Topline
Two NASA rockets launched from Alaska on March 25, 2025, lit up the night sky with strange blue lights and white vapor trails to the backdrop of the Northern Lights. The spectacular display was visible across central and northern Alaska.
Key Facts
Two of three planned sounding rockets launched from the Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks, Alaska, in the pre-dawn hours to study a sudden auroral substorm. It came days after NASA announced that scientists were on standby.
The results could help scientists figure out what happens to Earth’s upper atmosphere during auroral substorms and improve the forecasting of space weather.
The first to launch was a 42-foot Terrier-Improved Malemute rocket launching late in the daily window, which released a payload about 50 and 110 miles up and measured magnetic perturbations caused by the aurora. It also measured pressure fluctuations, as reported by the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute.
Shortly after, a 70-foot, four-stage Black Brant XII rocket launched to release a payload of pink, blue and white vapor tracers at four different heights over central Alaska. UAF student and staff researchers were at ground stations in Utqiagvik, Kaktovik, Toolik Lake, Eagle, Venetie, and Poker Flat in Alaska.
How Earth’s Atmosphere Reacts To Aurora
It was part of an experiment, dubbed Auroral Waves Excited by Substorm Onset Magnetic Events, or AWESOME, to help scientists figure out how they affect Earth’s thermosphere — an upper layer of its atmosphere close to where it ceases to be. The thermosphere is between 50-350 miles (80-560 kilometers) above Earth’s surface.
The experiment was an attempt to reveal whether the energy and momentum injected into the middle and lower thermosphere by auroral substorms may upset its stability. “Change in composition of the atmosphere has consequences for communication, navigation and spacecraft operations,” said Mark Conde at the Geophysical Institute and UAF College of Natural Science and Mathematics before the launch. “Our experiment will allow forecasters to use simpler and potentially more accurate methods of space weather prediction.”
Third Rocket Fails
The experiment was supposed to have all three rockets launch within about a three-hour window. “NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility team reported a successful launch of the first two rockets on March 25, 2025,” read NASA’s update. “An issue with the Malemute motor on the third rocket was identified and will continue to be assessed for repair.” Poker Flat, 20 miles north of Fairbanks, is operated under a contract with NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, part of the Goddard Space Flight Center.
Key Background
The timing of the experiment is no accident. Although scientists were on standby to launch the rockets when an auroral substorm erupted, they were confident that would happen. That’s because in the few weeks after an equinox — which occured last week — Earth’s magnetic field is favorably aligned to the solar wind. The sun is also at solar maximum, the peak of the roughly 11 years Solar Cycle, during whihc magnetic activity is at its most intense, and aurora at its most frequent.
The colors of the aurora depends on the altitude. At 50 and 110 miles, the most common aurora color is green, which occurs at altitudes of around 60 to 190 miles (100 to 300 kilometers). Red auroras are more common, above 150 miles (240 kilometers). Both are produced by oxygen molecules.
