CASCADES – The Changing Aurora: In Situ and Camera Analysis of Dynamic Electron Precipitation Structures
The purpose of the Cascades sounding rocket mission is the investigation of motions and structure of electron precipitation in pre-midnight poleward edge discrete aurora.
This means that the researchers are launching rockets to 500km above the earth to study the different motions and electron precipitation there.
The rocket will launch a main payload and four subpayloads. The payloads are the instrumentation that will take measurements after the rocket has been launched. The four subpayloads consist of two identical wire-boom electric field subpayloads with GPS position and timing, as well as two free-flying particle detector subpayloads (PFFs) with GPS position and timing.
The rocket will be launched from the Poker Flat Range in Northern Alaska in late winter of 2005. For more specific information about the launch go to the launch page.
There are many investigators from many different institutions who will contribute to the Cascades mission. Kristina A. Lynch of Dartmouth College is the principal investigator and is responsible for the overall mission. Dartmouth College, with support from the University of New Hampshire, will be responsible for the overall system design, particle detectors, and the PFF subpayloads. Dartmouth College School of Engineering will be responsible for the onboard camera to image the visible aurora. Cornell University will be responsible for providing the electric field and plasma wave subpayloads. Cornell is also responsible for the 5 GPS systems.
Left: One of the team working on the bagel detector.