18 March, 2002

Lunch Launch

I headed out to Poker Flat Research Range (PFRR) today with Dr. Martin Jeffries, TEA Shannon Graham, and Interpreter Lynette Reep. It was my first visit since last March and it was a pleasure to arrive back at the lake study sites on such a calm, clear, mild day. Although the morning temperatures were well below zero, we were peeling off layers by 11 AM. We worked quickly (despite the great weather) because a rocket launch had been scheduled for late morning!

PFRR http://www.pfrr.Alaska.edu happens to be the only rocket-launching facility in the world that is owned by a university. The facility is currently under contract to NASA for the launching of sounding rockets - those that collect some sort of data. Today’s launch was the result of a partnership between U.S. and Japanese engineering students. The rocket was small in comparison to those posted on the records list at PFFR. According to that, the largest rocket ever launched there weighed an amazing 11 tons. The greatest apogee (altitude) reached by a rocket at PFRR was over 1,000 miles.

We were quite lucky (and pleased) to be present at today’s launch. There are no public viewing areas on the grounds and most launches have huge windows of time (3 weeks to several months) during which the rocket may actually go up. This was, in fact, the first rocket launch that Martin had ever had the opportunity to witness!

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Martin, Shannon, and Lynette head out to the ice. As mild as it seems, the heat is still flowing out of the lakes. That means that the ice is still growing! _________________________________________________________________ Join the world’s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com

Bright sunshine and big shadows! We are close to the first day of spring and the Fairbanks skies are staying bright until about 7:30 PM. _________________________________________________________________ Join the world’s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com

The last evidence of today's magnificent after lunch rocket launch. _________________________________________________________________ Join the world’s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com