Grand Challenge-Cusp Graphics (updated)

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  • 
    ID: 13430 Produced Video

    Why NASA is sending rockets into Earth’s leaky atmosphere

    Nov. 14th, 2019
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    In the tiny Arctic town of Ny-Ålesund, where polar bears outnumber people, winter means three months without sunlight. The unending darkness is ideal for those who seek a strange breed of northern lights, normally obscured by daylight. When these unusual auroras shine, Earth’s atmosphere leaks into space.NASA scientists traveled to Ny-Ålesund to launch rockets through these auroras and witness oxygen particles right in the middle of their escape. Piercing these fleeting auroras, some 300 miles high, would require strategy, patience — and a fair bit of luck. This was NASA’s VISIONS-2 mission, and this is their story.VISIONS-2 was just the first of many. Over the coming months, rocket teams from all over the world will launch rockets into this region as part of the Grand Challenge Initiative—Cusp, an international collaboration to study the mysteries of the polar atmosphere. ||

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  • 
    ID: 13076 Produced Video

    Grand Challenge-Cusp Graphics

    Sept. 24th, 2018
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    GraphicNorth of Norway over the Norwegian and Greenland Seas, a magnetic bubble, known as the cusp, surrounds Earth and dips inward, allowing space particles to funnel in toward the planet.Credit: Andøya Space Center/Trond Abrahamsen || AnimationThe trajectories of several of the Grand Challenge missions.Credit: Andøya Space Center/Trond Abrahamsen || GraphicAn overview of the missions involved in the Grand Challenge Initiative-Cusp.Credit: Mary P. Hrybyk-Keith || BookletAn overview of the Grand Challenge Initiative-Cusp. A PDF is available below. Credit: Mary P. Hrybyk-Keith ||

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