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Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia is scheduled to launch a sounding rocket carrying student-developed experiments for the agency’s RockSatX and RockOn programs Wednesday, June 24, between 5:30 and 9:30 a.m. EDT, with a backup day on Thursday, June 25.
The RockSat and RockOn programs provide technical training and hands-on experiences that prepare and equip students to enter the United States aerospace industry. For the first time, NASA will combine both the RockSat and RockOn missions into one rocket, which will carry experiments developed by nearly 250 participants from 38 university and community college teams.
“The challenge was finding ways to fit as many experiments onto one sounding rocket as we could,” said Victoria Stoffel, workforce development lead at NASA Wallops. “The Sounding Rocket Program Office team found creative ways to fit nearly 50 experiments into one rocket. We are grateful to the Wallops teams for making this happen for the students to get the most from this experience.”
The RockOn teams work together to build their experiment onsite, getting hands-on experience putting together a circuit board from scratch and launching it into space. The more advanced RockSat program teams design and build their experiments, going through design reviews modeled on larger NASA missions. Each team can experience what it’s like working on a real NASA mission, from development to launch.
The RockSat student experiments range from taking measurements of weather and radiation in Earth’s upper atmosphere to testing technologies, such as heat shields, space-debris tracking, and robotic servicing, that could help future NASA missions.
The Terrier-Improved Malemute suborbital sounding rocket, which will carry the experiments, is expected to reach an altitude of about 100 miles before descending by parachute into the Atlantic Ocean to be recovered. The launch may be visible in the Chesapeake Bay region.
The Wallops Visitor Center’s launch viewing area will open June 24 at 4:30 a.m. for viewing. A livestream will begin approximately 10 minutes before launch on the Wallops YouTube channel. Launch updates also are available via the center’s Facebook page.
For more information about NASA’s Sounding Rocket Program, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/soundingrockets
By Jamie Adkins
NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia
List of RockSat Teams
- Capital Tech University, Maryland
- Clemson University, South Carolina
- College of the Canyons, California
- Colorado Space Grant Consortium
- University of Colorado Boulder
- Escuela de Troquelería y Herramentaje, Puerto Rico
- New Jersey Institute of Technology
- Northwest Nazarene University, Idaho
- Rockets of the Rockies, Colorado
- Red Rocks Community College
- Arapahoe Community College
- Temple University, Pennsylvania
- Tidewater Community College, Virginia
- University of Alabama Huntsville
- University of Delaware
- University of Hartford, Connecticut
- University of Hawaii Community Colleges
- University of Kentucky
- University of Nebraska Lincoln
- University of Puerto Rico
- University of Virginia
- Virginia Tech
- West Virginia Space Flight Design Challenge
- Blue Ridge Community College
- West Virginia Wesleyan College
- West Virginia University
- West Virginia State University
- Marshall University
List of RockOn Teams
- University of Delaware
- Wilmington University, Delaware
- Chief Dull Knife College, Montana
- Grambling State University, Louisiana
- College of the Canyons, California
- Eastern Shore Community College, Virginia
- Salisbury University, Maryland
- Capitol Technology University, Maryland
- College of the Desert, California
- Flathead Valley Community College, Montana
- Delgado Community College, Louisiana
- Des Moines Area Community College, Iowa
- Langston University, Oklahoma
- University of Kentucky
- Saginaw Valley State University, Michigan
- Morgan State University, Maryland
- Pennsylvania State Harrisburg
- Middlesex College, New Jersey
- University of Colorado
- Wor-Wic Community College, Maryland
- Tidewater Community College, Virginia
- Montana Technological University
- University of Hartford, Connecticut
- University of Maryland Eastern Shore
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