Press Releases
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After six nights of waiting for the optimal weather and auroral conditions to occur, the first rocket of the 2003 season was successfully launched from Poker Flat Research Range yesterday at 10:50 p.m. The rocket, a two-stage Terrier-Black Brant IX, captured measurements of high-frequency
wave signals related to the aurora as part of the High Bandwidth Auroral Rocket (HIBAR) experiment. 
Poker Flat Research Range will open its 2003 launch season today with a single-rocket mission designed to measure high-frequency wave signals in connection with the aurora. Known as HIBAR, the high bandwidth auroral rocket mission will have until February 8 to get the right weather and auroral conditions to launch a two-stage Terrier-Black Brant IX sounding rocket into the aurora at altitudes where the high-frequency waves form.
Each year more than 20 kids head to Alaska through the Make a Wish Foundation, usually to take part in summer activities. But this year, things are operating a bit differently. Chelsea Hodges, a teenager from Virginia, is traveling across the continent to see the aurora in Alaska’s Interior during the heart of winter.
The Geophysical Institute (GI) and affiliated staff have been tapped to share their knowledge on the aurora and help make Hodges’s wish to witness the northern lights, a reality. Neal Brown, director of the Alaska Space Grant Program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and adjunct faculty member of the GI, will meet with Hodges and her family before they view the aurora from Chena Hot Springs Resort next week. He will explain how the aurora is formed, and why the Fairbanks area is such a fine spot for viewing the dazzling lights.
Seven rockets carrying experiments used to study the aurora are scheduled for launch from Poker Flat Research Range this winter. The projects include a group of four rockets launched in rapid succession to measure wind in the upper atmosphere and one rocket that will turn on its side mid-flight, allowing it to pierce a curtain of aurora horizontally.
The 2002 Leonid meteor showers will be visible in Alaska the evening of Monday, November 18th, weather permitting. This year’s storm is forecasted to be up to two times more active than last year.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has recognized its In-Flight Icing Product Development Team, including UAF Geophysical Institute Assistant Research Professor Jeff Tilley, asthewinnersofthe2002ExcellenceinAviationAward. AspartoftheIcingProductTeam, Tilley provides experimental real-time modeling of aircraft icing potential for the benefit of pilots in Alaska.
The Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) has appointed UAF alumna Nettie La Belle-Hamer as director of the Alaska Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Facility. La Belle-Hamer earned her Ph.D. and Master of Science degrees in space physics at UAF in 1994 and 1988, respectively.
The Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) has appointed UAF alumna Nettie La Belle-Hamer as director of the Alaska Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Facility. La Belle-Hamer earned her Ph.D. and Master of Science degrees in space physics at UAF in 1994 and 1988,
respectively.
Scientists at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute will be teaming with those at ten other institutions to take part in the Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) mission over the next six years. The mission, recently funded by NASA as part of the Small Explorer program, will
study clouds at the edge of space to resolve why they form and why they have been increasing over the last 30 years.
Near real-time, high-resolution optical satellite images supplied by the University of Alaskaʼs Geographic Information Network of Alaska (GINA) will soon aid firefighters to battle flames raging in Alaska.
