First Observations from the Winds Cross-Track Instrument on the Dynamo 2 Mission

The first neutral wind measurements of the Winds Cross-Track (WCT) instrument, taken during the recent Dynamo 2 campaign, are presented and discussed. This campaign launched two sounding rockets with identical payloads, each with a WCT on board, on different days in July, 2021 into the lower ionosphere to characterize the strong, daytime meridional currents of the global dynamo system and also the daytime neutral winds in the lower thermosphere. The two rockets reached apogees of ~124 and ~131 km, and the WCT took measurements above ~80 km on both the up- and downleg of both flights. As the rocket traveled through the atmosphere, the neutral gas was rammed into the instrument, where an ionization gauge measured the gas pressure. By modulating the incoming flux with a rotating baffle, the WCT measured the components of the neutral wind vector perpendicular to the trajectory of the rocket as well as the gas temperature. These in-situ wind and temperature profiles will be compared to the wind profiles observed remotely by the ICON satellite, which was in conjunction with the launch of both Dynamo 2 rockets.