Jenam 2011NASA set to launch rocket for student projects Friday in Virginia
The rocket will send information for various student projects, and the projects will measure data as the rocket climbs to the far reaches of space.
PHILADELPHIA CREAM – Did you know that NASA launches rockets in different parts of the county?
A few hours south of the Delaware Valley, NASA sends rockets with science experiments from Wallops Island, Virginia. Wallops Island is about an hour south of Ocean City, Maryland, and adjacent to the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, an area famous for its wild ponies.
A rocket was scheduled to launch around sunrise Thursday morning, but weather conditions delayed the launch until Friday.
Sometimes we can see the exhaust clouds from those rocket launches in our area, but that won’t be the case with the Friday morning launch for most of us. The rocket is too small for us to see the exhaust clouds in Pennsylvania, NJ, or even most of Del. You will need to be in South Sussex County, Delaware to see exhaust clouds.
This rocket will send information for various student projects, and these student projects will measure data as the rocket climbs to the edge of space. The rocket will eventually rise about 75 miles from the ground before falling back to earth and into the Atlantic Ocean. At this point, NASA scientists will retrieve the student projects and data measuring devices.
Two local universities will send experiments: Temple University and University of Delaware.
Temple students want to understand how less gravity affects the interaction of sound and light. Students at the University of Delaware will study some meteorological data and use it to examine the thickness of the air higher up. NASA explains these projects in much more detail.
If you want to see the rocket launch, NASA will be streaming live on its YouTube.
You can also hop off and watch the rocket launch from the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge. There will also be more rocket launches this summer at Wallops Island.
