A second NASA sounding rocket launched from Poker Flat Research Range at about 3:30 a.m. Sunday in a mission to study a form of northern lights known as black aurora. The University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute owns Poker Flat, located at Mile 30 Steese Highway, and operates it under a contract with NASA’s Wallops […]
Warmer temperatures and more tourists make it easier for non-native species to get a foothold in northern outposts. Species that are not native to an area can displace species that already live there. The Intergovernmental Panel on Nature (IPBES) considers this to be one of the greatest threats to species diversity on our planet. Researchers have […]
A two-stage NASA sounding rocket shot skyward from Poker Flat Research Range at 4:20 a.m. Friday as part of a long-running project to learn more about aurora-produced nitric oxide in the upper atmosphere. Nitric oxide, a gas, can travel to lower atmospheric levels, where it can damage Earth’s protective ozone layer. The Polar Night Nitric […]
The 2026 Poker Flat Research Range launch season opened this week with the first of three missions studying the aurora and the upper atmosphere. The first mission, PolarNOx, hadits initial launch opportunity at 4:20 a.m. Friday morning. Crews arrived late Thursday at Poker Flat, which is owned by the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute. […]