NASA Ride-Along

On Jan. 4, Dartmouth Professor James Labelle’s electromagnetic sounding equipment became a payload for NASA’s CAPER-2 rocket above Norway's Andøya Space Center. Data transmitted by the rocket on its ascent will provide valuable insight into the interactions of charged particles and electromagnetic waves in space — specifically, how nature tends to create its own particle accelerators above our atmosphere. “Our goal is the prediction of weather in space the way we predict it here in the atmosphere,” explains LaBelle — a valuable skill to have in an age that is increasingly dependant on orbital technologies such as GPS and satellite communications.

Read more about the launch at Dartmouth News