The RENU3 Sounding Rocket and UV Neutral Upwelling Observations
The RENU3 sounding rocket that launched from Andøya Space on November 23rd, 2025, to study neutral upwelling in conjunction with cusp aurora. It launched at 09:52 UT towards Svalbard and reached an apogee of 466 km during an auroral event. The payload hosted a suite of plasma and neutral particle instruments that included the UVPMT, which measures neutral atomic oxygen emissions of 130.4 nm and 135.6 nm. This brightness is used as a proxy for density. The instrument observed a significant increase in brightness (i.e. neutral atomic oxygen density) as the payload flew over the auroral region, indicating a neutral upwelling event. This work compares the neutral upwelling event with other ground and space measurements to gain a clear understanding of the upwelling process.