Tag: Wallops Flight Facility

NASA Wallops to Support October Sounding Rocket Launch

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1 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) This September 2024 aerial photograph shows the coastal launch range at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. Wallops is the agency’s only owned-and-operated launch range. Courtesy Patrick J. Hendrickson; used with permission NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia is scheduled to support the launch of a suborbital sounding rocket for the U.S. Department of Defense during a launch window that runs 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. EDT each day from Wednesday, Oct. 23 to Friday, Oct. 25.…

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NASA Scientific Balloon Takes Flight With Student-Built Payloads

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2 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) The HASP 1.0 (High-Altitude Student Platform) scientific balloon mission launched Sept. 4, 2024, during NASA’s fall balloon campaign in Fort Sumner, N.M. NASA/Erin Reed NASA’s Scientific Balloon Program’s fifth balloon mission of the 2024 fall campaign took flight Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024, from the agency’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. The HASP 1.0 (High-Altitude Student Platform) mission remained in flight over 11 hours before it safely touched down. Recovery is underway. HASP is a partnership…

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NASA’s EXCITE Mission Prepared for Scientific Balloon Flight

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5 min read NASA’s EXCITE Mission Prepared for Scientific Balloon Flight Scientists and engineers are ready to fly an infrared mission called EXCITE (EXoplanet Climate Infrared TElescope) to the edge of space.  EXCITE is designed to study atmospheres around exoplanets, or worlds beyond our solar system, during circumpolar long-duration scientific balloon flights. But first, it must complete a test flight during NASA’s fall 2024 scientific ballooning campaign from Fort Sumner, New Mexico.  “EXCITE can give us a three-dimensional picture of a planet’s atmosphere and temperature by collecting data the whole time the world orbits…

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A ‘FURST’ of its Kind: Sounding Rocket Mission to Study Sun as a Star

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4 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) By Jessica Barnett  From Earth, one might be tempted to view the Sun as a unique celestial object like no other, as it’s the star our home planet orbits and the one our planet relies on most for heat and light. But if you took a step back and compared the Sun to the other stars NASA has studied over the years, how would it compare? Would it still be so unique? The Full-sun Ultraviolet Rocket SpecTrograph (FURST) aims…

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NASA to Launch 8 Scientific Balloons From New Mexico

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4 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) A scientific balloon is inflated for the Salter Test Flight before being released during NASA’s 2023 fall balloon campaign. The test flight returns for the 2024 campaign in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, carrying several smaller payloads. NASA/Andrew Hynous NASA’s Scientific Balloon Program has kicked off its annual fall balloon campaign at the agency’s balloon launch facility in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. Eight balloon flights carrying scientific experiments and technology demonstrations are scheduled to launch from mid-August through mid-October. The…

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This Rocks! NASA is Sending Student Science to Space

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4 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) A Terrier Improved Malemute sounding rocket carrying RockSat-X student developed experiments being raised on the launch rail on Wallops Island NASA NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia is scheduled to launch a sounding rocket carrying student-developed experiments for the RockSat-X mission on Tuesday, Aug. 13. The Terrier-Improved Malemute rocket is expected to reach an altitude of about 100 miles (162 kilometers) before descending by parachute into the Atlantic Ocean to be recovered. The launch window for the mission is…

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NASA Returns to Arctic Studying Summer Sea Ice Melt

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5 Min Read NASA Returns to Arctic Studying Summer Sea Ice Melt NASA's Gulfstream III aircraft taxis on the runway at Pituffik Space Base as it begins one of its daily science flights for the ARCSIX mission. Credits: NASA/Gary Banziger What happens in the Arctic doesn’t stay in the Arctic, and a new NASA mission is helping improve data modeling and increasing our understanding of Earth’s rapidly changing climate. Changing ice, ocean, and atmospheric conditions in the northernmost part of Earth have a large impact on the entire planet. That’s…

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NASA-Led Mission to Map Air Pollution Over Both U.S. Coasts

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2 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) This summer between June 17 and July 2, NASA will fly aircraft over Baltimore, Philadelphia, parts of Virginia, and California to collect data on air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions.   The campaign supports the NASA Student Airborne Research Program for undergraduate interns. Two NASA aircraft, including the P-3 shown here, will be flying over Baltimore, Philadelphia, Virginia and California between June 17 and July 2, to collect data on air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions. Credit: (NASA/ Zavaleta)…

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NASA Goddard, Maryland Sign Memo to Boost State’s Aerospace Sector

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2 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) To foster growth in Maryland’s aerospace industry, the state’s Department of Commerce signed a Memorandum of Understanding with NASA at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt Wednesday, May 28, 2024. Center Director Dr. Makenzie Lystrup, Secretary of the Maryland Department of Commerce Kevin Anderson signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Maryland’s Department of Commerce at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt Wednesday, May 28, 2024. NASA/Brian Gabourel The agreement commits the two organizations to develop the…

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