In October 2023, a trio of sounding rockets traveled more than 200 miles (322 kilometers) into the ionosphere before returning safely back to the Earth's surface. Now, they're getting ready for their second flight.
NASA's Atmospheric Perturbations around Eclipse Path (APEP) mission — named for the Egyptian god of darkness and enemy of the sun god, Ra — will launch the three sounding rockets back into the moon's shadow during the April 8 total solar eclipse. The goal is to study potential disturbances in the ionosphere during a solar eclipse.
