Code 810: Sounding Rockets Program Office
Code 810: Sounding Rockets Program Office
The Sounding
Rockets Program Office (SRPO), located NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Wallops
Flight Facility, provides suborbital launch vehicles, payload development,
and field operations support to NASA and other government agencies. SRPO
works closely with the Sounding
Rocket User Community to provide launch opportunities facilitating
a broad spectrum of science apprlications.
In support of science, SRPO conducts approximately 20 flights annually from launch sites around the world. Operations are conducted from fixed launch sites such as Wallops Test Range (Virginia), Poker Flat Research Range (Alaska), and White Sands Missile Range (New Mexico) as well as sites such as Andoya Rocket Range (Norway) and Esrange (Sweden).
Launch operations are also conducted from mobile sites set up by the Wallops Test Range. Mobile "campaigns" have been conducted from Australia, Puerto Rico, Brazil, and the Kwajalein Atoll. The mobile capability offered by the Wallops Test Range allows scientists to conduct their science "where it occurs".
NEW! Download Sounding Rockets 2008 Annual Report (10 MB PDF)
Download Sounding Rockets brochure
NEW! NASA Sounding Rocket Program Handbook.
NEW! Web Photo Albums.
NEW! Sounding Rocket video (6MB WMV)
NEW! Mission
Planning Lab simulations available online. (Opens in new window.)
Quarterly Newsletter now available for download:
First Quarter 2009 (1.1 MB)
Second Quarter 2009 (1.8 MB)
Third Quarter 2009 (3.7 MB)
2008 Rocket Report Newsletters
2007 Rocket Report Newsletters
If you wish to receive the Rocket Report Newsletter by email, please
send request to
Berit Bland (Berit.H.Bland@nasa.gov).
Department News & Events
36.252 UH CASH/UNVIERSITY OF COLORADO 11-13-09
A Black Brant IX sounding rocket was launched from White Sands Missile Range, NM, on November 13, 2009. The scientific goal of this mission is to obtain x-ray spectral diagnostics of a nearby extended supernova remnant, the Cygnus Loop. Read More...
39.009 DR BERNHARDT/NAVAL RESEARCH LABORATORY 9-19-09
A Black Brant XI sounding rocket was launched from NASA Wallops Flight Facility, VA on September 19, 2009. The Charged Dust Release Experiment (CARE) forms a dust cloud in space to simulate a noctilucent cloud with a Nihka motor igniting on the downleg of a BB XI trajectory (the Nihka motor is used as an experiment and not for propulsion of the vehicle) and includes an experiment beacon
operating at two frequencies. The cloud will be observed from multiple ground sites and a satellite. Read More...
36.221 DS MOSES/NAVAL RESEARCH LABORATORY 9-14-09
36.221 DS Terrier-Black Brant was launched from White Sands Missile Range, NM on September 14, 2009.The purpose of this mission is to combine, extend and refine the capabilities of the SOHO EIT, LASCO and UVCS instruments.Read More...
36.254 NR CHEATWOOD/NASA LANGLEY RESEARCH CENTER 8-17-09
36.254 NR Terrier-Black Brant was launched from NASA Wallops Flight Facility on August 17, 2009. The purpose of this mission is to execute a flight test of an inflatable body that demonstrates inflation and survivability ata relevant dynamic pressure. Read
More...
36.244 UG GREEN/UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO 6-27-09
36.244 UGTerrier-Black Brant was launched from White Sands Missile Range, NM on June 27, 2009.The purpose of this mission is to study the interstellar medium. Read More...
41.083 UO KOEHLER/UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO BOULDER 6-26-09
41.083 UO Terrier-Improved Orion was launched from NASA Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, VA on June 26, 2009.The purpose of this mission is to provide university undergraduate level students and instructors with a hands-on space flight opportunity. Read More...
41.080 NR MURBACH/NASA-AMES 5-28-09
41.080 NR Terrier-Improved Orion was launched from NASA Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, VA on May 28, 2009. The purpose of this mission is to study the Ames Research Center deployable SCRAMP design and investigate super/hypersonic decelerator concepts. The mission also tests Systima Technologies' restraint and dispense system. Read
More...
40.023 UE LYNCH/DARTMOUTH COLLEGE 3-20-09
40.023 UE Black Brant XII was launched from Poker Flat, AK on March 20, 2009. The purpose of this mission is to investigate motions and structure of electron precipitation in a pre-midnight poleward edge discrete aurora. Read More...
36.226 UG BOCK/CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 2-25-09
36.226 UG Terrier-Black Brant was launched from White Sands Missile Range, NM on February 25, 2009. The purpose of this mission is to investigate the spectral and spatial properties of the extra-galactic near-infrared background by observing seven science targets. Read More...
41.077 UE LEHMACHER/CLEMSON UNIVERSITY 2-18-09
41.077 UE Terrier-Improve Orions was launched from Poker Flat, Alaska on February 18, 2009. The purpose of this mission is to determine the uppermost levels of neutral air turbulence in the Earth's atmosphere. Read More...
41.079 UE LEHMACHER/CLEMSON UNIVERSITY 2-18-09
41.079 UE Terrier-Improve Orions was launched from Poker Flat, Alaska on February 18, 2009. The purpose of this mission is to determine the uppermost levels of neutral air turbulence in the Earth's atmosphere. Read More...
41.078 UE LEHMACHER/CLEMSON UNIVERSITY 2-18-09
41.078UE Terrier-Improve Orions was launched from Poker Flat, Alaska on February 18, 2009. The purpose of this mission is to determine the uppermost levels of neutral air turbulence in the Earth's atmosphere. Read More...
41.076 UE LEHMACHER/CLEMSON UNIVERSITY 2-18-09
41.076 UE Terrier-Improve Orions was launched from Poker Flat, Alaska on February 18, 2009. The purpose of this mission is to determine the uppermost levels of neutral air turbulence in the Earth's atmosphere. Read More...
21.139 UE BOUNDS/UNIVERSITY OF IOWA 1-29-09
21.139 UE Black Brant V was launched from Poker Flat, Alaska on January 29, 2009. The purpose of this mission is to study electric fields and current structure within an aurora. Read More...
36.242 UE BOUNDS/UNIVERSITY OF IOWA 1-29-09
36.242 UE Terrier-Black Brant was launched from Poker Flat, Alaska on January 29, 2009. The purpose of this mission is to study electric fields and current structure within an aurora. Read More...
30.073 UO THORSEN/UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA 1-10-09
30.073 UO Improved Orion was launched from Poker Flat, Alaska on January 10, 2009. The purpose of this student mission is to measure plasma and geomagnetic structure of the high latitude D-region. Read More...
36.207 DG KOWALSKI/NAVAL RESEARCH LABORATORY 10-20-08
36.207 DG Black Brant IX was launched from White Sands Missile Range,
NM on October 20, 2008. The purpose of this mission is to observe white dwarf Feige 24 with a high resolution extreme ultraviolet spectrometer. Read
More...
41.075 GT SMITH/NASA WALLOPS FLIGHT FACILITY 7-14-08
41.075 GT Terrier Mk70 Improved-Orion was launched from Wallops Island,
VA on July 14, 2008. The Sub-TEC II (Suborbital Technology Experiment
Carrier) technology demonstration mission included the NASA/Wallops Beamformer
system, KSC Command and Telemetry Processor and Rf Health Node, and multiple
NSROC (NASA Sounding Rockets Operations Contract) systems. Read
More...
30.074
NO EBERSPEAKER/NASA WALLOPS FLIGHT FACILITY 6-27-08
30.074 NO Orion was launched from Wallops Island, VA on June 27, 2008. The purpose of the mission is to conduct a pilot mission for the RockOn Space Flight Workshop concept. Read More...
39.008 DR LECLAIR/MISSILE DEFENSE AGENCY 6-26-08
39.008 DR Black Brant XI was launched from Wallops Island, VA on June 26, 2008. The purpose of the mission is to enable new sensor technology and improve mission assurance of sensor flight experiments.
36.223 UH MCCAMMON/UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN 5-1-08
36.223 UH Black Brant IX was launched from White Sands Missile Range, NM on May 1, 2008. The purpose of the mission is to measure the spectrum of the diffuse x-ray emission from the interstellar medium over the energy range 0.07 to 1keV. Read More...
36.240 UE WOODS/UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO 4-14-08
36.240 UE Black Brant IX was launched from White Sands Missile Range, NM on April 14, 2008. The purpose of the mission is to provide under-flight calibration of the Solar EUV Experiment (SEE) aboard the Thermospheric Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) Satellite. Read More...
36.226
BOCK INTEGRATION AT WALLOPS 3-27-2008
A new telescope, Cosmic Infrared Background Experiment (CIBER) from Caltech has been prepared for its maiden flight scheduled for June 2008 from White Sands Missile Range. Read More...
40.021 UE KINTNER/CORNELL UNIVERSITY 1-18-08
40.021 UE Black Brant XII was launched from Andoya Rocket Range in Norway on January 18, 2008. The purpose of the mission is to investigate ionospheric outflows between 200 km and 1400 km in the polar cusp. Read More...
36.243 UG McCANDLISS/JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY 1-11-08
36.243 UG Terrier-Black Brant was launched from White Sands Missile Range, NM on January 11, 2008. The purpose of the mission is to image long split spectra of the Orion Nebula. Read More...
NEWS ARCHIVE . . . Read More
SOUNDING ROCKETS IN THE MEDIA
Links to news media articles about Sounding Rockets ... More
Code 810
- NASA Official: Phil Eberspeaker
- Curator: Berit Bland
- Web Support: Brandon Wright
- Last Updated: November 16, 2009