Astronauts Ready Electron Gun for Aurora, Radio-Wave Tests

Astronauts aboard the shuttle Atlantis on Wednesday fired up an electron beam gun that will be used to create artificial auroras over the Southern Hemisphere and low-frequency radio waves.

Tens of thousands of students worldwide, equipped with special receivers, will spend the next week listening for the radio waves.

The shuttle and its crew of seven blasted off Tuesday from Kennedy Space Center on an eight-day mission to study Earth’s fragile ozone layer and other aspects of the atmosphere.

The gun is one of 13 scientific instruments in the cargo bay. It was fired at low power Wednesday, and was to be cranked up today for the artificial aurora and radio wave experiments.

Scientists believe the streaks of green, red and bluish-white created when the beams collide with atoms in the atmosphere will help them understand Earth’s magnetic fields. A television camera aboard the shuttle will record the events.

Researchers also want to see whether radio waves created by electron pulses can be heard 184 miles below on Earth. Schools around the world, mostly in the United States, have been sent 1,000 receiving kits so students can listen for the signal.

The shuttle crew expressed awe Wednesday at the sight of natural auroras, and beamed down images of the vibrating streamers of light.

“We’ve just got everybody oohing and aahing,” astronaut Kathryn Sullivan said.

A more startling sight was the air pollution over Earth. Astronauts Byron Lichtenberg and David Leestma said the atmosphere was dirtier and hazier than it was when they previously flew in space.