Black Brant IX Sounding Rocket -- University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks AK
N 64° 51.526 W 147° 50.931
6W E 459760 N 7192984
A Black Brant IX sounding rocket on display in front of the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks
Waymark Code: WM16WXT
Location: Alaska, United States
Date Posted: 10/20/2022
Views: 5
This Black Brant IX sounding rocket is located on the campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks in a small park near the Geophysical Institute with explanatory signage on the "science side" of the University.
There are four signs around the rocket display here. The signs read as follows:
"WHAT IS THIS ROCKET?
Behind you is a Black Brandt IX sounding rocket. Hundreds of similar rockets have been launched by NASA from the UAF Geophysical Institute’s Poker Flat Research Range to study the Aurora and near-Earth space. The 50-foot-long (15 meter), two-stage rocket can lift a 500 pound (227 kilogram) payload to a height of 250 miles (400 kilometers).
Sounding rockets go up and come back down in a parabolic trajectory and can fly more than 932 miles (1,500 kilometers) into space. The payload (the part at the top of the rocket containing the scientific instruments) gathers data as it reaches its target altitude. Both the payload and the rocket motors re-enter the atmosphere and land downrange from Poker Flat, where they are recovered.
Three to six weeks before launch, the team of NASA and university scientists, engineers and technicians comes to Fairbanks and works with the Poker Flat team to prepare their experiments for launch. Many of the teams at Poker Flat Research Range are here to study the aurora borealis, so they may wait for days or weeks until conditions are ideal for the particular mission.
Scientists from the Geophysical Institute also operate a variety of ground-based observing instruments at Poker Flat and three other downrange observatories to track the rockets and collect the resulting data for future analysis.
[drawing]
Various kinds of sounding rockets used by NASA, including the Black Brandt IX. Illustration courtesy NASA
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks"
"THE ONLY UNIVERSITY OWNED ROCKET RANGE IN THE WORLD
UAF’s Poker Flat Research Range, 30 miles (48 kilometers) northeast of Fairbanks, is owned and operated by the UAF Geophysical Institute. It launches rockets under contract to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Poker Flat is the world’s only university-owned scientific rocket launch facility. It is also one of the world’s largest land-based rocket ranges.
As of 2015, Poker Flat had launched more than 340 large rockets and 1,500 meteorological rockets since it was established in 1969. The largest vehicle launched from Poker Flat so far was 85 feet long (25.9 meters ). It flew to an altitude of 932 miles (1.500 kilometers) before coming down in the Arctic Ocean.
Poker Flat began operations in 1969 on a shoestring budget on land leased from the state of Alaska. Since then facilities have gradually been upgraded in response to requirements of increasingly sophisticated experiments. The range now incorporates rocket assembly and launching capabilities, telemetry receiving stations, and ground-based instruments needed for launch decisions and space, aeronomy and atmospheric science.
[photo] Right: a composite exposure of four rockets launched within 30 minutes on January 26, 2015. The white smears to the right are trimethyl aluminum released to track mesopheric turbulence. Photo by Jamie Adkins, NASA.
Located 35 miles northeast of Fairbanks on the Steese Hwy in Chatanika Alaska, the 5,000 acre Poker Flat Research Rocket Range is an ideal location to launch sounding rockets to study the aurora.
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks"
"WHAT IS THE AURORA?
The blazing ball that is our son blasts a constant stream of ionized gases into space. This solar wind flows around Earth’s magnetic field like a stream rushes around a boulder. Scientists call the region within the Winsock shape flow around the planet the magnetosphere.
The aurora is a luminous glow caused when energetic electrons and protons from the sun, guided into the upper atmosphere by Earth’s magnetic field, collide with atoms and molecules of oxygen and nitrogen. Visible auroras extend about 50 to 200 miles (80 to 300 km) above the Earth.
Unlike sunlight, the aurora is a mixture of very distinct colors based on the composition and density of the atmosphere at the altitude of the collisions. The most common overall impression is a greenish glow caused by collisions with oxygen atoms. The red aurora, also created by atomic oxygen, tends to be at higher altitudes than the common green Aurora. Very intense aurora has a purple room on the bottom, which is a mixture of blue and red light from collisions with nitrogen.
[photo] Left: An aurora over Fairbanks Alaska. Photo by Jason Ahrms
[illustration] Right: the sun’s energy affects the Earth’s magnetic fields and generates aurora at the north and south poles. Illustration by Hannah Foss (not to scale)
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks"
"WHAT GOES UP MUST COME DOWN!
UAF’s Poker Flat Research Range has participated in a NASA program since 1969 that uses sounding rockets to collect information about the Sun, stars, galaxies and Earth’s atmosphere and ionosphere. Sounding rockets are also used to develop and test satellite and spacecraft instruments before they are flown on larger, more complex satellites. Sounding rockets take their name from the nautical term “to sound,” which means to take measurements.
During the roughly 8 to 20 minutes the rockets are in flight, researchers collect scientific data and conduct experiments using state-of-the-art instruments. After the solid rocket motor burns all its fuel, it separates from the payload which then begins to collect data for the experimenters. Both the payload and rocket motors fall back to Earth.
On many missions, after the payload has reentered the atmosphere, it is brought gently back to earth by a parachute and then retrieved. A recovered payload can be refurbished and flown again, which results in tremendous savings and both time and money. To help maintain the pristine environment of Alaska, UAF and NASA work hard to recover all hardware through an active search and recovery program.
[photo] Right Top: the NASA, Poker Flat and science teams work to prepare the mission in heated buildings. When the rocket is ready, the building is pulled back and the rocket is pointed north. PFRR has five launchers and has launched as many as five rockets within five minutes. Photo courtesy of NASA.
[illustration] Right Bottom: the flight of a sounding rocket is suborbital; it looks like a massive U-turn from earth to space and back. Illustration courtesy of NASA.
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration contracts with the UAF Geophysical Institute’s Poker Flat Research Range to launch sounding rockets.
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks"
Type of Aircraft: (make/model): Black Brant IX sounding rocket
Tail Number: (S/N): N/A
Construction:: original aircraft
Location (park, airport, museum, etc.): Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks
inside / outside: outside
Other Information::
There are four plaques arranged in a circle around the sounding rocket. The text of those plaques is been reproduced in the way marked above
Access restrictions:
None
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Visit Instructions:
Photo of aircraft (required - will be interesting to see if the aircraft is ever repainted or progress if being restored)
Photo of serial number (required unless there is not one or it is a replica)
Photo(s) of any artwork on the aircraft (optional but interesting)
Tell why you are visiting this waymark along with any other interesting facts or personal experiences about the aircraft not already mentioned.