FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The second largest geomagnetic storm on record has allowed people in mid-latitudes to see the aurora borealis and could possibly make for outstanding aurora viewing over Alaska through Saturday, November 22.

For Immediate Release

The Geophysical Institute has a professor and graduate student participating in the NASA hypervelocity re-entry campaign for the Stardust sample return capsule. The Stardust vehicle will release the capsule into Earth's atmosphere at 12:56 a.m. on Sunday, January 15. The capsule, containing interstellar dust from the Wild 2 comet, will re-enter at a whopping 28,600 miles per hour. This re-entry is the fastest in NASA history.

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The top honor at the National Radio Science Meeting’s 2004 Student Prize Paper Competition was awarded to Fernanda São Sabbas, a former graduate student working with Professor Davis Sentman at the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF). The announcement was made last week in Boulder, Colorado.

For Immediate Release

New information about the Martian terrain suggests the Red Planet's surface once had water. High levels of hematite, a mineral associated with liquid water on Earth, were discovered on Mars last year. This important find suggests the possibility of ancient lakebeds or seas on the planet's surface and increases the odds that Mars once harbored life.

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The University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, International Arctic Research Center, and Poker Flat Research Range will offer free public summer tours starting June 7.

The public can learn about the Alaska Satellite Facility and the Alaska Earthquake Information Center at a weekly tour being offered by the Geophysical Institute every Wednesday from June 7- August 30 at 2:30 p.m. in the institute’s Elvey Auditorium, room 214. 

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The first of a four-part rocket experiment successfully launched from Poker Flat Research Range at 1:07 a.m. Thursday morning.  The remaining three rockets included in the experiment are scheduled to launch when the weather and aurora conditions are optimal between now and March 23.  

For Immediate Release 

Two Improved-Orion sounding rockets were launched in succession from Poker Flat Research Range last night. The first rocket of the DUST project launched at 8:45 p.m. and the second rocket launched at 10:45 p.m. Both rockets flew through Earth's upper atmosphere, reaching altitudes of 62 vertical miles. Their flights lasted nearly 6 minutes each, before landing about 28 miles north of the rocket range. 

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The last three rockets of a four-part rocket experiment successfully launched from Poker Flat Research Range early Friday morning.  The first rocket of the experiment was launched March 7th, and the final three launched Friday at 2:15 a.m., 4:03 a.m. and 4:42 a.m.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Ned Rozell, GI information officer, 907-474-7468, nrozell [at] gi [dot] alaska [dot] edu

Poker Flat Research Range, Alaska—Scientists launched a NASA sounding rocket at 11:11 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 4, 2011 in an attempt to learn more about the concentration of nitric oxide in the upper atmosphere from a rocket that arced about 160 miles above northern Alaska.

CONTACT: Ned Rozell, GI science writer, 907-474-7468, nrozell [at] gi [dot] alaska [dot] edu

Fairbanks, Alaska—During a vivid aurora display, a NASA sounding rocket launched from Poker Flat Research Range and arced over northern Alaska at 12:49 a.m. Alaska Standard Time on Feb. 16, 2010. The rocket, one of the largest used at Poker Flat, flew high over Kaktovik, gathering data on electric particle and wave interactions in the upper atmosphere.