NASA Launches Three Rockets Over Mid-Atlantic for Atmospheric Study

NASA is scheduled to launch three sounding rockets from its Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia as part of the Turbulent Oxygen Mixing Experiment Plus (TOMEX+) mission, aimed at studying turbulence in the mesopause, a challenging atmospheric boundary layer located 53 to 65 miles above Earth. The launch window opens at 10 p.m. on Monday, August 25, 2025, extending until 3 a.m. Tuesday, with the first two rockets releasing colorful vapor tracers to map wind patterns and the third using lidar technology to excite sodium atoms, enabling detailed monitoring of atmospheric movements. This mission, led by University of New Hampshire professor Jim Clemmons, seeks to improve understanding of energy transfer from weather patterns into space, which influences satellite drag and high-altitude cloud formation. Residents across mid-Atlantic states, including Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and North Carolina, may be able to see the rockets if weather permits, though the Wallops Visitor Center will remain closed for launch viewing. Live updates and a livestream will be available via NASA’s Wallops social media channels. This research is significant because the mesopause is too high for weather balloons and too low for satellites, making sounding rockets the ideal tool to study this atmospheric region.