NASA Rocket Mission Carrying University Student Experiments

Aug. 17, 2012

Ann Marie Trotta
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1601
ann.marie.trotta@nasa.gov

Keith Koehler
Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Va.
757-824-1579
keith.a.koehler@nasa.gov

RELEASE: 12-286

NASA ROCKET MISSION CARRYING UNIVERSITY STUDENT EXPERIMENTS

WALLOPS ISLAND, Va. -- University students will put their academic
skills to the test when atmospheric and technology experiments they
developed fly on a NASA suborbital sounding rocket. The launch will
take place between 6:30 and 10 a.m., Thursday, Aug. 23, from the
agency's Wallops Flight Facility at Wallops Island, Va.

Four university experiments will be flown as part of an educational
project called RockSat-X, which is designed to provide students
hands-on experience in designing, fabricating, testing and conducting
experiments for space flight. The project is a joint effort between
NASA and the Colorado Space Grant Consortium at the University of
Colorado at Boulder.

The selected experiments for this year's RockSat launch are from
Baylor University in Waco, Texas; University of Colorado at Boulder;
the University of Puerto Rico; and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and
State University (Virginia Tech) in Blacksburg, Va.

"RockSat-X is part of a series of student flight programs designed to
enhance students' skills and prepare them for careers at NASA and in
the aerospace industry," said Chris Koehler, director of the Colorado
Space Grant Consortium.

The program begins with a hands-on workshop called RockOn and then
proceeds to the RockSat-C and RockSat-X programs. At each level, the
experiments become more complex, which provides students an
opportunity to gain a greater understanding of the requirements for
developing space-based experiments.

The experiments will fly on a two-stage Terrier-Improved Malemute
rocket to a projected altitude of 98 miles. After the 15-minute
flight, the payload carrying the experiments will splash down via
parachute in the Atlantic Ocean approximately 66 miles off the coast
of Virginia. The 875-pound payload will be recovered for re-use and
experiment analysis.

The University of Puerto Rico will use a mass spectrometer to conduct
an analysis of atmospheric particles and pressure. Virginia Tech and
Baylor universities have teamed up to measure nitric oxide and
atmospheric dust. The University of Colorado will be testing a device
to assist in de-orbiting small spacecraft and the Colorado Space
Grant Consortium will fly seven cameras to capture all the action in
high-definition, which will be made available to the public shortly
after recovery.

The RockSat-X concept provides students with a payload structure with
pre-defined mechanical, power and data interfaces and volume and mass
limits. This is the second RockSat-X mission, with the first having
been flown July 11, 2011.

The project will be the ninth suborbital rocket mission this year from
NASA's launch facility on Wallops Island and the first of four
launches scheduled through mid-September.

RockSat-X program information is available at:

http://spacegrant.colorado.edu/rockon/

The launch will be available live on Ustream at:

http://www.ustream.com/channel/nasa-wallops

For more about NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/wallops


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