Rocket Seeds - Geophysical Institute Research Assistant Professor Neal Brown secures labeled packets of vegetable seeds from elementary students inside a rocket payload containing about 800 pounds of instruments. Photo by Evelyn Trabant.

A rocket carrying vegetable seeds that will grow in the spring gardens of elementary school students shot through the aurora after being launched from Poker Flat Research Range in February.

The seeds were secured among more than 800 pounds of instruments designed to record small-scale weather in the upper atmosphere and to measure light emitting from a brilliant auroral display. After flying more than 150 miles high, the seeds and the instruments descended under parachute to the Brooks Range, where they were recovered by helicopter.

The instruments will be refurbished to fly again and the seeds will be planted by elementary students around the country participating in the Wisconsin Fast Plant curriculum, a school program that incorporates the use of fast-growing plants to teach children about agriculture.

The rocket was one of four to fly from Poker Flat this winter; three more are scheduled for launch from the range this summer in June and July.

Information about weather in near-space gained during the rocket flight in February will be used by scientists who operate and design satellites and other extraterrestrial systems, according to

Andrew Christensen, principal investigator for the rocket experiment and director of the Space and Environment Technology Center at the Aerospace Corporation in California.

"Just like farmers want to know if it will rain before they plant seeds in a certain field, scientists want to know about weather patterns in space so they can design satellites appropriately," he said.

The seeds snuggled in next to Christensen's rocket experiments belong to elementary students in Alaska, California, Ohio, and New Hampshire.

The children plan to find out if seeds that have flown in a dry, vacuum-packed compartment through high-energy particles in the aurora will grow differently than those that stayed on the ground.

"This is a bona fide experiment," Christensen said, "and the first time it's been attempted."

Geophysical Institute Research Assistant Professor of Geophysics Neal Brown had been trying for years to get scientists to fly the fast-growing seeds on a rocket launched from Poker Flat, but the scientists were understandably hesitant to endanger their high-cost experiments.

Christensen was convinced to enclose the seeds in his payload by three of his grandchildren. Their classrooms selected a virtual garden variety of seeds for the launch, including beets, peas, squash, cucumbers, carrots, lettuce, and radish.

Christensen's seed-carrying rocket was launched amid the brilliant fanfare of a chemical-release rocket commandeered by Clemson University Professor Miguel Larsen from South Carolina.

Larsen's rocket, launched moments before its predecessor, released luminous blue-green chemical tracers on its way up through the aurora and on its way back to earth. The two trails persisted for about 10 minutes each, and were visible from Fairbanks and all locations north of the Brooks Range and east to the Canadian border.

The trails swirled into coil-like designs after being buffeted by winds in the upper atmosphere, creating images scientists were able to photograph from ground stations at Poker Flat, Fort Yukon, Arctic Village, and Coldfoot.

Similar photographs from previous missions helped researchers identify a narrow band of wind about 65 miles above the earth composed of fluid in the atmosphere that blows at speeds up to about 600 knots.

That wind, which is similar in concept to the jet stream, is created by electrical currents in the aurora. It can affect the orbits of satellites and interfere with long-range radio transmissions.