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The Endurance Rocket Mission

2022; Springer Science+Business Media; Volume: 218; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1007/s11214-022-00908-0

1572-9672

G. Collinson, A. Glocer, Rob Pfaff, Aroh Barjatya, Scott Bissett, Kolbjørn Blix, A. W. Breneman, Jim Clemmons, F. G. Eparvier, Ted Gass, R. Michell, D. L. Mitchell, S. M. Imber, Ahmed Ghalib, Hassanali Akbari, Glen Ansted, Lisa Baddeley, Håvard Bahr, Gary Bain, Brian Bonsteel, Henry Borgen, Daniel Bowden, Dave Bowker, Tim Cameron, Meredith F. Campbell, Philip Cathell, D. Chornay, R. W. Clayton, Larry Conser, Lance Davis, Sean Donohue, Leif Jonny Eilertsen, Charles Etheridge, Nathan Graves, Ingemar Häggstrøm, Preben Hanssen, Herbert Haugh, Espen Helgesen, Jordan Henderson, Kim Roar Herseth, John Hickman, Kent-Gøran Jensen, Travis Jester, Eric G. Johnson, Hunter Johnson, A. J. Kavanagh, Max King, David W. Knight, Russell Laman, Todd A. Lankford, Rolf Lien, M. Lester, Gordon Marsh, Steve W. Martin, Norman Morris, Long Nguyen, Richard R. Nelson, Wale Ogundere, Karl Henning Osbakk, Dave Page, Joe Polidan, Devon Raley, Richard Raymond, Ellen J. Robertson, Giovanni Rosanova, T. Rosnack, Belinda Serabian, Roger Simonsen, Jan Arne Søreng, J. Sveen, D. Swanson, Robert M. Swift, P. Uribe, Henry Valentine, Frank Waters, Libby West, Timothy D. Wilson,

Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics

NASA's Endurance sounding rocket (yard No. 47.001) will launch from Ny Ålesund, Svalbard in May 2022 on a solid fueled Oriole III-A launch vehicle. Its $\sim19$ minute flight will carry it to an altitude of $\sim780~\text{km}$ above Earth's sunlit polar cap. Its objective is to make the first measurement of the weak "ambipolar" electric field generated by Earth's ionosphere. This field is thought to play a critical role in the upwelling and escape of ionospheric ions, and thus potentially in the evolution of Earth's atmosphere. The results will enable us to determine the importance to ion escape of this previously unmeasured fundamental property of our planet, which will aid in a better understanding of what makes Earth habitable. Endurance will carry six science instruments (with 16 sensors) that will measure the total electrical potential drop below the spacecraft, and the physical parameters required to understand the physics of what generates the ambipolar field. The mission will be supported by simultaneous observations of solar and geomagnetic activity.