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Home > About us > Media > Archived news > 2015 > Launch of the ICI-4 rocket through the Northern Lights

Launch of the ICI-4 rocket through the Northern Lights

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ICI-4 rocket was launched on February 19, 11:09pm from the Andoya station in Norway, above the Arctic Circle. With the support of the French Space Agency, CNES, the LPP is involved in this international space experiment led by the University of Oslo and involving the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) and the Canadian University of Alberta. ICI-4 will study how the Northern Lights disrupt satellite communications, including GPS signals. The team of LPP studying space plasmas, especially those of the terrestrial environment, designed the magnetic sensor HERE -4 mounted onboard the rocket, with the help of the Technical Department of the CNRS Institute of Sciences of the Universe. It is able to detect the electromagnetic turbulence that is present at an altitude of 350 km in the ionosphere, the ionized part of the atmosphere. Plasma turbulence, associated with intense particle currents observed in conjunction with auroras, may be a source of disruption of GPS signals. ICI-4 is also equipped with a rocket trajectory monitoring system developed in partnership with the company Sysnav using magneto-resistive sensors. Rocket launches allow to qualify new technologies for space use while training a new generation of engineers and space scientists to conduct space experiments of tomorrow.

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Launch of the ICI-4 rocket through the Northern Lights