NASA rocket takes first multi-point look inside radio-disrupting clouds

High above Earth, thin veils of metallic haze drift through the edge of space. Known as sporadic E layers, these high-altitude "clouds" form from the vaporized dust of burned-up meteors, earning their name from the unpredictable way they emerge and then dissipate. Now, new results from a NASA sounding rocket-a suborbital research rocket-that flew five detectors through one of these layers simultaneously reveal unexpected complexity in the layer for the first time.