Personnel at the Wallops Flight Facility test the DXL payload’s ability to connect with the Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) network which will be used to determine the location of the payload during flight. Credit: Nasa/Berit Bland.

Nasa is set to launch four new rockets to measure X-ray emissions from space from the Poker Flat Research Range (PFRR) launch site in Alaska, US.

Scheduled to be conducted between 15 and 31 January, the launches are also expected to determine how large quantities of water could affect the upper atmosphere and form Polar Mesospheric clouds (PMCs).

During the upcoming launch, one rocket will carry a science investigation known as Diffuse X-rays from the Local Galaxy (DXL) mission, which intends to study the sources of X-rays that plunge towards Earth from elsewhere in the galaxy.

“DXL seeks to gain a better understanding of the nature and characteristics of these sources.”

DXL mission principal investigator Massimiliano Galeazzi said: “Very low-energy diffuse X-rays from space are believed to come from two sources.

“The first source is located outside our solar system and is generated by remnants of multiple supernovae explosions forming what is now called the Local Hot Bubble region of our galaxy.

“The second source is within the solar system and is generated by the solar wind charge exchange. DXL seeks to gain a better understanding of the nature and characteristics of these sources.”

Nasa also aims to launch three additional rockets from PFRR in a completely different science investigation called the Super Soaker mission.

The mission will focus on the creation and dynamics of PMCs, which are layers of microscopic ice particles that form at altitudes of near 53 miles and are extremely sensitive to small environmental differences.

It also seeks to measure the impact of short-term changes on PMCs and other atmospheric variables by discharging vapor into the upper atmosphere.