Sounding Rocket Animations

The mission graphic for the NASA Sounding Rocket Program 2022 Australia Campaign depicts various components of the project. Around the outside of the graphic the major participants in the campaign are listed – the NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, the University of Colorado, the University of Wisconsin and Equatorial Launch Australia. The center of the graphic denotes the science targets for the three missions – Alpha Centauri A and B and the X-ray background. The three missions will be conducted using two-stage Black Brant IX suborbital sounding rockets, also depicted in the graphic center. The location of the Arnhem Space Center and launch site is noted at the bottom center of the graphic. NASA will launch three suborbital sounding rockets in June and July 2022 from the Arnhem Space Center in Australia’s Northern Territory to conduct astrophysics studies that can only be done from the Southern Hemisphere. The three missions will focus on α Centauri A and B, two of the three-star α Centauri system that are the closest stars to our Sun, and X-rays emanating from the interstellar medium, clouds of gases and particles between stars.The three sounding rocket night-time missions will be launched between June 26 and July 12 on two-stage Black Brant IX sounding rockets, from the Arnhem Space Center, which is owned and operated by Equatorial Launch Australia or ELA. The Arnhem Space Center is a commercial space launch facility, located on the Dhupuma Plateau near Nhulunbuy. The NASA missions will be the first launches from Arnhem.Learn more: Australia Sounding Rocket Fact SheetWatch more: Sounding Rockets: Cutting Edge Science, 15 Minutes at a TimeWhat Is a Sounding Rocket?Riding Along with a NASA Sounding Rocket A NASA Black Brant IX suborbital sounding rocket was successfully launched at 7:01 a.m. EDT (8:31 p.m. ACST) July 11, 2022, from the Arnhem Space Center (ASC) in the Northern Territory of Australia. The launch was for the Dual-channel Extreme Ultraviolet Continuum Experiment, or DEUCE, for the University of Colorado, Boulder. Preliminary analysis shows that good data was received by the science instrument during the flight.The rocket carried the science instrument to an altitude of 162 miles (262 km) before descending by parachute and landing southwest of the launch site. Recovery operations of the science instrument and the rocket motors are in progress.Credit: NASA Wallops/Brian Bonsteel A NASA Black Brant IX suborbital sounding rocket was successfully launched at 7:01 a.m. EDT (8:31 p.m. ACST) July 11, 2022, from the Arnhem Space Center (ASC) in the Northern Territory of Australia. The launch was for the Dual-channel Extreme Ultraviolet Continuum Experiment, or DEUCE, for the University of Colorado, Boulder. Preliminary analysis shows that good data was received by the science instrument during the flight.The rocket carried the science instrument to an altitude of 162 miles (262 km) before descending by parachute and landing southwest of the launch site. Recovery operations of the science instrument and the rocket motors are in progress.Credit: NASA Wallops/Brian Bonsteel A NASA Black Brant IX suborbital sounding rocket was successfully launched at 7:01 a.m. EDT (8:31 p.m. ACST) July 11, 2022, from the Arnhem Space Center (ASC) in the Northern Territory of Australia. The launch was for the Dual-channel Extreme Ultraviolet Continuum Experiment, or DEUCE, for the University of Colorado, Boulder. Preliminary analysis shows that good data was received by the science instrument during the flight.The rocket carried the science instrument to an altitude of 162 miles (262 km) before descending by parachute and landing southwest of the launch site. Recovery operations of the science instrument and the rocket motors are in progress.Credit: NASA Goddard/Mara Johnson-Groh A NASA Black Brant IX suborbital sounding rocket launched from the Arnhem Space Center (ASC) in the Northern Territory of Australia at 10:29 a.m. EDT (11:59 ACST) on June 26, 2022. The rocket carried the X-ray Quantum Calorimeter, or XQC, experiment from the University of Wisconsin.Photo credit: NASA Wallops/Brian Bonsteel A NASA Black Brant IX suborbital sounding rocket launched from the Arnhem Space Center (ASC) in the Northern Territory of Australia at 10:29 a.m. EDT (11:59 ACST) on June 26, 2022. The rocket carried the X-ray Quantum Calorimeter, or XQC, experiment from the University of Wisconsin.Video credit: NASA Goddard/Mara Johnson-Groh A Black Brant IX sounding rocket launched from NASA event at Parliament House, Darwin NT. Photo Credit: Brian Bonsteel The Wallops Range telemetry teams work to setup tracking antennas and mobile vans in Australia ahead of the summer 2022 sounding rocket campaign. The Wallops Range telemetry teams work to setup tracking antennas and mobile vans in Australia ahead of the summer 2022 sounding rocket campaign. The Wallops Range telemetry teams work to setup tracking antennas and mobile vans in Australia ahead of the summer 2022 sounding rocket campaign. NASA employees build a sounding rocket range in Nhulunbuy, NT with the additional efforts from local contractors. Photo Credit: Brian Bonsteel NASA employees build a sounding rocket range in Nhulunbuy, NT with the additional efforts from local contractors. Photo Credit: Brian Bonsteel NASA employees build a sounding rocket range in Nhulunbuy, NT with the additional efforts from local contractors. Photo Credit: Brian Bonsteel NASA employees build a sounding rocket range in Nhulunbuy, NT with the additional efforts from local contractors. Photo Credit: Brian Bonsteel NASA employees build a sounding rocket range in Nhulunbuy, NT with the additional efforts from local contractors. Photo Credit: Brian Bonsteel NASA employees build a sounding rocket range in Nhulunbuy, NT with the additional efforts from local contractors. Photo Credit: Brian Bonsteel NASA employees build a sounding rocket range in Nhulunbuy, NT with the additional efforts from local contractors. Photo Credit: Brian Bonsteel NASA employees build a sounding rocket range in Nhulunbuy, NT with the additional efforts from local contractors. Photo Credit: Brian Bonsteel NASA employees build a sounding rocket range in Nhulunbuy, NT with the additional efforts from local contractors. Photo Credit: Brian Bonsteel Technicians work at Wallops on the X-ray Quantum Calorimeter Experiment, or XQC, payload before it ships to Australia. Photo Credit: Berit Bland Technicians work at Wallops on the Dual-channel Extreme Ultraviolet Continuum Experiment, or DEUCE, payload before it ships to Australia. Photo Credit: Berit Bland Technicians work at Wallops on the Dual-channel Extreme Ultraviolet Continuum Experiment, or DEUCE, payload before it ships to Australia. Photo Credit: Berit Bland Technicians work at Wallops on the Suborbital Imaging Spectrograph for Transition region Irradiance from Nearby Exoplanet host stars, or SISTINE, payload before it ships to Australia. Photo Credit: Berit Bland A Terrier-Improved Malemute sounding rocket launched August 17, 2016, carrying the RockSat-X educational payload. Video Credit: NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility A Terrier-Improved Malemute sounding rocket launched August 17, 2016, carrying the RockSat-X educational payload. Video Credit: NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility A Black Brant IX sounding rocket launched March 31, 2018, carrying the Advanced Supersonic Parachute Inflation Research Experiment (ASPIRE) mission testing a parachute for future missions to Mars. Video Credit: Chris Perry The Alpha Centauri system in optical (main) and X-ray (inset) light.Only the two largest stars, Alpha Cen A and B, are visible. These twostars will be the targets of SISTINE and DEUCE. Image Credits: ZdenekBardon/NASA/CXC/Univ. of Colorado/T. Ayres et al. This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image provides a stunningview of the bright Alpha Centauri A (on the left) and Alpha Centauri B(on the right), shining like huge cosmic headlamps in the dark. Becausethese two stars are, together with their sibling Proxima Centauri, theclosest to Earth, they are among the best studied by astronomers.And they are also among the prime targets in the hunt for habitableexoplanets. Image credit: ESA/NASA Visibility Map for the Black Brant IX sounding rockets. Aerial view of Arnhem Space Center. Credit: Equatorial Launch Australia Wind tower assembly for monitoring winds near the launch pad. Credit: NASA Wallops/Brian Bonsteel

A conceptual animation showing solar wind interacting with Earth s polar cusps and the cusp aurora.

A conceptual animation showing electrons traveling down Earth s atmosphere and causing oxygen molecules to escape and release red light causing the cusp aurora.

Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available.Music credits: “Journey to the Past”, “New Philosopher”, “Curiosity Cabinet”, “Buzzing Culture”, “Dusk Theories”, “At the Edge of the End” by Laurent Dury [SACEM]; “Strong Voices” by Tom Caffey [ASCAP]; “The Fortune Teller” by Phil Stevens [PRS]; “Shinobi’s Fight” by Benoit Malis [SACEM]; “Spring into Life” by Oliver Worth [PRS] In the tiny Arctic town of Ny-Ålesund, where polar bears outnumber people, winter means three months without sunlight. The unending darkness is ideal for those who seek a strange breed of northern lights, normally obscured by daylight. When these unusual auroras shine, Earth’s atmosphere leaks into space.NASA scientists traveled to Ny-Ålesund to launch rockets through these auroras and witness oxygen particles right in the middle of their escape. Piercing these fleeting auroras, some 300 miles high, would require strategy, patience — and a fair bit of luck. This was NASA’s VISIONS-2 mission, and this is their story.VISIONS-2 was just the first of many. Over the coming months, rocket teams from all over the world will launch rockets into this region as part of the Grand Challenge Initiative—Cusp, an international collaboration to study the mysteries of the polar atmosphere.