An experiment called HEX2 that consisted of four NASA suborbital sounding rockets, launched from Poker Flat Research Range during an aurora display over northern Alaska this morning. Each rocket emitted vapor trails in an experiment to learn more about winds associated with the aurora. Researchers saw the vapor trails from Poker Flat; about 30 miles north of Fairbanks, and aurora watchers at clear locations throughout northern Alaska should have been able to see them.
John Craven, a professor of physics at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Physics Department and the Geophysical Institute, was lead scientist for HEX2, in which four rockets took off from Poker Flat in a span of 16 minutes, beginning at 12:22 a.m. Alaska Standard Time. Three rockets followed a traditional arcing trajectory, reaching an altitude of approximately 125 miles. Following the first-stage burnout of the second rocket, an onboard control system turned the experiment section of the rocket to a nearly horizontal position. It flew through the aurora about 95 miles up. Each of the rockets carried an experiment that released puffs of trimethylaluminum, a harmless substance that glows when exposed to oxygen. The flights lasted for about seven minutes.
Scientists on the ground in different northern locations photographed the chemical trails. Two were in Fort Yukon, one each at Toolik Lake and Coldfoot, and two were in Old Crow, in the Yukon Territory. Their images and digital recordings will be used to determine the motion of upper atmospheric winds.
“We are excited to analyze the data,” Craven said after the launches. The aurora display and excellent launch conditions exceeded scientists’ expectations at the rocket range.
This morning’s launches brought the total to nine rockets launched during three aurora events at Poker Flat in the last few weeks. NASA plans to launch a total of 10 sounding rockets during this winter’s campaign.
The final mission involves one rocket that is now on the launch rail and will be carrying an experiment for Jim LaBelle of Dartmouth College. The launch is scheduled to go any night conditions are right.
NASA Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia manages NASA’s Suborbital Sounding Rocket Program. UAF’s Geophysical Institute operates and maintains Poker Flat Research Range under contract to NASA. The range is located 30 miles north of Fairbanks off the Steese Highway.
Source: University of Alaska Fairbanks
Related stories:
Clemson rocket launches test Alaskan auroras
It may have been 40 degrees below zero at the Poker Flat Research Range in Alaska, but aurora and weather came together one recent winter night in a perfect match for Clemson University researchers and students who launched four rockets to study heat in the upper atmosphere.
6 aurora-research rockets to launch from Poker Flat
Scientists from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the University of New Hampshire have experiments ready on the launch rails at Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks, and another scientist is waiting in New Hampshire to launch an additional experiment from Poker Flat.
JOULE II rockets launch with success
From Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks, four NASA rockets launched into an aurora display over northern Alaska, starting at 3:29 a.m. Alaska Standard Time. Scientists hope to learn more about electrical heating of the thin atmosphere from about 60 to 120 miles above Earth's surface with the launch of these rockets. The project is called JOULE II.
Designing the missions of the future
Action station, an asteroid is threatening our planet! The menace is real and a rapid response must be found. At ESA's Technical Centre in the Netherlands, engineers believe that they have found the solution: hit the asteroid with a projectile to alter its trajectory enough to avoid disaster - that is the Don Quixote mission.
The Cold Equations Of Spaceflight
In the past month, we have been blessed with numerous leaks from NASA of various study documents relating to the new boosters that will be needed to carry out the new manned moon program. I've been monitoring the large volume of Web chatter about these plans, and have noticed a disturbing theme therein.
Dividing cells find their middle by following a protein 'contour map'
Self-organization keeps schools of fish, flocks of birds and colonies of termites in sync. It’s also, according to new research, the way cells regulate the final stage of cell division. Scientists at Rockefeller University have shown that a protein-chemistry-based contour map, which helps individual proteins locate the center of their cell without direction from a “master organizer,” is key to ensuring accurate division during mitosis.
Cluster listens to the sounds of Earth
The first thing an alien race is likely to hear from Earth is chirps and whistles, a bit like R2-D2, the robot from Star Wars. In reality, they are the sounds that accompany the aurora. Now ESA's Cluster mission is showing scientists how to understand this emission and, in the future, search for alien worlds by listening for their sounds.
Space science simulation at UNH now better, faster, cheaper
Cashing in on the underlying technology that seamlessly renders graphics for state-of-the-art video games, space scientists at the University of New Hampshire have bundled together 40 PlayStation3 consoles to affordably simulate one of the "grand challenges" of modern computational science - the interaction between Earth's magnetic field or "magnetosphere" and the solar wind. Climate change is another supercomputing grand challenge.