The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is geared up to dispatch three sounding rockets during the total solar eclipse event slated for April 8, hailing from its Wallops Flight Facility located in Virginia.

NASA's objective is to launch these three rockets before, during, and after the moon casts its shadow over the sun, transforming day into an ephemeral night. Through this mission, they aim to amass crucial data concerning the effects of abrupt sunlight dimming during a solar eclipse on the ionosphere, potentially causing disruptions that could impede radio and satellite communications.

What is the ionosphere?

The ionosphere, positioned between 90 to 500 kilometers above Earth's surface, constitutes an electrically charged zone within the atmosphere. Mission leader Aroh Barjatya elucidates its role as a medium that reflects and refracts radio waves, exerting a significant influence on satellite communications, given the traversal of these signals.

Barjatya and his team are slated to launch three rockets from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility situated on Wallops Island, Virginia. While the moon is anticipated to obscure only 81.4% of the sun's radiance through this facility, the team seeks to leverage the transient dimming to comprehend the extent of the "wake" generated by the solar eclipse.

"We are eagerly anticipating the relaunch of the rockets during the total eclipse, to ascertain whether the perturbations commence at the same altitude and if their intensity and scope remain consistent," Barjatya remarked in a statement issued by NASA.