Latest Black Brant Stories

NASA Space Technology Program researchers will launch and deploy a large inflatable heat shield aboard a rocket travelling at hypersonic speeds this weekend during a technology demonstration test from the agency's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va. NASA has four consecutive days of launch opportunities for the agency's Inflatable Re-entry Vehicle Experiment (IRVE-3), starting July 21, with the liftoff window from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. EDT each day. The test is designed to...

WALLOPS ISLAND, Va., July 17, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA Space Technology Program researchers will launch and deploy a large inflatable heat shield aboard a rocket traveling at hypersonic speeds this weekend during a technology demonstration test from the agency's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) NASA has four consecutive days of launch opportunities for the agency's Inflatable Re-entry...

University of Nevada, Reno scientists lead decades-long Alaska studies Not all birds mate for life, but for those species that do, wildlife biologists have found a clear benefit to the birds from such long-term relationships: greater longevity and breeding success, according to a study led by University of Nevada, Reno scientists that was recently published in Behavioral Ecology. The study's authors found that when female black brant (a small arctic goose) lose their mate, their chances...

On Saturday, a team of U.S. researchers launched a two-stage rocket containing some 500 pounds worth of instruments through an aurora, with the hopes that they will be able to learn more about how the northern lights are created and about the complex relationship between the Earth and the Sun. According to Fairbanks Daily News-Miner Reporter Sam Friedman, the 46-foot NASA rocket was launched from the Poker Flat Research Range in Fairbanks, Alaska at 8:41pm on February 18. The rocket...

WALLOPS ISLAND, Va., July 10, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia successfully launched two NASA sounding rockets carrying experiments to study the ionosphere on Sunday, July 10, 2011. The Black Brant V rocket launched at 10 a.m. and the second rocket, a Terrier-Improved Orion, launched 15 seconds later. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO ) A second pair of Black Brant V/Terrier-Improved Orion rockets will be launched no...

WALLOPS ISLAND, Va., Jan. 28, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA will launch a Virginia Tech University experiment to measure nitric oxide in the upper atmosphere this winter from the Poker Flat Research Range in Alaska. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) The Polar Night Nitric Oxide experiment will be launched on a suborbital flight aboard a NASA Black Brant IX sounding rocket. The launch is scheduled for no earlier than January 30. Scott Bailey, assistant...

WALLOPS ISLAND, Va., Nov. 22, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA will launch an experiment led by researchers at the University of New Hampshire, Durham, from Norway between November 28 and December 12. The experiment will fly on a Black Brant XII sounding rocket from the Andoya Rocket Range, Andenes. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) Dr. Marc Lessard from the University of New Hampshire is the principal investigator for the experiment called RENU, for Rocket...

WALLOPS ISLAND, Va., Aug. 4 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The launch of a NASA Black Brant X sounding rocket was successfully launched at 5:15 a.m. today from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. This mission was to flight qualify the new production Nihka rocket motor, the third stage in the Black Brant X. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) Information on today's and future missions from Wallops...

A NASA rocket launched to study clouds spooked dozens of people along the U.S. East Coast, some worried about aliens landing, officials said.Exhaust particles from the rocket launched Saturday night at Wallops Flight Center in Virginia illuminated the sky with a cone-shape light that could be seen as far north as Massachusetts, NASA spokesman Keith Koehler said.CNN affiliate stations and NASA officials reported dozens of calls from people who saw the light, including some worried about...

WALLOPS ISLAND, Va., Sept. 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- 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. (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) 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...