Alaska News

Four rockets launch from UAF research range

In an "unusual if not unprecedented" night of activity meant to take advantage of near ideal weather conditions, scientists successfully launched four rockets into the upper atmosphere from the University of Alaska's Poker Flat Research Range, northeast of Fairbanks, Sunday night.

A fifth research rocket, meant to be shot into the heart of an active aurora above Kaktovik, has yet to launch.

Two of the rockets launched Sunday night gathered data that researchers hope will eventually answer questions about turbulence in the upper atmosphere. The other two emitted a white vapor designed to make turbulence visible in the margin of atmosphere and space about 60 miles from the ground.

The researchers, from UAF and Clemson University in South Carolina, hope to gain new insights into the solar processes that affect the earth's atmosphere, Sue Mitchell of UAF's Geophysical Institute said.

Before Sunday night's successful launches, scientists had waited through 13 nights of less-than-ideal meteorological and atmospheric conditions at the Chatanika research range, 30 miles north of Fairbanks on the Steese Highway.

Sunday night's conditions, with temperatures of 40 below and clear skies, proved to be exactly what the researchers had been waiting for, Mitchell said.

"They needed clear, dark nights with an atmospheric inversion," Mitchell said, adding that initial indications showed the instruments performed well.

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"I am very happy and very exhausted," said Rich Collins, a UAF researcher studying atmospheric turbulence, in a statement.

Auroral conditions prevented a successful launch of the fifth rocket, part of a Utah State University and NASA research project to study how energy generated in the upper atmosphere by solar particles varies over time and space.

UAF's Geophyiscal Institute is assisting with the launch, which scientists hope to try again before their window of opportunity ends Tuesday.

The launches are part of NASA's Sounding Rocket Program.

Michelle Theriault Boots

Michelle Theriault Boots is a longtime reporter for the Anchorage Daily News. She focuses on in-depth stories about the intersection of public policy and Alaskans' lives. Before joining the ADN in 2012, she worked at daily newspapers up and down the West Coast and earned a master's degree from the University of Oregon.

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