NASA Sounding Rocket Program


The NASA Sounding Rocket Program is a NASA run program of sounding rockets which has been operating since 1959. The missions carried out by this program are primarily used for scientific research, particularly low gravity and material based research. NASA's sounding rocket program is commonly used by colleges and universities for upper atmosphere research.

Program

In 1965, NASA's cost of a sounding rocket system was $5,000 to $150,000, using combinations of stage motors from the Aerobee, Hercules M5E1, and Thiokol Apache.
The program was consolidated at the Wallops Flight Facility in the 1980s and uses surplus military solid rocket motors. Rockets are frequently launched from fixed facilities at Wallops, the Navy's White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, the Poker Flat Research Range in Alaska, Kwajalein, Marshall Islands, Pacific Missile Range Facility in Barking Sands, Hawaii, and Andøya Rocket Range, Norway. The rockets are categorized as "Significant Military Equipment" for ITAR.

Propulsion

Rockets in use include single-stage or combinations of:
Some combinations of stages allow payloads of up to 1550 pounds.

Launches

PolarNOx

The PolarNOx mission was a set of experimental launches used to measure the nitric oxide present in the upper atmosphere that is produced by auroras.

DEUCE

The DEUCE mission was planned to obtain scientific data about the IGM. This failed however due to problems with the attitude control system.

ASPIRE

The ASPIRE mission was an experiment which tested a Mars mission parachute design. The mission consisted of three tests using the Black Brant IX sounding rocket, with the third and final test taking place on Sept. 7, 2018.

AZURE

The Auroral Zone Upwelling Rocket Experiment in April 2019 caught many Norwegians by surprise by triggering an unusual form of the Aurora Borealis.