Press Releases
FAIRBANKS, Alaska—A total of eight National Aeronautics and Space Administration sounding rockets will launch from Poker Flat Research Range in 2009. The rocket season is split into two launch windows. The first launch window opens Jan. 10, and will remain open until Feb. 5, 2009. 
In a series of three flights through restricted airspace in Puget Sound, WA, the University of Alaska’s unmanned aircraft system proved its value to science once again.
The unmanned aircraft system, or UAS for short, was launched off the top deck of the Oscar Dyson, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ship, Oct 15-16, 2008. The UAS demonstrated to scientists that i
FAIRBANKS, Alaska—Electrical engineer Denise Thorsen has been selected as director-elect of the Alaska Space Grant Program.
FAIRBANKS, Alaska— The BEAR is awake. The Alaska Space Grant Program’s Balloon Experiment And Research Program, or BEAR, has launched its first balloon from Poker Flat Research Range. The launch marked the culmination of more than five months of work by researchers with Space Grant and the Arctic Amateur Radio Club, which formed the program in December.
Whether it’s monitoring the migration of marine mammals in the Beaufort Sea, or mapping summer wildfires that flare up in Alaska’s Interior, opportunities abound for unmanned aircraft in the Arctic. An ideal tool for many projects, unmanned aircraft systems can fly as long as 40 hours at a time, often in less than ideal conditions. Stakeholders from a variety of agencies, universities and associations will converge in Fairbanks Oct. 16-17, 2007 to discuss UAS technology, potential projects, and methods for collaboration at the Arctic Unmanned Aircraft Stakeholders Meeting at Pike’s Waterfront Lodge.
FAIRBANKS, Alaska—Logging more than 18 hours of flight time in six separate flights, the Geophysical Institute’s unmanned aircraft system completed its first scheduled campaign of the year in the Stewart Creek Impact Area near Eielson Air Force Base June 21 to 24, 2007. During the flights, the UAS collected 30 color images per second of about 43 square miles of terrain. Soon, the images will be pieced together and analyzed by the U.S. Army Alaska Garrison to map wildfire fuels growing in the Stewart Creek Impact Area.
A NASA sounding rocket launched at 11:39 p.m. on Feb. 27, 2007 from Poker Flat Research Range
during a brilliant aurora display above northern Alaska.
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.
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.
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.
