Why NASA is launching 3 rockets into the solar eclipse next week

Besides the obvious cool factor, the launches have an important science goal: to help scientists understand how the sudden drop in sunlight affects our planet's blanket of air.
The sudden transition from day to night is known to cause sharp drops in temperatures and even trick animals into engaging in nighttime behaviors. But scientists understand little about how the brief moments of darkness influence the boundary between Earth's upper and lower atmosphere, called the ionosphere, which extends between 55 to 310 miles (90 to 500 kilometers) above the planet';'s surface.