A Staff Sergeant Participates in an Expedition to Greenland in Search of the Aurora Borealis

Staff Sergeant Joaquín Villarroya, from the 22nd Signal Regiment’s 6th Transmission Battalion   -belonging to the Information and Communication System Command -, has been chosen to participate in the expedition that the  Canary Island Astrophysics Institute will undertake to Greenland and which will be carried out from 20th to 29th August.  The mission will have the aim of observation and live broadcast of the aurora borealis phenomenon. 
 

SSG Joaquín Villarroya, who joins the expedition within the scope of the existing agreement between the Canary Island Astrophysics Institute and the Canary Island Command, will be in charge of providing the communications needed so that the event may be followed on Internet.  To this end an Army Inmarsat BGAN Explorer 500 satellite terminal will be used, which permits streaming voice and data transfer and offers telephone and Internet network access.  Furthermore, it will provide the expedition’s position in real time by means of a SPOT module (a small-sized transmitter device). 
 

The heavenly show will be broadcast live from Qagssirssuk (Greenland) –by means of the sky-live.tv website- from 22nd to 27th August from  1:30 am until  1:45 am local time (3:30 am to 3:45 am in Spain).
 

The aurora borealis phenomenon originates from a series of very energetic particles that, from the Sun, travel to the Earth.  On reaching the planet, and due to the earth’s magnetic field, these molecules can only cross the atmosphere by way of the North Pole (aurora borealis) or the South Pole (aurora austral). In consequence, luminous curtains in green or red tones are produced when this solar wind collides with oxygen or nitrogen atoms respectively.