Суборбитальные пуски (научные и экспериментальные)

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Armadillo STIG-A Launch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aw11NFz14sA&feature=player_embedded

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НАСА в марте запустит пять ракет сразу для зондирования атмосферы

МОСКВА, 5 мар - РИА Новости. НАСА планирует во второй половине марта устроить на восточном побережье США настоящий "ракетный фейерверк" - одновременный запуск пяти геофизических ракет, с помощью которых ученые намерены изучить высокоскоростные потоки воздуха в верхних слоях атмосферы, говорится в сообщении на сайте аэрокосмического агентства.

Запуски в рамках проекта ATREX (Anomalous Transport Rocket Experiment) планируется провести в интервале с 14 марта по 4 апреля с испытательного центра на острове Уоллопс (штат Виргиния).

Ученые намерены запустить пять геофизических ракет типа Terrier трех разных модификаций, оснащенных специальными устройствами для создания хорошо заметных белых дымовых "хвостов". Движение дымовых следов в атмосфере позволят ученым следить за движениями воздуха на большой высоте. Две из пяти ракет, кроме того, несут приборы для измерения температуры и давления.

Высотными струйными течениями называют извивающиеся потоки очень сильных ветров на большой высоте. Существуют несколько типов струйных течений, которые располагаются на разных высотах. Так, течения на высоте от семи до 16 километров могут использовать летчики, чтобы сэкономить топливо.

Ракеты будут зондировать течения, находящиеся на самой границе космоса - на высоте около 95 километров. Скорость их достигает 300 - 480 километров в час, существенное влияние на них оказывают электрические токи в ионосфере.

http://ria.ru/science/20120305/585467892.html

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/missions/atrex.html

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NASA Rocket Launch Scheduled March 15, 2012

03.12.12 - As part of a study of the upper level jet stream, Wallops is scheduled to launch five suborbital sounding rockets in just over five minutes on March 15.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/missions/atrex.html

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http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/627787main_ChemRelMax20120301-orig.jpg

In order for the launches to occur, clear skies are required at three special camera sites located along the mid-Atlantic coast in Virginia, North Carolina and New Jersey.

The visible tracers may be observed for up to 20 minutes by residents in the mid-Atlantic region, and along the east coast of the United States from parts of New Jersey to South Carolina.

Launch Viewing at Wallops
The launch window each night will vary but will open no earlier than 11 p.m. EST and close no later than 6:30 a.m. The NASA Visitor Center at Wallops will be open at least one hour before the opening of the daily launch window for viewing the mission by the public. Call 757-824-2298 to confirm opening time.

An updated launch schedule is expected March 12.

Web Cast
The ATREX mission will be web cast beginning 2 hours before the opening of the launch window. Visit http://sites.wff.nasa.gov/webcast .

Mariners/Boaters
Information for mariners on areas to avoid on the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Wallops Island during launch operations. Visit: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/wallops/home/marine.html .

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/missions/atrex-launch.html

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27.03.2012 / 00:05   Пуск геофизической ракеты в Швеции

19 марта 2012 года в 14:05 UTC (18:05 мск) с ракетного полигона в Кируне (Швеция) специалистами Швдской космической корпорации совместно со специалистами Европейского космического агентства был осуществлен пуск геофизической ракеты Imp. Orion с полезной нагрузкой REXUS-12. В ходе полета проводились исследования и эксперименты в условиях микрогравитации. Максимальная высота подъема ракеты составила 82 км.

     - К.И.

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Тема про ATREX: http://www.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=12771&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15

[Salo]

Пять ракет НАСА для изучения "космического ветра" успешно стартовали

МОСКВА, 27 мар - РИА Новости. Пять геофизических ракет НАСА, предназначенные для исследования высокоскоростных потоков воздуха на высоте 100 километров - на самой границе космоса, были успешно запущены с площадки испытательного центра НАСА на острове Уоллопс (штат Виргиния), сообщает американское аэрокосмическое агентство.

В рамках проекта ATREX (Anomalous Transport Rocket Experiment) использовали пять геофизических ракет типа Terrier трех разных модификаций с интервалами в 80 секунд.

На высоте около 80 километров они начнут высвобождать специальный реагент - триметилалюминий, который светится, вступая в реакцию с кислородом. Продукты реакции - оксид алюминия, углекислый газ и водяной пар - безвредны.

Наблюдения за яркими следами ракет позволят ученым понять, как двигаются воздушные потоки на больших высотах. За "хвостами" будут наблюдать камеры, установленные в Северной Каролине и Нью-Джерси.

http://ria.ru/science/20120327/607222577.html

Next Launch  @nextlaunch
If you missed it: Launch of ATREX mission: #ATREX #wallops
27 марта 12 в 13:02

"SUBORBITAL: March 27, 0858 UTC / 4:58am EDT - ATREX. 5 sub-orbital rockets in 80sec intervals".
Видео 22:24

Фото
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=o.191575794205863&type=3

...........

[Salo]

http://www.parabolicarc.com/2012/04/01/spaceloft-xl-to-launch-ors-payloads-from-spaceport-america/

SpaceLoft XL to Launch ORS Payloads from Spaceport America[/size]
Posted by Doug Messier
on April 1, 2012, at 6:15 am


by Michael P. Kleiman
377th Air Base Wing Public Affairs

KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. — The SpaceLoft-6 sounding rocket will launch April 5, 2012, at Spaceport America, in Upham, N.M., with seven payloads, crucial for future Operationally Responsive Space missions, demonstrating its dependability and resilience during a 13-minute, 70-mile-high trek.

The ORS director explained the mission's significance.

"One of the ways we prove space-based range technologies of tracking the rocket through flight, knowing where it is at all times in case the flight has to be terminated due to trajectory issues, is to get multiple flights to validate that the systems work in flight. Orbital flights are rare and costly, so one of the ways we are getting that flight heritage is by flying these technologies on small sounding rockets, which is much more inexpensive and easier," said Dr. Peter Wegner.

ORS has contracted with UP Aerospace Inc. in Denver to employ its "SpaceLoft XL" rocket for the fourth time, but the launch vehicle's sixth flight on April 5 will mark the first time it will carry strictly Department of Defense-manifested payloads. Like the other three collaborations between ORS and UP Aerospace, the SL-6 mission involves a standard six-month contract-to-launch time frame and uniform integration processes for rapid, responsive and cost-efficient means to evaluate potential space hardware.

"The upcoming flight, SL-6, is going to demonstrate a number of the key technologies ORS is developing. One of the most important is the Global Positioning Metric Tracking System, also known as the "GPS Beacon," designed by Florida Tech, which we hope will record the position of the rocket all the way through its flight. We will also be demonstrating another GPS receiver, the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast, developed by the Federal Aviation Administration and the New Mexico Space Grant Consortium, which will independently obtain GPS data and transfer it through the telemetry string to the ground," Wegner said.

"The ORS-constructed Low-Cost Camera Demonstrator and NASA Ames Research Center's 'DroidSat,' built off of Android phone technology, will allow us to record separation events on the rocket. This is important to us because the ORS-3 mission scheduled for next year has 17 different payloads that will separate off that rocket during its trajectory," he said.

Two other ORS-provided payloads, the Hard Mount and Isolated Data Logger Experiments, will measure environmental conditions, such as vibration encountered by hardware during flight and recovery.

Finally, the University of Texas at Austin's Inertial Measurement Unit trial, using commercial, off-the-shelf technology, will acquire data from liftoff through re-entry.

"This suborbital launch allows us to explore the kind of approaches we would take for payload integration testing and flight for other missions," said Steven Buckley, ORS launch director for the SL-6 mission. "It's a great opportunity for us. It's quick and efficient, as well as allows us to do a lot of things in a less-costly environment before we go into a mission that might cost double-digit million dollars.

After reaching its near-space zenith, the SL-6 rocket will separate during its traverse back to Earth, and the seven trials, housed in two different compartments, will land about 33 miles from the liftoff site in the White Sands Missile Range.

Project staff will recover the reusable payloads, as well as retrieve and review acquired data from the brief suborbital trip.

"The goal of ORS is to be able to go from call-up to launch of a space system in a matter of days. We know the warfighters deployed around the world need access to imagery and communications capacity that many times can only be provided by space systems," Wegner said.

"Our job is to figure out how to get those systems up there — launched and delivered, placed on orbit, checked out and providing those capabilities to the warfighters. All of these technology demonstrations on the SL-6 mission are leading us to that end point."[/size]

[Salo]

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/wallops/news/CIBERprelaunch.html

CIBER Mission Launched
03.22.12
 


 The Cosmic Infrared Background ExpeRiment (CIBER) mission was successfully launched from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico on Marrch 22, 2012 at 3 a.m. MDT. CIBER, an optical astrophysics payload for the California Institute of Technology, was flown on a NASA two-stage Black Brant IX suborbital sounding rocket (like the rocket pictured)[/size].

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06.04.2012 / 09:05   Пуск ракеты из космопорта "Америка"

5 апреля 2012 года в 14:18 UTC (17:18 мск) из космопорта "Америка" в штате Нью-Мексико специалистами компании UP Aerospace осуществлен пуск ракеты собственного производства SpaceLoft XL. Основной целью полета являлась отработка новых ракетных технологий. Максимальная высота подъема ракеты составила 117 км.

     - К.И.

[Salo]

http://www.parabolicarc.com/2012/04/05/up-aerospace-conducts-tenth-launch-from-spaceport-america/

UP Aerospace Conducts Tenth Launch From Spaceport America[/size]
Posted by Doug Messier
on April 5, 2012, at 9:45 am


UP Aerospace SpaceLoft XL rocket. (File Photo)

Spaceport America, NM (NMSA PR) – New Mexico Spaceport Authority (NMSA) officials announced the tenth launch from Spaceport America by UP Aerospace of Denver, Colorado. The liftoff of the sub-orbital sounding rocket took place from Spaceport America's vertical launch complex at approximately 8:18 a.m. (MST), within the dedicated, five-hour launch window. The rocket reached its sub-orbital altitude of 73 miles or 385,640 feet (117 km), accomplishing a new Spaceport America altitude record.

The launch was a non-public, unpublished event at the request of UP Aerospace, Inc. The primary payloads were Department of Defense (DoD) experiments. Additional payloads were carried for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the University of Texas and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

"This successful sub-orbital flight marks our tenth flight from Spaceport America, and we are excited to be delivering payloads for the DoD and other clients like the FAA and the University of Texas," said Jerry Larson, president of UP Aerospace, Inc.

"UP Aerospace has now been successfully operating from Spaceport America for over five years, and we look forward to hosting many more of their launches as we move forward. During Phase Two of spaceport construction, which is now underway, we are in the process of expanding and improving our Vertical Launch Complex to enhance service to valued customers like Up Aerospace," said NMSA Executive Director Christine Anderson.

All of the payloads aboard the rocket were scientific and engineering experiments. The primary customer for the launch was the DoD Operationally Responsive Space Office. More information about their payloads can be found at http://www.afmc.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123296138. Another payload was designed, built, tested, integrated, and operated by a team of undergraduate students at the University of Texas, and is also part of the DoD Operationally Responsive Space Office payload program. The experiment was designed to compare the performance of various micro electromechanical systems (MEMS) accelerometers to assess their suitability for use as support instruments in future payloads.

Another payload was flown in conjunction with the FAA Center of Excellence for Commercial Space Transportation, for which New Mexico State University is the administrative lead institution. This payload further tested the FAA's Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) system for possible future use in management of airspace involved in space operations.

This most recent launch represents the expanding demand for launch services at Spaceport America, the nation's first purpose-built commercial spaceport. "This is our second launch this year at the spaceport, and we are extremely pleased to support our regular launch customers like UP Aerospace and Armadillo Aerospace as they conduct their sub-orbital launches from Spaceport America. We also look forward to hosting future NASA-funded 'Flight Opportunities' suborbital research launches coming up later this year. Spaceport America continues to set the precedent for safe, efficient, effective service for commercial spaceflight customers," said NMSA Executive Director Christine Anderson. This UP Aerospace launch marks the fifteenth vertical launch overall from the Spaceport America Vertical Launch Complex.
the fifteenth vertical launch overall from the Spaceport America Vertical Launch Complex.

ABOUT UP AEROSPACE, INC.

UP Aerospace was created in 1998 by founder Jerry Larson and incorporated in 2004 with its headquarters located in Denver, Colorado. UP Aerospace has been successfully conducting launches from Spaceport America in New Mexico with a total of ten launch campaigns from the spaceport: six of the SpaceLoft XL launch vehicle, and four additional launches of proprietary systems for Lockheed Martin and MOOG. The company's launch operations and SpaceLoft vehicles were designed and built from the ground up as a highly reliable, low-cost Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) system. Flight hardware reusability has been a key program requirement for the SpaceLoft XL launch program, enabling further advancements in low-cost space launch operations. UP Aerospace has successfully demonstrated and refined launch and integration services spanning over five years and 40 individual payload customers.

For more information, please visit: http://www.upaerospace.us.com/[/size]

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Этим летом

IRVE-3 Flight Hardware Test

http://www.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=936696#936696

[LG]

Меня гложет отврательная мысль - если в в Брзнсоне запретят отвязываться и летать - желающих будет в 100 раз меньше. Подозреваю - будут сдавать билеты массво.

[Salo]

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=11281.msg907571#msg907571

kevin-rf пишет:

On the Wallops Facebook page ( http://www.facebook.com/NASAWFF ):

The next launch from the Wallops Flight Facility is scheduled for the early morning on June 21. A Terrier-Improved Orion suborbital sounding rocket will carry various education experiments through programs with the Colorado and Virginia Space Grant Consortia. This launch will only be visible in the Wallops area.

[Salo]

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=11281.msg920250#msg920250

Lewis007 пишет:

A Terrier Improved Orion sounding rocket was launched from Wallops at 06:40 local time. On board were seventeen educational experiments as part of the RockOn! 2012 program.

The rocket carried the experiments to an altitude of 73 miles before impacting into the Atlantic Ocean off the Virginia coast. The experiments have been recovered and will be returned this morning to the program participants at Wallops so they can begin their data analysis.

source: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/wallops/news/post621.html

Video of the launch here:

[Salo]

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=11281.msg921813#msg921813

Lewis007 пишет:

A Black Brant IX sounding rocket was launch from White Sands at 19:30 UT. The flight's primary purpose was to provide an underflight calibration for the EUV Variability Experiment (EVE) instrument onboard the SDO satellite studying the sun (NASA 36.286, PI Tom Woods).

Based on the quicklook realtime data, all of the rocket EVE instrument channels appear to have made excellent solar EUV irradiance measurements. The two new soft X-ray spectrometers appear to have worked too. Detailed data analysis will be done to further analyze the quality of the rocket data and to produce a solar EUV irradiance reference spectrum that then can be used to calibrate the satellite SDO EVE and other solar EUV instruments.

Cameras onboard captured spectacular footage of the trip into space and back (see video).

source: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/wallops/eve-calibration.html

[Salo]

http://www.parabolicarc.com/2012/07/01/dlr-launches-shefex-ii-experimental-re-entry-vehicle/

DLR Launches SHEFEX II Experimental Re-entry Vehicle
Posted by Doug Messier
on July 1, 2012, at 8:17 am


The SHEFEX II test vehicle prior to launch. (Credit: DLR)

BERLIN (DLR PR) – After a 10-minute flight, the sharp-edged SHEFEX II spacecraft landed safely west of Spitsbergen. Researchers from the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) launched the seven-ton and roughly 13-metre-long rocket and its payload from the Andøya Rocket Range in Norway at 21:18 CEST on 22 June 2012. As it re-entered the atmosphere, SHEFEX withstood temperatures exceeding 2500 degrees Celsius and sent measurement data from more than 300 sensors to a ground station.
"The SHEFEX II flight takes us one step further in the road to developing a space vehicle built like a space capsule but offering the control and flight options of the Space Shuttle much more cost-effectively," says project manager Hendrik Weihs.
 Knowledge of atmospheric re-entry
 
DLR has been working on the SHEFEX programme for 10 years, developing a technology in which a spacecraft can re-enter the atmosphere and land without suffering damage. SHEFEX is angular and sharp-edged; its structure consists of planar surfaces, which are easier to manufacture and are thus less expensive than the usual rounded shapes. The sharp edges are also aerodynamically advantageous. DLR researchers have developed various thermal protection systems to control the high temperatures that the edges are subjected to during re-entry.
The SHEFEX I spacecraft, launched on 27 October 2005, enabled researchers to collect data during flight for the first time. That flight lasted 20 seconds and the craft re-entered at a speed of Mach seven. SHEFEX II reached a speed of 11,000 kilometres per hour – roughly 11 times the speed of sound – as it re-entered the atmosphere. It reached an altitude of approximately 180 kilometres.
Six DLR institutes involved in the project
The SHEFEX project is a collaboration between six DLR institutes.
The DLR Institute of Aerodynamics and Flow Technology carried out numerous wind tunnel tests, computed the flow field at re-entry and equipped the rocket with sensors for measuring temperature, pressure and thermal stress.
The DLR Institute for Structures and Design built the spacecraft and was responsible for designing and producing the ceramic thermal protection systems; in one of these systems, nitrogen flows through a porous tile, cooling the craft during re-entry.
At the heart of the canard control system, developed by researchers at the DLR Institute of Flight Systems in Braunschweig, are control surfaces – the canards – on the front section of the research vehicle, which can be used to actively control the vehicle.
The Institute of Materials Research manufactured the ceramic tiles and the Institute of Space Systems developed a navigation platform for determining the location of the spacecraft during the flight.
DLR's MoRaBa mobile rocket base operated the two-stage launch vehicle, controlled the spacecraft and received the data sent by SHEFEX during the flight.
 On the way to developing a space plane
 
A salvage ship and an aircraft are on their way to the landing site to retrieve the spacecraft.  If the recovery is successful, researchers will receive a large amount of additional data.
"The flight of SHEFEX II is a step towards developing a spacecraft that withstands higher temperatures while travelling faster and for a longer duration," says Weihs. More than 300 sensors measured temperature and pressure, among other things, during the flight. "We have a wealth of data, which will be used for years to come."
SHEFEX III could be launched in 2016; it will be more like a space plane and will fly through the atmosphere for about 15 minutes. The objective of this research is to allow for experiments in microgravity that last for a number of days and then return to Earth.

[Salo]

Видео:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOFBH6c_HLw&feature=player_embedded

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SUMI Sounding Rocket Mission Launches Successfully
07.05.12
 
UPDATE:
The Black Brant IX sounding rocket carrying the SUMI experiment was successfully launched at 12:49:59 MDT ( 2:49:59 p.m. EDT). Preliminary results show that good data was received.

Sounding Rocket Mission to Observe Magnetic Fields on the Sun    
07.02.12

On July 5, NASA will launch a mission called the Solar Ultraviolet Magnetograph Investigation or SUMI, to study the intricate, constantly changing magnetic fields on the sun in a hard-to-observe area of the sun's low atmosphere called the chromosphere.

Magnetic fields, and the intense magnetic energy they help marshal, lie at the heart of how the sun can create huge explosions of light such as solar flares and eruptions of particles such as coronal mass ejections (CMEs). While there are already instruments – both on the ground and flying in space – that can measure these fields, each is constrained to observe the fields on a particular layer of the sun's surface or atmosphere. Moreover, none of them can see the layer SUMI will observe.

"What's novel with this instrument is that it observes ultraviolet light, when all the others look at infrared or visible light," says Jonathan Cirtain, a solar scientist at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. and the principal investigator for SUMI. "Those wavelengths of light correspond to the lowest levels in the sun's atmosphere, but SUMI will look at locations higher in the chromosphere."



This higher layer of the chromosphere is known as the transition region – because the chromosphere transitions here into the part of the sun's atmosphere called the corona -- and it is a region that is dominated by the magnetic fields and in which solar material heats up dramatically forming the corona and the base of the solar wind. Understanding the structure of the magnetic fields in this region will then allow us to understand how the corona is heated and how the solar wind is formed. It is also an area believed to be where flare accelerated particles originate, so understanding the processes at play in the transition region can help with models to predict such eruptions on the sun.

To measure magnetic fields in the chromosphere, SUMI will observe the ultraviolet (UV) light emitted from two types of atoms on the sun, Magnesium 2 and Carbon 4. Through established methods of measuring how the light is affected as it travels through the magnetic environment of the solar atmosphere towards Earth, scientists can measure the original strength and direction of the magnetic fields, thus creating a three-dimensional magnetic map of the region.

This trip for SUMI is largely a test flight to make sure the instrument works and to assess possible improvements. The instrument flew once before in July 2010 but experienced a much higher G-force than expected, which broke screws holding the main mirror in place so it could not gather accurate data. The team has now reinforced the mirror.

"With the knowledge we get from a successful SUMI mission, we can go on to build space-based instrumentation that will help us understand the processes that form flares and CME's and help us predict space weather," says Cirtain.

SUMI will launch from White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico on a Black Brant rocket. The flight will last about eight minutes total.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/sumi-science.html

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/sumi-launch.html

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HI-C Sounding Rocket Mission Has Finest Mirrors Ever Made
07.05.12

Waiting for launch: NASA's HI-C mission, sitting in the front of this image, will launch on July 11, 2012 to observe the sun's corona in the highest detail ever captured during a 381-second flight. Credit: NASA

On July 11, NASA scientists will launch into space the highest resolution solar telescope ever to observe the solar corona, the million degree outer solar atmosphere. The instrument, called HI-C for High Resolution Coronal Imager, will fly aboard a Black Brant sounding rocket to be launched from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The mission will have just 620 seconds for its flight, spending about half of that time high enough that Earth's atmosphere will not block ultraviolet rays from the sun. By looking at a specific range of UV light, HI-C scientists hope to observe fundamental structures on the sun, as narrow as 100 miles across.

"Other instruments in space can't resolve things that small, but they do suggest – after detailed computer analysis of the amount of light in any given pixel – that structures in the sun's atmosphere are about 100 miles across," says Jonathan Cirtain, a solar scientist at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. who is the project scientist for HI-C. "And we also have theories about the shapes of structures in the atmosphere, or corona, that expect that size. HI-C will be the first chance we have to see them."

The spatial resolution on HI-C is some five times more detailed than the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) instrument on the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), that can resolve structures down to 600 miles and currently sends back some of our most stunning and scientifically useful images of the sun. Of course, AIA can see the entire sun at this resolution, while HI-C will focus on an area just one-sixth the width of the sun or 135,000 miles across. Also, AIA observes the sun in ten different wavelengths, while HI-C will observe just one: 193 Angstroms. This wavelength of UV light corresponds to material in the sun at temperatures of 1.5 million Kelvin and that wavelength is typically used to observe material in the corona.

During its ten-minute journey, HI-C will focus on the center of the sun, where a large sunspot is predicted to be – a prediction based on what the sun looked like 27 days previously, since it takes 27 days for the sun to complete a full rotation.

"We will start acquiring data at 69 seconds after launch, at a rate of roughly an image a second," says Cirtain. "We will be able to look through a secondary H-alpha telescope on the instrument in real time and re-point the main telescope as needed."

In addition to seeing the finest structures yet seen in the sun's corona, the launch of HI-C will serve as a test bed for this high-resolution telescope. Often one improves telescope resolution simply by building bigger mirrors, but this is not possible when constraining a telescope to the size of a sounding rocket, or even a long-term satellite. So HI-C's mirror is only about nine and a half inches across, no bigger than that of AIA. However, the HI-C mirrors, made by a team at Marshall, are some of the finest ever made, says Cirtain. If one could see the surface at an atomic level, it would show no greater valleys or peaks than two atoms in either direction.

"So it's super smooth," says Cirtain.

In addition, the team created a longer focal length – that is, they increased the distance the light travels from its primary mirror to its secondary mirror, another trick to improve resolution – by creating a precise inner maze for the light to travel from mirror to mirror, rather than a simple, shorter straight line.

NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center is leading the international effort for Hi-C. Key partners include the University of Alabama at Huntsville, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, University of Central Lancashire in Lancashire, England, and the Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/HI-C.html