Students from eight community college and university teams will see more than
a year of effort take flight into space with the launch of Terrier-Improved
Malemute sounding rocket from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on
Aug. 19.
The projects are a mix of technology and science experiments, including the
development of a 360-degree camera for use on sounding rockets; space debris
removal concepts; a solar array deployment system for CubeSats; and collection
of particles in space for research on the origins of life.
The launch of the 44-foot tall rocket is scheduled between 5 and 8:30 p.m.
EDT. The backup launch dates are Aug. 20-21.
After flying to around 91 miles altitude, the payload with the experiments
will descend by parachute and is expected to land in the Atlantic Ocean,
about 64 miles off the Virginia coast, 15 minutes after launch. The
experiments and any stored data will be provided to the students following
sea recovery of the payload.
The NASA Visitor Center grounds at Wallops will not be open for viewing the
flight. The rocket launch is expected to be visible from the Eastern Shore
of Virginia and Maryland and southern Delaware.
Live coverage of the mission is scheduled to begin at 4:40 p.m. on the
Wallops YouTube site.
The experiments are being flown through the RockSat-X program in conjunction
with the Colorado Space Grant Consortium. RockSat-X is part of a three-tier
program that introduces secondary institution students to building
experiments for space flight and requires them to expand their skills to
develop and build more complex projects as they progress through the
programs. RockSat-X is the most advanced of NASA’s three-phase sounding
rocket program for students. The RockOn launches are at the entry level,
then progress to the intermediate level RockSat-C missions, then RockSat-X.
RockSat-X experiments are flown approximately 20 miles higher in altitude
than those in the RockOn and RockSat-C programs, providing more flight time
in space.
Giovanni Rosanova, chief of the Sounding Rockets Program Office at Wallops,
said, “The RockSat-X program provides the opportunity for students to take
what they learn in the classroom and expand science research and technology
for future spaceflight.”
A recent successful example is from the University of Kentucky. After
testing reentry capsules and thermal protection systems on previous
RockSat-X flights, the Kentucky team launched three capsules Aug. 10 on
Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket from Wallops. The capsules will be
deployed from the Cygnus cargo spacecraft in November, after departing the
International Space Station, to test thermal protection systems upon
reentry.
Participating institutions in the 2021 RockSat-X flight are the Arapahoe
Community College in Littleton, Colorado; Red Rocks Community College in
Lakewood, Colorado; College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita, California; the
University of Puerto Rico, San Juan; Virginia Tech, Blacksburg; University
of Colorado, Boulder; Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa, Idaho; Kauai
Community College in Līhuʻe, Hawaii; and Colorado School of Mines, Golden.
Additional participants from West Virginia include West Virginia University,
Morgantown; Blue Ridge Community and Technical College, Martinsburg; West
Virginia State University, Institute; and West Virginia Wesleyan College,
Buckhannon.
“This will be the tenth flight of a RockSat-X payload,” said Chris Koehler,
director of the Colorado Space Grant Consortium. “The RockOn and RockSat
programs provide the opportunity for undergraduate students to increase
their science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills through
hands-on projects. This enables these students to obtain the qualifications
needed to obtain positions in the aerospace industry, government and
academics when they graduate.”
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Space & Astrophysics