Knowing these kinds of details is crucial to our ongoing mission to understand the universe, let alone our own planet and the solar system in which we live.

This NASA link provides a detailed explanation of the THEMIS mission, solar winds and auroras which appear over both far northern and southern areas of the globe, however an excerpt from the site explains that while the aurora lights are “harmless” most of the time, they can cause damage. Here’s what NASA says:

“During substorms, the solar wind overloads the magnetosphere with too much energy and the stretched magnetic field lines snap back like an enormous slingshot, energizing and flinging electrically charged particles towards Earth. Electrons, the particles that carry electric currents in everything from TVs to cell phones, stream down invisible lines of magnetic force into the upper atmosphere over the polar regions. This stream of electrons hits atoms and molecules in the upper atmosphere, energizing them and causing them to glow with the light we know as the aurora”.

So far, so good. So when might these electrons cause harm? NASA continues on to explain that: “The same electrons sometimes charge spacecraft surfaces, resulting in unexpected and unwanted electrical discharges. And those electrons that enter the radiation belts can ultimately find their energies boosted to levels millions of times more energetic than the photons that comprise the light we can see. Electrons with these energies can damage sensitive electronics on spacecraft and rip through molecules in living cells, potentially causing cancer in unshielded astronauts. Rapidly varying magnetic fields associated with magnetospheric substorms also induce electric currents in power lines that can cause blackouts by overloading equipment or causing short circuits”.

NASA’s document continues on that “Although the consequences of substorms are well-known, it is not clear exactly what finally snaps in the overloaded magnetosphere to trigger a substorm”.

So it comes as no surprise then that NASA wants to know more about this phenomenon. They say that: “Understanding what happens during substorms is important. "The worst space storms, the ones that knock-out spacecraft and endanger astronauts, could be just a series of substorms, one after the other," said David Sibeck of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., project scientist for the THEMIS mission. "Substorms could be the building block of severe space storms.”
So NASA’s mission is an important one, but an ‘upper-level winds violation’ caused the mission to be scrubbed for 24 hours. According to NASA: “The NASA launch manager directed his team to reset the launch systems and prepare for a 24-hour turnaround. The launch window will open at 6:01 p.m. EST on Saturday and extends to 6:19 p.m. EST”.

However the mission could be delayed further. NASA tell us that “The chance of not meeting the launch weather criteria on Saturday is 10 percent due to a chance for thick layered clouds, and upper level winds will also continue to be of some concern”.

If you’re interested and have access, either through NASA’s website or on local TV, launch coverage on NASA Television will begin at 3:45 p.m. EST.
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Adam Turner  Earth  NASA  Research  Science  Solar system  Space  Universe