Sounding Rocket launch at Wallops Thursday successful

NASA Wallops launched another successful RockSat-X sounding rocket Thursday afternoon.  The Terrier-Malamute rocket  went off without a hitch at 5 p.m. and was visible for most of the Eastern Shore of Virginia and Maryland.

The payload splashed down approximately 15 minutes after launch and was picked up in the Atlantic Ocean.

The experiments are being flown through the RockSat-X program in conjunction with the Colorado Space Grant Consortium. RockSat-X is part of a three-tier program that introduces secondary institution students to building experiments for space flight and requires them to expand their skills to develop and build more complex projects as they progress through the programs. RockSat-X is the most advanced of NASA’s three-phase sounding rocket program for students. The RockOn launches are at the entry level, then progress to the intermediate level RockSat-C missions, then RockSat-X. RockSat-X experiments are flown approximately 20 miles higher in altitude than those in the RockOn and RockSat-C programs, providing more flight time in space.

Participating institutions in the 2021 RockSat-X flight are the Arapahoe Community College in Littleton, Colorado; Red Rocks Community College in Lakewood, Colorado; College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita, California; the University of Puerto Rico, San Juan; Virginia Tech, Blacksburg; University of Colorado, Boulder; Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa, Idaho; Kauai Community College in Līhuʻe, Hawaii; and Colorado School of Mines, Golden.

Additional participants from West Virginia include West Virginia University, Morgantown; Blue Ridge Community and Technical College, Martinsburg; West Virginia State University, Institute; and West Virginia Wesleyan College, Buckhannon.

“This was the tenth flight of a RockSat-X payload,” said Chris Koehler, director of the Colorado Space Grant Consortium. “The RockOn and RockSat programs provide the opportunity for undergraduate students to increase their science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills through hands-on projects. This enables these students to obtain the qualifications needed to obtain positions in the aerospace industry, government and academics when they graduate.”

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