"NASA's Sounding Rocket Explores Alaskan Aurora Phenomenon"

NASA's DISSIPATION mission successfully launched a sounding rocket into the Alaskan aurora, collecting data to understand how auroras heat the atmosphere and cause high-altitude winds. Another mission called BEAM-PIE, led by Los Alamos National Laboratory, is set to launch a second sounding rocket to measure how atmospheric conditions modulate radio waves created by an electron beam. These missions provide crucial data for interpreting measurements from various other missions, and NASA's Sounding Rockets Program is managed at the agency's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.