The gap in that field, called the polar cusp, allows the solar wind a direct line of access to Earth’s atmosphere.
The vapor tracer ampule doors are open on the CREX-2 payload during testing at the Andøya Space Center.“At around 250 miles above Earth, spacecraft feel more drag, sort of like they’ve hit a speed bump,” said Mark Conde, a physicist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the principal investigator for NASA’s Cusp Region Experiment-2, or CREX-2, sounding rocket mission.By understanding the forces at play in the cusp, scientists hope to better anticipate changes in spacecraft trajectories.
EST on December 1, 2021, from the Andøya Space Center in Norway.
CREX-2 first aimed to learn more about the dynamics in the cusp as part of the Grand Challenge Initiative – CUSP in 2019, but although all systems were ready for launch, the mission never got off the ground.There was little solar activity at the time, and as a result, space weather conditions weren’t right for the mission during the initial launch window.
Now, after a nearly two-year delay, CREX-2 is once again preparing to fly in hopes of answering questions about the cusp.
The team is optimistic; the Sun is in a more active stage of its natural cycle this time around, increasing the chances that space weather conditions will be favorable for their mission to study an unusually dense region of the atmosphere.
The mission is designed to measure the numerous factors that could potentially explain how the cusp’s dense air stays suspended.Then, Conde said, scientists can “try and sort out which one is doing the work.”.
“We’re threading a needle,” Conde said.Conde and the CREX-2 team are eager for another opportunity to launch.
“Honestly, it feels amazing,” Conde said.
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