NASA: Launching 2 Rockets to Test a Mars Parachute and Track ‘Nanoflares’

NASA announces a new space mission. Two rockets will be dispatched into space on Sept. 7. The first rocket will examine a parachute that could possibly be used for the next rover mission; the second rocket will calculate “nanoflares” (tiny explosions on the sun).

The first rocket will take off from Virginia and the other one from New Mexico.  Viewers will be able to watch the launch of the two rockets live on the Ustream page of NASA's Wallops Flight Facility at 9 a.m. EDT (1300 GMT).

The launch is a part of NASA’s advanced supersonic parachute inflation research experiment. Dubbed as Terrier-Black Brant IX, the 58-foot-tall sounding rocket will take the parachute and release it up to a height of 32 miles. After that, the rocket will fall back to Earth at a speed faster than that of sound. The parachute will move 40 miles away from its original launch site in Virginia. And the parachute is expected to land in the Atlantic Ocean. The parachute will be collected back from the ocean for further study along with the photos captured by the rocket’s camera.

 The second sound rocket will collect X-ray data about the sun after reaching a height of 190 miles (300 kilometers). Dubbed as FOXSI, it will help scientists to monitor about Sun’s activity in its outer atmosphere. It will also give information on nanoflares- tiny particles around the sun which is responsible for generating heat.