A rocket experiment that may shed light on the highest clouds in the Earth’s atmosphere will be conducted Sept. 15 from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.Black Brant Sounding Rocket The Charged Aerosol Release Experiment (CARE) will be conducted by the Naval Research Laboratory and the Department of Defense Space Test Program using a NASA four-stage Black Brant XII suborbital sounding rocket. Using ground based instruments and the STP/NRL STPSat-1 spacecraft, scientists will study an artificial noctilucent cloud formed by the exhaust particles of the rocket’s fourth stage at about 173 miles altitude.The launch is scheduled between 7:30 and 7:57 p.m. EDT. The backup launch days are Sept. 16 through 20. The rocket flight and the resulting cloud may be seen throughout the mid-Atlantic region. The artificial noctilucent cloud also may be visible the following morning just before sunrise.
Scrubbed.48 hour turnaround due to bad weather tomorrow. May do some more tests on the rocket, or launch test rockets later today.
Viewing of this sounding rocket launch will be widespread due to the required clear weather and the proximity to major population centers. I would not be surprised to see mainstream media coverage -- the CARE plume may very well be quite photogenic.
My wife and I, some time around 1AM, got dressed and headed out the door. I stepped out onto the sidewalk and I was spooked for a moment by what I thought was someone shining a flashlights. The lights seemed to be swirling around me through the tree branches. My wife and I looked up to see a spectacular ball of light streaming exactly north through the sky.