NASA heliophysics director to speak

February 7, 2017

NASA photo by Jamie Adkins. A Neutral Jets in Auroral Arcs mission payload awaits final preparation before going to the launch pad at the Poker Flat Research Range in Alaska. The mission includes two almost identical payloads that will be launched nearly simultaneously on NASA Black Brant IX sounding rockets between Feb. 13 and March 3 to explore the structure of auroras.

NASA Director of Heliophysics Steven W. Clarke will speak at the University of Alaska Fairbanks at 3:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 13, in the Elvey Building's Globe Room.

Clarke will talk about "The Science of Space Weather." He will be in Fairbanks for rocket launches at Poker Flat Research Range.

Using a fleet of spacecraft, NASA studies the sun and its interactions with the Earth and the solar system and how these phenomena, including space weather, affect life and society.

NASA's heliophysics research program provides theory, data and modeling development services to national space weather study efforts. It works with the Community Coordinated Modeling Center, a multi‐agency partnership that researches and develops space science and space weather models.

For more information, contact Sue Mitchell, 907-474-5823, sue.mitchell@alaska.edu