FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 26, 2000

Fairbanks, Alaska - Students from the University of Alaska Fairbanks have begun the final countdown for the scheduled launch of the Test Rocket 1 sounding rocket Jan. 29 at the Poker Flat Rocket Range. The student-built rocket payload is expected to travel faster than the speed of sound and seven times higher than the cruising altitude of most commercial airliners.

A team of UAF students with experience in electrical, mechanical and aerospace engineering designed, constructed and will perform tests of the rocket during the launch. Students will collect and analyze data from the intricate computer control unit inside the rocket, which along with a transmitter, accelerometer and other support components make up the TR1's payload for the flight.

The rocket payload also includes a 3-axis magnetometer designed and fabricated by students from the University of Tokai in Japan for measuring the rocket's orientation relative to the Earth's magnetic field. Four students and two professors from Japan arrived in Fairbanks Monday to watch the evening launch, which is set to fire off as early as 9 p.m. Saturday evening.

This week marks the third student-built rocket to lift off from 5,132-acre Poker Flat research range, located about 30 miles northeast of Fairbanks. Poker Flat is operated by UAF's Geophysical Institute and is the only university-owned sounding rocket range in the world.

Although the range will be closed off for the launch, the fiery trail jetting behind the 21-foot-long, 14-inch-round rocket will be easily seen by the public at the Chatanika Lodge, less than a mile to the southwest of Poker Flat at 29-mile Steese Highway.

More than 40 students involved in the Alaska Student Rocket Project spent the past two years developing the TR1 payload, which will be attached to a pre-built Orion rocket motor provided by NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The rocket motor will produce 17,000 pounds of initial thrust for about three seconds, then drop to about 2,000 pounds of thrust for the remainder of the flight. It will burn for 30 seconds, propelling the 112-pound payload 53 miles into the atmosphere.

Saturday's expected altitude is a huge gain for ASRP members, who successfully launched two student-made payloads in 1992 and 1995. Previous payloads flew only about five miles into the air.

Eventually students hope to launch rockets every year that can fly high enough to study the aurora, the middle atmosphere and the ionosphere. Total flight time on this mission is expected to be about five minutes, and students will track the rocket with assistance from NASA personnel during the entire flight.

Rocket and spacecraft payloads for commercial and research projects are typically very expensive. Reliability is extremely important since there's generally no opportunity to correct failures occurring after a launch. Consequently, the industry prefers to use tried-and-true components already proven in space. ASRP is a very low-cost program that can afford to take risks on new technology, thereby providing a valuable service to the commercial space industry.

ASRP also gives students an opportunity to apply the tools of their respective disciplines to the solution of complex, real-life engineering design problems. Work on the project requires students to play a part in an interdisciplinary design team, similar to employment situations they will encounter in the aerospace industry and related job fields after graduation.

The student rocket project was created in 1991 to integrate the capabilities of a unique aerospace facility at Poker Flat with academic programs at UAF. Seed funding for the project is provided by the Alaska Space Grant Program. UAF is one of only a handful of universities in the world with land, sea and space grant status.

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NOTE TO EDITORS: Media representatives can arrange special access to the launch area by calling Darlette Powell, Alaska Space Grant Program, at (907) 474-6833.

JCS/1-26-00/00-042