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Sounding rocket missions like this one are suborbital rockets that fly scientific instruments into near-Earth space for short, approximately 15-minute flights. The mission will study so-called “black auroras,” dark patches and stripes that appear within an aurora. Previous research has hinted that they may be formed by electrons going upward escaping back out into space (rather than the absence of any electrons). The visible aurora is formed by an incoming downward stream of electrons. Scientists want to solve the puzzle as to why these patches and stripes form within the visible aurora.

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Danjing Chen, mechanical engineer for the mission, reassembles the CHIMPS instrument ahead of vacuum testing in the ITM Electronics Lab at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

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Team members work on the electronics systems for the TIMS and CHIMPS instruments in the ITM Electronics Lab at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

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Emma Mirizio, primary instrument tester, and Albert Risco Patino, electrical engineer, prepare the CHIMPS instrument for a high-voltage vacuum test in the LEO2Lunar Laboratory at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

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