Launches were coordinated with data from the Arecibo telescope facility. The last time sounding rockets were launched from Puerto Rico was the El Coqui campaign in 1992. NASA's Wallops Flight Facility is home of the sounding rockets program and includes a launch range on Wallops Island. White Sands Missile Range, NM is used for many sounding rocket missions carrying astrophysics and solar physics experiments and instruments. Sounding rockets have been launched from two sites in Greenland - Sondre Stromfjord, now Kangurusulak and Thule.įort Churchill was used 1950's through 1970's to launch sounding rockets. Missions studying the Aurora Borealis and other Sun-Earth connection phenomena are launched from Poker. Poker Flat Research Range is located close to Fairbanks, Alaska. Purple dots indicate inactive sites and green dots indicate active sites. Click on popup to visit the launch facility's home page or, in case of inactive or temporary launch site, other sources for more information. Mouse over the map to get more information. Sounding rockets are launched world wide from both permanent and temporary launch ranges. Sounding rockets offer calibration and validation flights for many space missions, particularly solar observatories such as NASA’s latest probe, the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), RHESSI, Hinode and SOHO. An important aspect of most satellite missions is calibration of the space-based sensors. Telescopes and spectrometers to study solar and astrophysics are flown on sounding rockets to collect unique science data and to test prototype instruments for future satellite missions. The mobile nature of the program enables researchers to conduct missions from strategic vantage points worldwide. Unlike instruments on board most orbital spacecraft or in ground-based observatories, sounding rockets can place instruments directly into regions where and when the science is occurring to enable direct, in-situ measurements. With the capability to fly higher than many low- Earth orbiting satellites and the ability to launch on demand, sounding rockets offer, in many instances, the only means to study specific scientific phenomena of interest to many researchers. The cost structure and risk posture under which the program is managed stimulates innovation and technology maturation and enables rapid response to scientific events. Coupled with a hands-on approach to instrument design, integration and flight, the short mission life-cycle helps ensure that the next generation of space scientists receive the training and experience necessary to move on to NASA’s larger, more complex space science missions. The mobile capability offered by the Wallops Test Range allows scientists to conduct their science "where it occurs". Mobile "campaigns" have been conducted from Australia, Puerto Rico, Brazil, and the Kwajalein Atoll. Launch operations are also conducted from mobile sites set up by the Wallops Test Range. 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). The approximately 20 suborbital missions flown annually by the program provide researchers with unparalleled opportunities to build, test, and fly new instrument and sensor design concepts while simultaneously conducting worldclass scientific research. The Sounding Rockets Program supports the NASA Science Mission Directorate’s strategic vision and goals for Earth Science, Heliophysics and Astrophysics. SRPO works closely with the Sounding Rocket User Community to provide launch opportunities facilitating a broad spectrum of science applications. The Sounding Rockets Program Office (SRPO), located at 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.
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