Terry Kruger
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Jan 31/00) - According to Inuit legend, the northern lights are the spirits of the dead dancing and playing games in the sky.

They believe the aurora borealis emits sounds and that by imitating the noise, the lights are coaxed closer to the earth to allow people can whisper messages to the dead.

Today, the aurora remains a mystical and beautiful sight.

Raven Tours, based in Yellowknife, escorts thousands of Japanese tourists here annually just to see the sight.

"The Japanese are interested in natural beauty of any type," said Raven owner Bill Tait. "They're so fascinated by the aurora -- it's so beautiful to them."

University of Calgary physicist David Knudsen is fascinated by the aurora, too, but in a scientific way.

Knudsen has led a team of researchers to Fairbanks, Alaska on a scientific quest to learn more about the aurora, what it does to Earth's atmosphere, about the behaviour of space and how plasmas (a gas made up of charged particles) work throughout the universe. In addition to the University of Calgary team, the project includes the Canadian Space Agency, NASA, Aerospace Corporation of Los Angeles, Bristol Aerospace of Winnipeg and Magna-metrics of Ottawa.

The $4 million mission will see a 20-metre, four-stage Black Brant rocket carry a 225 kilogram instrument payload to an altitude of 1,000 kilometres. It's flight will last just 17 minutes as the payload is lobbed in an arc that will end with the instruments crashing down onto the ice of the Beaufort Sea.

Most intriguing to the scientists is the effect the aurora has on the upper atmosphere, which usually has a temperature of "a couple of thousand degrees." The aurora has pockets that heat up to one million degrees Celsius, which burns off tiny bits of the atmosphere in the process.

The rocket will pass through several of these pockets and the scientific instruments on board will beam back information to the ground station during its flight.

Those readings will be studied and compiled for publication in scientific journals.

"It's very exciting," said Knudsen of the looming launch.

The rocket was to be ready for launch Sunday and could blast off Wednesday or Thursday. The mission has been in the planning stages for three years and is taking place now because of the intense sun-spot activity.

The rocket is not expected to be visible from the ground.