Two days after NASA successfully launched four rockets into the northern lights over Alaska the space agency launched a new four-stage suborbital rocket into the aurora.
On January 28th photographer Ronn Murray again braved sub-zero temperatures to film the launch and captured this gorgeous video.
The Aural Spatial Structures Probe, or ASSP, was successfully launched on a NASA Oriole IV sounding rocket at 5:41 a.m. from the Poker Flat Research Range in Alaska.
Time lapse photo of the NASA Oriole IV sounding rocket with Aural Spatial Structures Probe as an aurora dances over Alaska. All four stages of the rocket are visible in this image. Credit: NASA/Jamie Adkins
Investigator Charles Swenson at Utah State University described the mission as a “raging success.”
“This is likely the most complicated mission the sounding rocket program has ever undertaken and it was not easy by any stretch,” said John Hickman, operations manager of the NASA sounding rocket program office at the Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia. “It was technically challenging every step of the way.”
“The payload deployed all six sub-payloads in formation as planned and all appeared to function as planned. Quite an amazing feat to maneuver and align the main payload, maintain the proper attitude while deploying all six 7.3-pound sub payloads at about 40 meters per second,” said Hickman.
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