The launch would be visible in coastal areas from North Carolina to southern New York, weather permitting.
Scientists hope the rocket will provide more insight into the source of soft X-rays, which “plunge to Earth from elsewhere in our galaxy,” the release said.
Soft X-rays don’t harm humans, but they can disrupt radio communications and GPS systems, NASA said. They have a lower energy than the X-rays used in the medical field.
Scientists think these X-rays come from two sources, said Massimiliano Galeazzi, the principal investigator of the mission at the University of Miami, Florida.
“The first source is outside our solar system and is generated by remnants of multiple supernova explosions that form what is now called the Local Hot Bubble region of our galaxy,” Galeazzi said in the release. “The second source is in the solar system and is generated by the exchange of solar wind charges.”
The launch was scheduled for earlier this week, but was delayed due to weather conditions.
The facility launches about 25 sounding rockets a year, according to NASA. The rockets get their name from the nautical term ‘sound’, which means measurements.
