A total of eight National Aeronautics and Space Administration sounding rockets will launch from Poker Flat Research Range in 2009. The rocket season is split into two launch windows. The first launch window opens Jan. 10, and will remain open until Feb. 5, 2009.
The first window will see the launch of three rockets as part of two separate missions. One mission will aid scientists' study of the ionosphere, while the other will gather data on the structure of auroral arcs.
The Alaska Space Grant Program and the Arctic Amateur Radio Club formed the Balloon Experiment And Research Program—or B.E.A.R. for short—in December 2007. The program's aim was to launch a high altitude balloon equipped with two amateur radio signals and more from Poker Flat Research Range in the spring of 2008. On May 10, BEAR participants met to inflate and launch their first balloon. It flew as high as 95,327 feet above Fairbanks in three hours, capturing more than 100 photos and video during its flight.
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