Суборбитальные пуски (научные и экспериментальные)

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АНОНС
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/sounding-rocket-probes-the-dark-regions-of-space

Oct. 27, 2017

A Light in the Dark: NASA Sounding Rocket Probes the Dark Regions of Space

Though stars and galaxies fill our night sky, most of the matter in the universe resides in the dark voids in between. Spread out over unfathomable distances, this cold, diffuse gas between galaxies — called the intergalactic medium, or IGM for short — hardly emits any light, making it difficult to study.

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The rocket is prepared at Wallops for delivery to the White Sands Missile Range in Las Cruces, New Mexico for launch on October 30, 2017.
Credits: Nicholas Erickson

Scientists plan to launch a sounding rocket for a fifteen-minute flight Oct. 30, 2017, equipped with special ultraviolet optics, which they hope will shed light on the nature of the IGM. The Dual-channel Extreme Ultraviolet Continuum Experiment, or DEUCE for short, plans to measure starlight from a pair of nearby hot stars in the constellation Canis Major, aiming to help researchers understand how the IGM got to its current state.


The DEUCE payload undergoing testing and integration at Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
Credits: Nicholas Erickson

Scientists know that the IGM, which is mostly hydrogen, has been blasted with high-energy radiation, causing the electrons to break apart from their atoms — a process known as ionization. Many think intense ultraviolet starlight from star-forming galaxies is responsible for ionizing the universe, but not all agree this is the sole cause. Since Earth's atmosphere blocks ultraviolet light, it is impossible to study this type of radiation from the ground. Instead, scientists must capture this light from above the atmosphere, and sounding rockets — which provide an inexpensive alternative to space telescopes — are a practical option.

"DEUCE is about being able to better understand if and how star-forming galaxies ionized the early universe," said Nicholas Erickson, a graduate student at the University of Colorado Boulder working with the project. "This ionizing light has never been measured accurately in hot stars, and DEUCE will make the first calibrated measurement of it, telling us the contribution stars could have had to helping ionize the universe."

Over two flights, DEUCE will look at two young, bright stars — first Beta Canis Major and later Epsilon Canis Major — using a telescope sensitive to ultraviolet light. These stars are close enough that their light reaches Earth before being fully absorbed by interstellar gas, allowing the scientists to measure the amount of starlight to see if it's enough to significantly contribute to the amount of ionized gas in the IGM.

"It's a hard measurement to make, because there still is neutral hydrogen between stars that is extremely effective at absorbing the starlight at these wavelengths," said Erickson. "To be seen at Earth, you need a really bright star that's close by, and there are only two stars that are viable candidates for this measurement."

DEUCE uses a microchannel plate detector — the largest ever flown in space — to measure the starlight. The mission, in addition to providing scientific data, will test this type of large UV detector for readiness in future large-scale space missions. DEUCE is scheduled to launch again in December 2018, to look at Epsilon Canis Major.


The DEUCE grating, sensitive to ultraviolet, is carefully positioned for bonding into its flight mount.
Credits: Nicholas Erickson

The experiment will launch aboard a Black Brant IX sounding rocket from the White Sands Missile Range Las Cruces, New Mexico. NASA's sounding rocket program, based out of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Wallops Flight Facility, flies 20 rockets annually, testing new instruments and supporting cutting-edge research in astrophysics and heliophysics.

Related Links

[/li]
• Learn more about NASA's sounding rockets
• Learn more about NASA's research on the Sun-Earth System
  

By Mara Johnson-Groh
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

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Last Updated: Oct. 27, 2017
Editor: Karl Hille

[Chilik]

^^
Заголовок, прочитанный вместе с первым предложением, доставляют конкретно.

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https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/sounding-rocket-probes-the-dark-regions-of-space

UPDATE Oct. 30, 2017:
The Dual-channel Extreme Ultraviolet Continuum Experiment, or DEUCE, was launched at 6 a.m. EDT, Oct. 30, from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The Black Brant IX sounding rocket performed nominally. However, science data was not obtained because of a possible issue with the attitude control system. The payload descended by parachute and was recovered. The Sounding Rocket Program Office is investigating the anomaly.

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Jonathan McDowell‏ @planet4589 · 4h

The NASA/U of Miami DXL-3 X-ray astronomy suborbital payload was launched from Poker Flat, Alaska at 0351 UTC Jan 19 as NASA flight 36.329UH

Terrier-Black Brant IX sounding rocket launches DXL mission

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXWWdi_Lyk8

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che wi пишет:

Jonathan McDowell ‏ @planet4589 · 4h

The NASA/U of Miami DXL-3 X-ray astronomy suborbital payload was launched fr om Poker Flat, Alaska at 0351 UTC Jan 19 as NASA flight 36.329UH

NASA Wallops‏Подлинная учетная запись @NASA_Wallops 23 янв.

Our first launch of the year! The Wallops sounding rocket team launched the Diffuse X-rays fr om the Local galaxy mission on a Black Brant IX sounding rocket at 7:17 a.m. EST, Jan. 19, from Poker Flat Research Range in Alaska. We have 28 sounding rocket launches planned for 2018!

Спойлер

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https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/nasa-alaska-launched-rockets-to-study-space-x-ray-emissions-and-create-polar-mesospheric

Jan. 9, 2018

NASA Alaska-Launched Rockets to Study Space X-ray Emissions and Create Polar Mesospheric Cloud

UPDATE noon EST, Jan. 26: Super Soaker Successful
The Super Soaker mission was successfully conducted this morning from the Poker Flat Research Range in Alaska. The first rocket was launched at 9:11:15 a.m. EST, the second at 9:48 a.m. and was followed 90 seconds later by the third rocket at 9:49:30 a.m. The principal investigator reported that good data was obtained during the mission and all three payloads on Terrier-Improved Orion rockets performed nominally.


Time-lapse photo of the three Super Soaker rockets.
Credits: NASA/Allison Stancil

UPDATE 11:50 a.m. EST, Jan. 19: DXL Launches from Alaska
The Diffuse X-rays from the Local galaxy, or DXL, mission, was launched on a Black Brant IX sounding rocket at 7:17 a.m. EST, Jan. 19, from the Poker Flat Research Range in Alaska. The payload flew to an altitude of 145 miles. Data was received and is being reviewed by the science team. The Super Soaker mission, with its three Terrier-Improved Orion sounding rockets, remains to be launched. The launch window runs through Jan. 31.


Credits: NASA/Allison Stancil

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NASA rockets launched during the Alaskan winter typically explore the interaction of solar winds with Earth's atmosphere and the resulting auroras that dance across the night sky. However this winter, between January 15 - 31, 2018, NASA personnel and university researchers are traveling to the Poker Flat Research Range (PFRR) in Alaska to launch several rocket-borne investigations for other purposes.
Between January 15 - 31, 2018, scientists will launch four rockets to measure x-ray emissions from space and determine how large quantities of water could affect the upper atmosphere and form Polar Mesospheric clouds, or PMCs.


Personnel at the Wallops Flight Facility test the DXL payload's ability to connect with the Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) network which will be used to determine the location of the payload during flight.
Credits: NASA/Berit Bland

One rocket will carry a science investigation called the Diffuse X-rays from the Local galaxy, or DXL, mission. This investigation aims to study the sources of X-rays that hurtle towards Earth from elsewh ere in our galaxy. "Very low energy diffuse X-rays from space are believed to come from two sources," said Massimiliano Galeazzi, the principal investigator for the DXL mission from the University of Miami, Florida. "The first source is located outside our solar system and is generated by remnants of multiple supernovae explosions forming what is now called the Local Hot Bubble region of our galaxy. The second source is within the solar system and is generated by the solar wind charge exchange . DXL seeks to gain a better understanding of the nature and characteristics of these sources."

Launching from Alaska brings important benefits to DXL. A launch from a range near the Earth's magnetic pole allows researchers to take X-ray measurements closer to the region wh ere the solar magnetic field interacts with Earth's magnetic field – especially beneficial when measuring X-rays from solar wind charge exchange . Also, the Alaskan PFRR is unique among US rocket ranges in allowing researchers to wait on the launch pad, ready to fly, for an extended period of time while waiting for optimal conditions when there is a strong solar wind. The daily launch window for the DXL payload to wait for these conditions is between 6 and 9 a.m. EST.


A Super Soaker payload is tested for its ability to operate while experiencing vibrations during flight.
Credits: NASA/Berit Bland

Three additional rockets will be flown from PFRR in another completely different science investigation named the Super Soaker mission.  This investigation focuses on the formation and dynamics of Polar Mesospheric Clouds (PMCs). "PMCs are layers of microscopic ice particles that form near 53 miles altitude and are extremely sensitive to small variations in their environment." Said Irfan Azeem, Super Soaker principal investigator from Atmospheric and Space Technology Research Associates in Boulder, Colorado. "Because they are so sensitive to variations, PMCs are often used to try to quantify changes in the upper atmosphere over many decades. However, their use as indicators of long-term change is complex and controversial because they also respond to many other shorter term variations such as tides, stratospheric weather and space vehicle exhaust."

Super Soaker will attempt to measure the impact of short-term changes on PMCs and other atmospheric variables by releasing vapor into the upper atmosphere. "Water vapor is a common exhaust product of spaceflight traffic," Azeem said. "Super Soaker will fly to the upper atmosphere carrying about 50 gallons of water, about the amount in a bathtub. We will release the water canister at 53 miles, dispersing and vaporizing the water. We will measure the basic state of the upper atmosphere before, during and after the release to determine the impact. These measurements include temperature, winds and high-altitude layers of ice particles known as polar mesospheric clouds."Super Soaker will use three Terrier-Improved Orion suborbital sounding rockets launched over a 32-minute duration. The launch window stretches from 9 a.m. to noon EST.

In order to determine the initial and final state of the upper atmosphere in this investigation, two of the three rockets carry trimethyl aluminum, or TMA, canisters and will be launched before the water release. The TMA vapor will be observed by cameras on the ground at various points in Alaska. The vapor clouds are a classic, well-developed sounding rocket technique to create markers in the upper atmosphere that enable scientists to obtain measurements of the upper atmospheric winds.  After the TMA is released and it reacts with oxygen in the atmosphere, it produces compounds that occur naturally in the atmosphere. It will be released at altitudes of 45-90 miles and never poses a hazard to the community or the environment.

A third, separate rocket to release water into the atmosphere will be after the two TMA release launches. Scientists will measure the dispersion of the water vapor and changes in temperature and PMC formation using various ground instruments, including a Rayleigh lidar operated by the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, an Advanced Mesospheric Temperature Mapper from Utah State University in Logan.  
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAsOO_X0wtE
(Video 0:10)
The process to disperse water in the upper atmosphere during the Super Soaker mission is tested at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility.
Credits: NASA

The University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute has established a messaging service for anyone interested in listening to launch range communications or viewing a live web stream of the launches.  Subscribers will receive notification when the countdown begins along with a link to listen to range launch communications.  Subscribers also will be notified when the count drops below T-10 minutes, which is when the live web stream will commence.  To subscribe to the messaging service text PFRRLAUNCHES to 33222.


Infographic on Poker Flat sounding rocket launches
Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Mary Pat Hrybyk-Keith

Download infographic as PDF

2018 Poker Flat Sounding Rocket Campaign Booklet

2018 Poker Flat Sounding Rocket Campaign Booklet (for printing)

2018 Poker Flat Sounding Rocket Campaign Booklet (spreads for printing)

The range launch communications can be monitored at:

http://stereo.wavestreamer.com:7519/index.html?sid=1

The web stream will be available at:

http://youtube.com/PokerFlatRR

NASA's Sounding Rocket Program is conducted at the agency's Wallops Flight Facility, on Virginia's Eastern Shore. Wallops is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Orbital ATK provides mission planning, engineering services and field operations through the NASA Sounding Rocket Operations Contract. NASA's Heliophysics Division manages the sounding-rocket program for the agency.
 
Keith Koehler
NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Va.

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Last Updated: Jan. 26, 2018
Editor: Rob Garner

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NASA Wallops‏Подлинная учетная запись @NASA_Wallops 21 февр.

Wallops personnel conduct payload tests for the AZURE mission scheduled to launch in March from @AndoyaSpace in Norway. AZURE is the first of eight international missions launching over the next two years as part of the Grand Challenge Initiative to study the polar cusp.


20 ч. назад

The two payloads for the AZURE mission go through GPS testing at the @AndoyaSpace in Norway. The on-board GPS supports personnel on the ground to know the position of the payload during flight. AZURE is schedule for launch March 3-17 from Norway.

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Grand Challenge Trajectories Animation

NASA Video

Опубликовано: 27 февр. 2018 г.

This animation shows the trajectories of several of the Grand Challenge missions. Credit: Andøya Space Center/Trond Abrahamsen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFADp0gOiFMhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFADp0gOiFM (1:20)

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NASA Wallops‏Подлинная учетная запись @NASA_Wallops 16 ч. назад

The Black Brant XI is loaded on the launch rail and is ready for launch in a few days! It's boxed up in an insulating foam to protect it from the chilly conditions at @AndoyaSpace in Norway. This is one of two rockets flying for the AZURE mission scheduled to launch March 3-17.

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https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/sounding-rocket-mission-will-trace-auroral-winds

March 1, 2018

Sounding Rocket Mission Will Trace Auroral Winds

Fr om the ground, the dance of the northern lights, or aurora borealis, can look peaceful. But those shimmering sheets of colored lights are the product of violent collisions between Earth's atmosphere and particles fr om the Sun.


Aurora as seen from Talkeetna, Alaska, on Nov. 3, 2015.
Credits: Copyright Dora Miller

The beautiful lights are just the visible product of these collisions — the kinetic and thermal energy released, invisible to the naked eye, are no less important. Understanding the contribution that aurora make to the total amount of energy that enters and leaves Earth's geospace system — referred to as auroral forcing — is one of the major goals of the NASA-funded Auroral Zone Upwelling Rocket Experiment, or AZURE. The more we learn about auroras, the more we understand about the fundamental processes that drive near-Earth space — a region that is increasingly part of the human domain, home not only to astronauts but also communications and GPS signals that can affect those of us on the ground on a daily basis.

AZURE is the first of eight sounding rocket missions launching over the next two years as part of an international collaboration of scientists known as The Grand Challenge Initiative – Cusp. These missions will launch from the Andøya and Svalbard rocket ranges in Norway to study the processes occurring inside the Earth's polar cusp — wh ere the planet's magnetic field lines bend down into the atmosphere and allow particles from space to intermingle with those of Earthly origin — and nearby auroral oval, which AZURE will focus on.

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AZURE will study the flow of particles in the ionosphere, the electrically charged layer of the atmosphere that acts as Earth's interface to space, focusing specifically on the E and F regions. The E region — so-named by early radio pioneers that discovered the region was electrically charged, and so could reflect radio waves — lies between 56 to 93 miles above Earth's surface. The F region resides just above it, between 93 to 310 miles altitude.

The E and F regions contain free electrons that have been ejected from their atoms by the energizing input of the Sun's rays, a process called photoionization. After nightfall, without the energizing input of the Sun to keep them separated, electrons recombine with the positively charged ions they left behind, lowering the regions' overall electron density. The daily cycle of ionization and recombination makes the E and F regions especially turbulent and complex.

AZURE will focus specifically on measuring the vertical winds in these regions, which create a tumultuous particle soup that re-distributes the energy, momentum and chemical constituents of the atmosphere.

Existing wind measurements from ground-based instruments show evidence of significant structure at scales between 6 miles and 60 miles wide in both the charged particle drifts and the neutral winds. But so far, the in-situ scientific measurements of winds have been limited to a small set of altitudes — and already those measurements don't fit with what we would have predicted.

To better understand the forces at play, in early March the AZURE team will launch two sounding rockets near-simultaneously from the Andøya Space Center in Norway. Waiting to launch until the conditions are just right, the rockets will fly up into space, making measurements of the atmospheric density and temperature with instruments on the rockets and deploying visible tracers, trimethyl aluminum (TMA) and a barium/strontium mixture, which ionizes when exposed to sunlight.

These mixtures create colorful clouds that allow researchers to track the flow of neutral and charged particles, respectively. The tracers will be released at altitudes 71 to 155 miles high and pose no hazard to residents in the region.


Personnel from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia conduct payload tests for the AZURE mission at the Andøya Space Center in Norway.
Credits: NASA's Wallops Flight Facility

By tracking the movement of these colorful clouds via ground-based photography and triangulating their moment-by-moment position in three dimensions, AZURE will provide valuable data on the vertical and horizontal flow of particles in two key regions of the ionosphere over a range of different altitudes.

Such measurements are critical if we are to truly understand the effects of the mysterious yet beautiful aurora. The results will be key to a better understanding of the effects of auroral forcing on the atmosphere, including how and wh ere the auroral energy is deposited.

Related:

[/li]
• Vapor Tracers in Space Research
• NASA Joins International Science Team in Exploring Auroral Cusp from Norway
  

By Miles Hatfield
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

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Last Updated: March 2, 2018
Editor: Rob Garner

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АНОНС

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NOTMAR (local)

pao_notmar_usip_terrier_malemute3.pdf

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https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-to-highlight-science-launching-on-next-resupply-mission-to-space-station

March 16, 2018
University Student Projects Launching on NASA Rocket from Wallops

Undergraduate students from across the United States will see the fruits of their efforts when their technology development projects fly on a NASA sounding rocket at 6:30 a.m. EDT, March 22, 2018, from the agency's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

Student teams from four universities will be flying projects that include propulsion systems for small spacecraft; a new wire insulation material; a small reentry spacecraft; and a deployable boom and solar blanket for small satellites.


Students participating in the Undergraduate Student Instrument Project observe vibration testing of the payload.
Credits: NASA/Berit Bland

Joyce Winterton, Wallops' senior advisor for education and leadership development, said, "The four universities were sel ected in 2016 to participate in the NASA Undergraduate Student Instrument Project or USIP. The teams are not only exploring projects that may impact future spaceflight but they are getting invaluable experience that will propel them into their future careers."

Participating universities and their projects are:

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Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne: The flight will test a new wire insulation repair material in a microgravity, near vacuum environment. The test samples will be subjected to a series of tests after retrieval to inspect the material and verify effectiveness in the space environment.

University of Kentucky, Lexington: A small entry spacecraft will be deployed during flight to test and demonstrate a communications system, release mechanism and thermal protection system design for application in future research.

Utah State University, Logan: The flight will test an arc-ignition, green propellant CubeSat thruster system. During the flight test, measurements will be gathered in order to assess the potentially harmful effects of plume contamination on spacecraft optical sensors, external electronics and solar panels.

University of Nebraska - Lincoln: Partnering with NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, the team will test a deployable and retractable boom and solar blanket for space applications, including sounding rockets, CubeSats and small satellites.

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The experiments will fly on a 43-foot tall Terrier-Improved Malemute sounding rocket to an altitude of approximately 100 miles. Following the flight, the experiments will descend by parachute and land in the Atlantic Ocean about 70 miles from Wallops Island. They will be recovered and returned to the students later in the day.

The launch window for the USIP mission is 6:30 – 10:30 a.m. The backup launch days are March 23 and 24.

The NASA Visitor Center at Wallops will open at 5:30 a.m. EDT on launch day for viewing the flight. Live coverage of the mission is scheduled to begin at 6 a.m. on the Wallops Ustream site. Launch updates also are available via the Wallops Facebook and Twitter sites. Facebook Live coverage begins at 6:15 a.m. The rocket launch is expected to be seen fr om the eastern shore of Virginia and Maryland.

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Smartphone users can download the "What's Up at Wallops" app for information on the launch as well as a compass showing the precise direction for launch viewing.

Wallops managers serve as USIP technical advisors for these four cooperative agreements on behalf agency's Office of Education and the Science Mission Directorate. In 2016 NASA selected an additional 43 university experiments to fly on orbital and suborbital vehicles including rockets, aircraft, balloons and CubeSats through a cooperative agreement competition for members of NASA's 52 Space Grant Consortia and other eligible higher education institutions.

NASA's Sounding Rocket Program is conducted at the agency's Wallops Flight Facility, which is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Orbital ATK provides mission planning, engineering services and field operations for the NASA Sounding Rocket Operations Contract. NASA's Heliophysics Division manages the sounding rocket program for the agency.


Launch viewing visibility map for the Undergraduate Student Instrument Program launch.
Credits: NASA/Mission Planning Lab

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Last Updated: March 16, 2018
Editor: Jeremy Eggers

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АНОНС

https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-to-launch-parachute-test-off-virginia-coast-march-27

March 20, 2018
MEDIA ADVISORY M18-048

NASA to Launch Parachute Test off Virginia Coast March 27


The Advanced Supersonic Parachute Inflation Research Experiment (ASPIRE) 2 payload undergoes testing in the sounding rocket payload facility at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Virginia, prior to transport to the launch pad on Wallops Island.
Credits: NASA/Berit Bland

NASA will test a parachute for possible future missions to Mars from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on Tuesday, March 27. Live coverage of the test is scheduled to begin at 6:15 a.m. EDT on the Wallops Ustream site.

The launch window for the 58-foot-tall Terrier-Black Brant IX suborbital sounding rocket is from 6:45 to10:15 a.m. Backup launch days are March 28 to April 10.

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The NASA Visitor Center at Wallops will open at 6 a.m. on launch day for viewing the flight. The rocket launch is expected to be only seen from the Wallops area.

The rocket will carry the Advanced Supersonic Parachute Inflation Research Experiment (ASPIRE) from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. The payload carrying the test parachute is expected to reach an altitude of 32 miles approximately two minutes into the flight. The payload will splash-down in the Atlantic Ocean 40 miles from Wallops Island and will be recovered and returned to Wallops for data retrieval and inspection.

The payload is a bullet-nosed, cylindrical structure holding a supersonic parachute, the parachute's deployment mechanism, and the test's high-definition instrumentation, including cameras, to record data.

ASPIRE is managed by JPL, with support from NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, and Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California, for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

NASA's Sounding Rocket Program is based at Wallops. Orbital ATK in Dulles, Virginia, provides mission planning, engineering services and field operations through the NASA Sounding Rocket Operations Contract. NASA's Heliophysics Division in Washington manages the sounding rocket program for the agency.

Launch updates will be available via the Wallops Facebook and Twitter sites. Smartphone users can also download the "What's Up at Wallops" app, which contains information on the launch, as well as a compass showing the precise direction for launch viewing.

More information on the agency's sounding rocket program is available online at:

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sounding-rockets/index.html

-end-

Dwayne Brown
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov

Keith Koehler
Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Va.
757-824-1579
keith.a.koehler@nasa.gov

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Last Updated: March 20, 2018
Editor: Karen Northon

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NASA Wallops‏Подлинная учетная запись @NASA_Wallops 6 ч. назад

The Undergraduate Student Instrument Project launch has been postponed due to weather. The launch will now occur Friday, March 23 with a 6:30 – 10:30 a.m. window.

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https://www.nasa.gov/feature/wallops/2018/university-student-projects-launching-on-nasa-rocket-from-wallops

UPDATE 12:45 p.m., March 22: Because of expected rough seas that will not be acceptable to conduct payload recovery operations, the launch of the University Student Instrument Project (USIP) payload has been postponed to Saturday, March 24. The launch window remains 6:30 – 10:30 a.m. EDT. The backup launch day is Sunday, March 25. Live coverage on the Wallops Ustream site begins at 6 a.m. and Facebook Live coverage begins at 6:15 a.m. The NASA Visitor Center at Wallops will open at 5:30 a.m. for launch viewing.

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NASA Wallops‏Подлинная учетная запись @NASA_Wallops 21 мар.

It's a snowy day at Wallops, but some of the crew are enjoying sunshine as they prepare for two launches from the Kwajalein Atoll. The Water Recovery X-ray rocket is scheduled for launch April 4 and the Colorado High-resolution Echelle Stellar Spectrograph on April 13.

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https://www.nasa.gov/Wallops/2018/feature/nasa-rocket-experiments-to-examine-lifecycle-of-stars

March 23, 2018

NASA Rocket Experiments to Examine Lifecycle of Stars

NASA will launch two astronomy experiments to study how stars are born and how they die in the Milky Way galaxy this April from Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

The Water Recovery X-ray rocket, or WRX, is scheduled for launch April 4, 2018, and the Colorado High-resolution Echelle Stellar Spectrograph, or CHESS 4, on April 13. Both experiments will fly on NASA Black Brant IX sounding rockets.

The WRX mission targets the Vela supernova rem­nant and measures soft X-rays emanating from this region. The Vela supernova remnant was created when a star, greater than 10 times the mass of the Sun, collapsed and then exploded as a supernova, the final stage of massive stellar evolution.

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Supernova explosions are one of the most energetic events in the universe, and play a role in re­cycling material within galaxies. They are responsible for the creation and distribution of elements -- such as, oxygen, silicon, neon, iron, nickel, and magnesium among others -- into the interstellar medium, thereby providing source material for the next generation of stars, planets and even organic chemistry.

The explosions are rarely seen in action in our galaxy, but evidence is left behind as a supernova remnant. Ejected mate­rial from the explosion travels at high speeds and the shockwave sweeps up interstellar material along the way, continuing to heat it to temperatures as high as 10 million Kelvin. These hot temperatures lead to emission of high energy electromagnetic radiation, such as X-rays, from the remnant.

"Supernova remnants in our galaxy are good to study due to their proximity, which makes them large, bright targets on the sky," said Randy McEntaffer, principal investigator of WRX at Penn State University, in University Park. "The WRX payload will investigate about 10 square degrees of emission located in the north central section of Vela with its diffuse X-ray spectrograph. This will provide a modest resolving power spectrum of this region that has yet to be spectroscopically explored."

WRX measurements will allow scientists to derive information about the conditions in the Vela supernova remnant such as the tem­perature, density, chemical composition, and ioniza­tion state. Using these characteristics, they will also be able to estimate the shock velocity near the remnant's limb, the age and type of the remnant, and the energy of the supernova.

WRX will be the first sounding rocket mission from Roi-Namur, Kwajalein Atoll, to use a newly developed NASA water recovery system for astronomical payloads. Most NASA astronomical suborbital rocket missions are conducted from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico which allows for land recovery of the highly valued payload. Both WRX and CHESS instruments have previously been flown from White Sands.

"As astronomers, the sky that we look at is dependent on the latitude of observation. As we go toward southern latitudes we open up the southern sky. At White Sands, Vela is at too low of an altitude for efficient observation. Being able to launch from Kwajalein with water recovery increases the number of our observation targets," said McEntaffer.

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"The development of this water recovery system is important as it opens up future launch opportunities from remote southern sites to observe unique phenomena or astronomical objects inaccessible from northern launch ranges," said Kevin France, principal investigator for CHESS-4 at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

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The CHESS-4 payload is checked out by principal investigator Kevin France (right) and team member Stefan Ulrich.
Credits: NASA/Berit Bland

The CHESS-4 mission will study the interstellar me­dium, the matter between stars. The mission focuses on translucent clouds of gas, that provide the fundamental building blocks for stars and planets. These clouds have very low densities and the only way to study them is to measure how a cloud is affected by a star -- and its associated outpouring of stellar material, the stellar wind -- moving through it.

CHESS will point at the star Gamma Ara, in the constellation Ara. Gamma Ara displays an unusually powerful stellar wind.

"Gamma Ara possesses an unusually strong equatorial stellar wind that is injecting large amounts of material and kinetic energy into its immediate galactic environment," said France. "What is unique about CHESS-4, relative to its previous flights, is that we are interested in studying the molecular properties in the interaction between the wind and the local environment."

CHESS-4 will study the interaction of this stellar wind with the surrounding interstellar medium to study the excitation of atoms and molecules in the inter­face region. This allows the CHESS team to study the catalysts of galactic chemistry and the raw materials for future generations of stars and planets. The team will also quantify the temperature and motions of the clouds along the line of sight.

This iteration of CHESS also features an updated instrument – a re-tuned spectrograph – which provides approximately four to five times higher spectral resolution than previous incarnations. The higher resolution is ideal for observing the excited molecules against the background signal generated by the interstellar medium.

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NASA's Sounding Rocket Program is conducted at the agency's Wallops Flight Facility, on Virginia's Eastern Shore. Wallops is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Orbital ATK provides mission planning, engineering services and field operations through the NASA Sounding Rocket Operations Contract. NASA's Heliophysics Division manages the sounding rocket program for the agency.

Keith Koehler
NASA's Wallops Flight Facility

Last Updated: March 23, 2018
Editor: Patrick Black

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https://www.nasa.gov/feature/wallops/2018/university-student-projects-launching-on-nasa-rocket-from-wallops

UPDATE 4:50 a.m., Saturday, March 24: The launch of a Terrier-Improved Malemute sounding rocket scheduled for today has been postponed to Sunday, March 25, because of rough seas that are not acceptable to conduct payload recovery operations. The launch window remains the same at 6:30 to 10:30 a.m. The rocket is carrying four undergraduate student experiments through the NASA University Student Instrument Program. The NASA Visitor Center opens at 5:30 a.m. for launch viewing.  Live audio coverage on the Wallops Ustream site begins at 6 a.m. and Facebook Live coverage starts at 6:15 a.m.

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http://spacenews.com/exos-aerospace-prepares-for-first-suborbital-launch/

Exos Aerospace prepares for first suborbital launch
by Jeff Foust — March 23, 2018


Exos Aerospace conducts a hover test of its SARGE suborbital rocket March 17, a final test before the vehicle's first flight in April from Spaceport America in New Mexico. Credit: Exos Aerospace

WASHINGTON — With a key test completed and a launch license in hand, Exos Aerospace is preparing for the first flight of its reusable suborbital rocket in April.

In a statement, the company said it completed a "hover test" of its Suborbital Autonomous Rocket with GuidancE, or SARGE, rocket at its Caddo Mills, Texas, facility March 17. In the test, the rocket, suspended from a crane, fired its engine to hover in place, demonstrating the performance of its propulsion, guidance, and other systems.

That test went as planned, said John Quinn, chief operating officer of Exos Aerospace. It also came a month after the company received a launch license from the Federal Aviation Administration's Office of Commercial Space Transportation, authorizing flights of SARGE from Spaceport America in New Mexico.

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"We are excited to move two critical steps closer to launches at Spaceport America," Quinn said of the test and the FAA license.

With the successful test and the license, Exos is planning a first launch April 7 from Spaceport America, flying to an altitude of at least 80 kilometers. Preparations for the launch will begin in the week leading up to it, Quinn said, as the rocket and support personnel travel from Texas to New Mexico.

The rocket will be carrying payloads for customers, Quinn said, but did not disclose their names. One goal of the flight, he said, is to qualify to be a part of NASA's Flight Opportunities program, which contracts with several companies to fly suborbital research payloads. The program's current suborbital flight providers include Blue Origin, UP Aerospace and Virgin Galactic.

Exos is based on both technologies and people from Armadillo Aerospace, a company founded by video game developer John Carmack that competed for the Ansari X Prize for commercial human suborbital spaceflight in the early 2000s and later developed a series of suborbital vehicles, including an earlier version of the SARGE vehicle.

Carmack put Armadillo into what he called "hibernation" in 2013 after a flight of that predecessor vehicle, known as STIG-B, early that year. He said at the time that he no longer planned to fund the company out his own pocket. Exos acquired what it called the "mission critical" assets of Armadillo in early 2015, and a number of former Armadillo employees joined Exos.

Exos hopes to use SARGE to tap into what it believes to be significant demand for suborbital research, while also testing technology that could be used for a future orbital launch vehicle. "We look forward to enabling space research, manufacturing and educational opportunity for the world by providing frequent flights that provide fast and affordable access to space," Quinn said.

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NASA Wallops‏Подлинная учетная запись @NASA_Wallops 2 ч.2 часа назад


UPDATE: The launch of the Terrier-Improved Malemute sounding rocket has been canceled because of rough seas that prevent payload recovery operations. An update on possible launch operations for Sunday, March 25, will be announced later this morning.