After six attempts to launch , NASA Wallops Flight Facility had a successful launch of a sounding rocket Sunday, May 16 2021
The Black Brant XII launch carrying the KiNET-X payload lifted off at 8:36 p.m.
The mission is releasing vapor tracers nine to 10 minutes after launch at about 217-249 miles altitude over the Atlantic Ocean and 540-560 miles downrange from Wallops, just north of Bermuda.
KiNET-X studies how momentum transport is affected by kinetic-scale physics, i.e. formation of parallel electric fields and dissipation, how electromagnetic energy is converted into plasma kinetic and thermal energy, and what the interplay is between fluid- and kinetic-scale processes.
The Rocket
The Black Brant XII-A is a four stage sounding rocket with a Talos first stage, Terrier second stage, Black Brant third stage and a Nihka fourth stage. The Black Brant XII-A can reach altitudes of about 1400 km. Payloads weighing from 300 to 1000 pounds can be flown.
