The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched two suborbital rocket missions from Alaska this week to assess a mysterious phenomenon known as the “black aurora.”

Black auroras are rare, dark, and often overlooked small-scale structures such as rings, curls, or spots that appear as holes or cavities within a bright, diffuse, dancing aurora.

The Black and Diffuse Auroral Science Surveyor (BADASS) mission launched from the Poker Flat Research Range near Fairbanks in the early morning hours of February 9th.

It reached an altitude of 354 miles and returned to Earth.

This rocket was equipped with scientific instruments to observe the black aurora borealis. This is a rare phenomenon in which electrons shoot upward into space, rather than falling toward Earth as they normally would.

“We want to understand the cause of this reversal of electron flow,” said BADASS principal investigator Marilia Samara.

Another mission, titled Geophysical Nonequilibrium Ionospheric System Science (GNEISS), involved consecutive rocket launches on February 10th.

Maximum altitude reached 198 miles.

Data from both rockets will be combined to create a “CT scan” of the electrical current flowing beneath the aurora.

“We want to understand how electrical currents spread down through the atmosphere. It’s basically like doing a CT scan of the plasma beneath an aurora,” said Christina Lynch, principal investigator at GNEISS.

Both missions are very important because they will help us understand the electrical activity of the aurora borealis.

Magnetic storms associated with the aurora borealis can disrupt satellites, endanger astronauts, cause power outages on Earth, disrupt radio communications, and force planes to be diverted.

The data collected by this mission will help us better understand the complex electrical circuits within Earth’s spectacular aurora borealis.