:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-12T20:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/physicsastronomy\/?p=1373"},"modified":"2025-02-26T13:37:27","modified_gmt":"2025-02-26T13:37:27","slug":"arctic-rocket-launch-could-uncover-unique-features-of-earths-life-sustaining-atmosphere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/physicsastronomy\/2022\/05\/12\/arctic-rocket-launch-could-uncover-unique-features-of-earths-life-sustaining-atmosphere\/","title":{"rendered":"Arctic rocket launch could uncover unique features of Earth\u2019s life-sustaining atmosphere"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong><em>A Leicester expert in space weather has helped launch a NASA mission from deep within the Arctic Circle which could uncover unique features of our atmosphere that enable life on Earth.<\/em><\/strong><br><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/physicsastronomy\/files\/2022\/05\/image-12.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1374\" width=\"609\" height=\"338\" srcset=\"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/physicsastronomy\/files\/2022\/05\/image-12.png 1024w, https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/physicsastronomy\/files\/2022\/05\/image-12-300x167.png 300w, https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/physicsastronomy\/files\/2022\/05\/image-12-768x428.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 609px) 100vw, 609px\" \/><figcaption>The northern polar ice cap as seen from the Endurance payload as it reaches peak altitude or apogee of 475 miles. Credit: NASA<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr Suzie Imber, Associate Professor in Space Physics at the University of Leicester, is part of a British Antarctic Survey (BAS) team working from the world\u2019s northernmost launch range in Svalbard, Norway on NASA\u2019s Endurance mission.<br><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Researchers launched an advanced rocket on Wednesday into the Earth\u2019s atmosphere to measure its electric potential by detecting the charged particles escaping into space.<br><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is hoped that data captured by the mission could help scientists understand why Earth managed to keep its oxygen molecules \u2013 required to form water, and crucial to life as we know it \u2013 but why Venus, with a much stronger electric potential, was never able to support life.<br><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The rocket mission is supported by ionospheric radars operated by EISCAT (European Incoherent Scatter Scientific Association). Dr Imber is Principal Investigator (PI) for the radar experiment in support of Endurance, working alongside BAS\u2019 Dr Andrew Kavanagh, a member of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)-funded UK EISCAT Support Group. The pair have also worked in collaboration with colleagues at UNIS, Norway.<br><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr Imber said: \u201cWe played a crucial role in the go\/no-go for launch, and as such were monitoring our radar data continually to ensure that conditions were optimal for launch.<br><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe nature of a sounding rocket experiment is that you only have one shot at collecting the data you need. The entire flight is only around 15 minutes long, so it was essential that we had the radar data we needed to be confident when we confirmed launch \u2013 even though this meant working 11pm to 6am every night until it launched!<br><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe decision to launch was high-tension for all of us involved, but we were delighted that the launch was successful, the payload deployed as expected, and look forward to analysing the data, which will help us to understand processes in the upper atmosphere and ionosphere.\u201d<br><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/physicsastronomy\/files\/2022\/05\/image-13.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1375\" width=\"610\" height=\"346\" srcset=\"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/physicsastronomy\/files\/2022\/05\/image-13.png 928w, https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/physicsastronomy\/files\/2022\/05\/image-13-300x171.png 300w, https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/physicsastronomy\/files\/2022\/05\/image-13-768x437.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 610px) 100vw, 610px\" \/><figcaption>The Endurance rocket launches from Svalbard, Norway. Credit: NASA<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Glyn Collinson, a space scientist at NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center and PI for the Endurance mission said: \u201cIt\u2019s one of the most fundamental questions in all of science: Why are we here? And it\u2019s what Endurance is after. The reward, if we\u2019re successful, is fantastic because we\u2019ll measure this fundamental property of the Earth, which is directly related to understanding why we\u2019re here.\u201d<br><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr Andrew Kavanagh, BAS Middle Atmosphere Vertical Coupling Analyst, added: \u201cThis mission demonstrates the importance of the interplay between space science and polar research. BAS\u2019 presence in the polar regions gives us a unique view into space and our planet\u2019s place in the solar system.<br><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis experiment will not only expand our understanding of planetary evolution, but it will also give insight into how our upper atmosphere can influence the way different parts of our space environment respond to space weather events.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Leicester expert in space weather has helped launch a NASA mission from deep within the Arctic Circle which could uncover unique features of our atmosphere that enable life on Earth. Dr Suzie Imber, Associate Professor in Space Physics at the University of Leicester, is part of a British Antarctic Survey (BAS) team working from [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":256,"featured_media":1375,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-earth","category-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/physicsastronomy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/physicsastronomy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/physicsastronomy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/physicsastronomy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/256"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/physicsastronomy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1373"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/physicsastronomy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1376,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/physicsastronomy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1373\/revisions\/1376"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/physicsastronomy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/physicsastronomy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/physicsastronomy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/physicsastronomy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}