ICI4 rocket explores northern lights and its impact on Earth

Such a natural phenomenon as the northern lights, always attracted the eye with its beauty. Nevertheless, there is nothing magic about it - this is one of the manifestations of the activity of our luminary when charged particles of the “solar wind” fall into the Earth’s ionosphere. The luminescence is not the only manifestation of the "solar wind", there is also electromagnetic radiation, which, depending on the activity of the star, can be very strong. All this affects the electrical networks, communications and navigation systems.

A team of researchers from the University of Oslo launched a rocket through the northern lights to study this phenomenon and its impact on the Earth. Scientists have expressed the hope that a detailed study of the northern lights will help to make forecasts for "space weather."

And this influence can be significant. Thus, clouds of charged particles that form during the day in the North America region can cross the Arctic and reach Scandinavia in just a few hours. And if electron clouds arise in conjunction with the northern lights, the overall impact on the Earth’s communications and navigation networks can be very significant. It is for the study of such events that the ICI4 rocket was launched. The rocket was launched on February 19 from the Norwegian space center Andoya (Andoya).
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With its help, scientists plan to study the mutual influence of electron clouds and northern lights on the Earth, including human technical devices.

The rocket was ready to launch on February 9, but it was only on the 19th that optimal weather conditions appeared for launching the rocket. At the same time, the launch team had to wait for not only good weather, but also the simultaneous appearance of electronic clouds + northern lights, so that the rocket could fly through this natural phenomenon, simultaneously taking the necessary measurements.

Due to the fact that the object of study was moving at high speed (more than 1000 km / s), the data collected by the rocket need to be checked. Scientists need to understand whether the missile hit the target, and whether it was possible to take measurements in the field of interaction of electron clouds and the northern lights.

And the measurement results will help to predict the "cosmic weather" and its impact on communications and navigation equipment of the Earth.