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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).

Second mission a success in 2009 rocket campaign at Poker Flat Research Range

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FAIRBANKS, Alaska—After days of waiting for precise aurora conditions, a team from the University of Iowa finally saw the launch of its two scientific sounding rockets from Poker Flat Research Range. The NASA rockets launched Jan. 29, just before 1 a.m. Alaska Standard Time, and flew through an auroral curtain, collecting data throughout their flights.

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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.

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FAIRBANKS, Alaska—The University of Alaska purchased its unmanned aircraft in 2006 and the 40-pound robotic plane can fly up to 20 hours at a time, collecting data even through the harshest conditions. These superlatives make the Insitu A-20 an ideal tool for scientists that need information from areas that are often difficult or dangerous to get to.

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The total number of rockets launching from Poker Flat Research Range this season has recently been revised from thirteen to eleven. The reduction is due to the cancellation of a guided rocket project previously scheduled for April that will no longer launch from Poker Flat.

The two rockets in conjunction with the cancelled project were going to be used as part of a United States Missile Defense Agency (MDA)-lead federal experiment designed to study rocket dispersion patterns.

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From Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks, four NASA rockets launched into an aurora display over northern Alaska, starting at 3:29 a.m. Alaska Standard Time. Scientists hope to learn more about electrical heating of the thin atmosphere from about 60 to 120 miles above Earth’s surface with the launch of these rockets. The project is called JOULE II.

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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.