AMETEK Aids NASA’s Space Weather Research

High quality headers and feedthrough plates assisted in the successful mission to gather information on auroras and high-altitude winds. The results will potentially improve satellites and communication systems.

NASA’s Dissipation Sounding Rocket Launches into Alaskan Aurora. Image credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

At 12:41 a.m. on November 8, 2023, NASA launched the DISSIPATION sounding rocket from the Poker Flat Range in Fairbanks, Alaska, to determine how auroras heat the atmosphere and induce high-altitude winds. According to NASA, information gathered about the energy DISSIPATION mechanism of auroral storms will increase understanding of how these processes occur in Earth’s upper atmosphere at high latitudes.

The DISSIPATION rocket contained a suite of six science instruments to measure the impact of large energy inputs from the sun during auroral storms. One of these instruments, MoSAIC (Modular Spectrometer for Atmosphere and Ionosphere Characterization), is a quadrupole mass spectrometer (QMS) that was mounted just under the rocket’s nosecone. The QMS consists of four parallel cylindrical rods or electrodes. When radio frequency (RF) and direct current (DC) voltages are applied to the rods the resulting oscillating electric field acts as a filter that selects sample ions based on their mass-to-charge ratio (m/z).

Measuring space weather

Satellites, communication and navigation systems, and power grids can be damaged or disrupted by space weather. Improved space weather forecasting, therefore, is important to the operators of these systems.

The MoSAIC QMS successfully measured composition, density, temperature, and velocity of neutral and ion winds in this region of the atmosphere. The performance of the MoSAIC QMS was possible due, in part, to the headers and feedthrough plates supplied by Hermetic Seal Corporation, part of AMETEK Engineered Interconnect and Packaging (EIP). These crucial components were essential for the instrument’s sealing functions, voltage supply, and durability during launch. “Our high-reliability components have tight tolerances and can withstand high vibration. They are custom-designed to provide reliable sealing functions for the sensor within the instrument,” said Heather Heggeness, director of sales operations and marketing at AMETEK.

Hermetic Seal developed a custom version of these standard headers for the DISSIPATION sounding rocket launched by NASA.

This mission provided the first opportunity to study the small fraction of charged particles that cause the atmospheric heating and increased pressure that creates winds in the neutral gas. The region being studied is about 62 to 186 miles above the Earth’s surface and at latitudes above 65 degrees. The instruments in the two-stage rocket captured the first direct and simultaneous measurements of key factors: temperature, wind, and chemical composition.

The right conditions for the experiment, such as clear skies and enough energy in the atmosphere, were only available for a short time, which made executing the launch tenuous and nerve-wracking for the team led by Mehdi Benna, the experiment’s principal investigator. Benna is an aeronomist and planetary scientist at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

The first launch attempt on November 5 was scrubbed due to cloudy skies. The next day’s attempt was scrubbed due to insufficient auroral activity. On day 3, the start of a substorm was promising and the team waited anxiously for the aurora to return so they could proceed with the launch.

“The countdown had to be precisely timed to target the peak of the auroral activities, which lasted less than 30 minutes from its growth to recovery phase,” Benna said. “The last four minutes of the countdown felt like hours as we waited for the last items on the launch checklist to be completed before the rocket could lift off.”

Early results indicated the mission was a complete success. The data collected from this specific auroral event will continue to be analyzed over the next few years through analytical and numerical modeling, Benna added.

Visit the Preferred Supplier pages for AMETEK and Hermetic Seal to learn more about them and their products.

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