Bailey-PolarNOx-Virginia Tech, 27 Jan 2020

Scheduled Launch Date: 
26 Jan 2020
Date Launched: 
27 Jan 2020 04:45
Date Flight Number Night / Day Vehicle Agency Experimenter Experiment
26 Jan 2020 36.356 UE Night Black Brant IX NASA Bailey PolarNOx
Zone* Pad Recovery Required? Launched? Date Launched
1S, 2, 3, 4 4 YES YES 04:45am January 27, 2020

The aurora creates NO which builds to large abundances in the polar night. The NO can under appropriate conditions be transported to the stratosphere where it will catalytically destroy ozone. The PolarNOx experiment is designed to measure the intensity of nitric oxide in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere in the polar region by observing starlight with a high spectral resolution UV spectrograph operating near 215 nm. Attenuation of the starlight by NO is used to obtain an NO altitude profile. The target star is Algenib (Gamma Pegasi). Successful data acquisition will help scientists understand the abundance of nitric oxide in the lower thermosphere and its relationship to solar energy deposition.

The Principal Investigator is Dr. Scott Bailey/Virginia Tech.

Date: 
Monday, February 17, 2020