New York: Indian American scientist Aroh Barjatiya headed a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) mission during the recent solar eclipse. The space agency launched three sounding rockets to study the effects on the Ionosphere, Earth’s upper atmosphere.
Barjatya is a professor of engineering physics at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (EMRU) in Florida, where he directs the Space and Atmospheric Instrumentation Lab. His research interests and active projects span small satellites, sounding rockets, high-altitude balloons, spacecraft charging, embedded electronics, space situational awareness, and space systems engineering. He is currently part of six additional missions, including a NASA mission to Mars.
“Understanding how an eclipse sets off a unique pattern of atmospheric waves in the ionosphere is a key goal for Barjatya and colleagues,” according to a University of Florida press release.
Researchers at Embry‑Riddle and Dartmouth College built the instruments for the sounding rocket mission. Barjatya told EMRU News that the name APEP, for Atmospheric Perturbations around the Eclipse Path, was ‘inspired by a giant mythological snake called Apep that chased the sun god Ra in ancient Egyptian lore — an event deemed responsible for causing eclipses.’
A space systems expert, Barjatya has written or co-written11 successful proposals over the last decade to various federal funding agencies that resulted in over $74 million of funding for delivering hardware to be launched in sounding rockets, CubeSats/SmallSats, and high-altitude balloons. He has overseen seven space flight projects from the proposal stage to requirements review, PDR, CDR, MRR, launch and commissioning.
As a tenured full professor and program coordinator for the Engineering Physics program at ERAU, he led and developed a five-year strategic plan for the department, started the Spacecraft Instrumentation area of concentration within the major, and performed an annual assessment of the program, including a five-year comprehensive review that provided a metrics-based evaluation of its progress.
