A sounding rocket for MISU project ORIGIN will be launched to study nightglow in Earth's atmosphere
The ORIGIN sounding rocket project studies a light phenomenon in the Earth´s middle atmosphere called “airglow” (dayglow during the day; nightglow at night). Between November 16 and 30 (2025), one sounding rocket will be launched from Esrange Space Center in northern Sweden to investigate these emissions.
The ORIGIN rocket project addresses the Earth's nightglow, a global emission layer that is the result of reactions between atomic oxygen and other atmospheric species in the upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere, at altitudes between 80 and 110 km above sea level. Atomic oxygen (formed during the day when oxygen molecules are photolyzed by sunlight) is the major carrier of chemical energy in the mesosphere and the lower thermosphere, thus controlling much of the chemistry, energy budget and radiative properties of this part of the atmosphere. Hence, the ability to accurately measure the local distribution of atomic oxygen is crucial for studies of the Earth's mesosphere and lower thermosphere.
Launch of the 2nd rocket during the O-STATES dayglow sounding rocket project, Esrange Space Center, October 2015. Photo: Jörg Gumbel/MISU/Stockholm University.
The data from ORIGIN will be used to directly compare three important techniques for remote sensing of atomic oxygen (the major nightglow emissions O2 Atmospheric Band, O Green Line and OH Meinel), while at the same time assess underlying photochemical mechanisms and perform independent simultaneous measurements of key species and atmospheric background conditions. One goal is to obtain more accurate knowledge about the underlying reaction schemes and reaction coefficients linking the nightglow emissions and the atomic oxygen densities.
Critical for the ORIGIN project is to perform all measurements simultaneously and with the high spatial resolution which can only be obtained from a sounding rocket.
The ORIGIN rocket project addresses the Earth's nightglow, a global emission layer that is the result of reactions between atomic oxygen and other atmospheric species in the upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere, at altitudes between 80 and 110 km.
