Two sounding rockets are scheduled to launch from Poker Flat Research Range just minutes apart in an experiment aimed at learning how energy is transferred and dissipated during auroral displays. The findings could increase the understanding of factors affecting satellites in low Earth orbit. The NASA-funded Ion-Neutral Coupling during Active Aurora experiment could launch from […]
Once again, I got “Shalaned.” This time was in a 55-mile multisport race held on snowmachine trails east of Fairbanks on March 5, 2022. Even though Shalane Frost started 15 minutes after I did and was on skis rather than the snow-bike I was riding, she passed me on the first big climb. Frost went […]
A NASA Black Brant IX sounding rocket soared high out of Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks at 2:27 a.m. Saturday to learn more about pulsating aurora. The Loss through Auroral Microburst Pulsations, or LAMP, experiment seeks to determine whether the pulsating aurora is connected to another phenomenon called microbursts, higher-energy electrons from the Earth’s magnetosphere driven […]
At the end of this month, Vladimir Romanovsky will retire after 30 years as a professor and permafrost scientist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Geophysical Institute. This comes at a time when people — finally — no longer squint at him with a puzzled look when he mentions what he studies. Permafrost is ground […]