UAF researchers launch rockets

January 26, 2015

Photo by J. Adkins, NASA. This composite photograph shows four NASA sounding rocket launches from Poker Flat Research Range on the morning of Jan. 26, 2015. The swirls are stars. A vapor released by one of the rockets is visible as small white clouds. The green beam of a lidar system is visible in the upper left. The aurora is visible across the sky.

Sue Mitchell
907-474-5823
01/26/2015

Scientists launched four NASA sounding rockets in the same half-hour from Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks at just after midnight on the morning of Jan. 26.

Researchers in charge of the two separate missions said the rockets seemed to perform well on a night with active aurora and ground temperatures of nearly 40 degrees below zero.

“The instruments all appeared to have behaved perfectly,” said Rich Collins of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, leader of an experiment involving two of the rockets. “The quality of our measurements should be very high. I’m very happy and very exhausted.”

A fifth rocket, carrying aurora-measuring sensors in its payload and operated by scientists from Utah State University, did not launch on Jan. 26. Scientists will try again until their window of opportunity closes Jan. 27.

The four successful launches in just 33 minutes happened after scientists had waited through cloudy weather or otherwise unsuitable conditions for 13 straight nights. Collins launched the first and third rockets to measure turbulence in the upper atmosphere. Two minutes following both of Collins' launches, Miguel Larsen of Clemson University ordered the launch of two rockets that released a visible vapor to help researchers visualize turbulence in the space-atmosphere connection about 60 miles above the ground. At a debriefing session a few hours after the launches, Larsen said his preliminary results were also excellent.

Charles Swenson of Utah State University, assisted by UAF Geophysical Institute’s Don Hampton, hopes to soon execute the Auroral Spatial Structures Probe study. Swenson will launch his rocket following an intense display of the aurora known as a substorm. His will be the final launch of the 2015 season at Poker Flat.

All of the launches are part of NASA's Sounding Rocket Program, managed by officials from NASA's Heliospheric Division at the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

Located in Chatanika, Alaska, about 30 miles north of Fairbanks, Poker Flat Research Range is part of the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

ADDITIONAL CONTACTS: Rich Collins, 907-455-2204, rlcollins@alaska.edu

NOTE TO EDITORS: Photos are available upon request.

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