NASA sounding rocket chief praises first solar flare campaign from Poker Flat

By on    Featured, The Arctic and Alaska Science  

NASA sounding rocket chief praises first solar flare campaign from Poker Flat

 The head of NASA’s sounding rocket program called April’s first launches of the space agency’s Solar Flare Sounding Rocket Campaign the “perfect example” of cooperation among facilities, including Poker Flat Research Range northeast of Fairbanks. The range is owned and operated by the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute. Two Black Brant IX sounding […]

First NASA rocket of season flies high out of Poker Flat Research Range

By on    Featured, Interior Alaska, The Arctic and Alaska Science  

First NASA rocket of season flies high out of Poker Flat Research Range

A two-stage NASA sounding rocket flew skyward shortly after midnight Wednesday carrying science instruments to gather data about the solar wind’s behavior. The experiment, named Dissipation, is aimed at learning how charged solar wind particles dissipate their energy in the high-latitude ionosphere-thermosphere. That region is about 62 to 186 miles above the surface and at latitudes above 65 […]