For Immediate Release

FAIRBANKS, Alaska—It’s been a long wait, but it was worth it. The Black Brant XII sounding rocket with the CASCADES II experiment launched and flew through an active aurora display March 20 at 3:04 a.m. Alaska Daylight Time. The successful launch occurred after 20 nights of preparing and then waiting to launch the NASA rocket. The CASCADES II team needed very specific conditions and clear weather for an optimal launch.

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FAIRBANKS, Alaska—Staff from Poker Flat Research Range have traveled north to assist fire personnel in mapping the Crazy Mountain Complex fires with unmanned aircraft. The team is stationed at Mile 145 of the Steese Highway, between Circle and Central, deploying the aircraft since Aug. 5.

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UAF Geophysical Institute Assistant Professor of Physics Mark Conde will attempt to turn rocket science on its side with an aurora experiment with a launch window of February 22 through March 10. Conde is the principal investigator of the first institute-led rocket launch at Poker Flat Research Range since 1995.

The mission, known as the Horizontal E-region Experiment or HEX project, will differ from  other Poker Flat launches because the rocket will tip on its side in mid-flight.

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FAIRBANKS, Alaska—Four NASA rockets launched from Poker Flat Research Range during a three-hour span on the morning of Feb. 18, 2009. The rockets, carrying payloads that emitted glowing vapor trails that help scientists study turbulence in the upper atmosphere, launched at 12:59

a.m., 1:29 a.m., 1:59 a.m., and 2:49 a.m. Alaska Standard Time. The whitish trails, some resembling corkscrews in the sky, were visible in many parts of interior and northern Alaska. 

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The University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, International Arctic Research Center, and Poker Flat Research Range offer free summer tours that are open to the public.

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An experiment called HEX2 that consisted of four NASA suborbital sounding rockets, launched from Poker Flat Research Range during an aurora display over northern Alaska this morning. Each rocket emitted vapor trails in an experiment to learn more about winds associated with the aurora. Researchers saw the vapor trails from Poker Flat; about 30 miles north of Fairbanks, and aurora watchers at clear locations throughout northern Alaska should have been able to see them.

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This morning, a NASA suborbital sounding rocket launched from Poker Flat Research Range into an aurora display over northern Alaska at 3:45 a.m. Alaska Standard Time, allowing researchers to gather more data about the power source behind pulsating auroras.

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Scientists from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the University of New Hampshire have experiments ready on the launch rails at Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks, and another scientist is waiting in New Hampshire to launch an additional experiment from Poker Flat.

The experiments are being flown on NASA sounding rockets. NASA is launching 10 of the suborbital rockets from Poker Flat during January and February. Four successful launches occurred in January.

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Four rockets are scheduled to launch from Poker Flat when aurora conditions are suitable at night or in early morning hours this February.

Three of the rockets will release brilliant blue-green chemical trails to trace wind in the upper atmosphere. The trails are expected to be visible from Fairbanks, North Pole, locations north of the Brooks Range and as far east as the Canadian border.

A sub-orbital sounding rocket is scheduled to launch in February from Poker Flat Research Range when the weather is clear and aurora conditions are active. The rocket, a Black Brant XII, will capture measurements to deduce characteristics about the processes that create the aurora. The project is called the Rocket Auroral Correlator Experiment (RACE).