Funded by NASA, the Magnetosphere-Ionosphere Coupling in the Alfvén resonator (MICA) mission sent a 40-foot Terrier-Black Brant rocket arcing through an aurora 186 miles (299 kilometers) above Earth. The rocket is a stream of real-time data back before landing about 200 miles (322km) downrange shortly after the launch.
Instruments onboard, including those built at UNH, sampled electric and magnetic fields, as well as charged particles in Earth’s upper atmosphere (ionosphere) that get sloshed back and forth by a specific form of electromagnetic energy known as Alfvén waves. These waves are thought to be a key driver of “discrete” aurorae — the typical, well-defined band of shimmering lights about 6 miles (10km) thick and stretching east to west from horizon to horizon.
The mission involves collaborators from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York; Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire; the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado; the University of Alaska Fairbanks; and the University of Oslo in Norway. (from https://www.astronomy.com/science/scientists-launch-nasa-rocket-into-aurora/)