NASA launches satellites on single rocket

Washington/Cape Canaveral: Five science satellites were in orbit after being launched by US space agency NASA on a Delta II rocket.

The robotic Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions (THEMIS) mission lifted off late Saturday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Florida's Atlantic Coast.

Mission operators at the University of California at Berkeley confirmed successful separation within two hours after takeoff.

The mission is meant to study geomagnetic sub-storms and help scientists discover what triggers the atmospheric events that cause sudden brightening of the aurora borealis, or Northern Lights.

The five satellites will allow scientists to observe and predict the events during the two-year mission.

A better understanding of the phenomenon of geomagnetic sub-storms may help protect commercial satellites from particle radiation.