update for Sunday, Jan 6

This update is being posted late - it is for Sunday's activities.

In terms of getting the science conditions we need to launch, the best day so far was Saturday. Remember, we are trying to make measurements that will help us understand what drives oxygen ions out of the upper atmosphere. The criteria we use to help us decide when to launch comes from mostly from radar observations, using the huge radar dishes photo below). There are other things we look for, too, like what the solar wind is doing

Everything we saw told us that we were getting the oxygen ions escaping overhead on Saturday. The only problem (and it was a big one) was that the launch range was much too windy to even get the rocket vertical. So, even though we wanted to launch, we couldn't because we were "down for winds". On Sunday, the signals telling us about ion outflow were not so positive AND we were still out for winds, so we had very little chance of getting the rocket launched.

The issue with winds is complicated. First, you might surprised to learn that this rocket is not guided in any way. Once it leaves the launch rail, there is nothing we can do to affect what it does or where it goes. For safety reasons, then, we have to be extremely careful about where and when to launch. With strong winds at high altitudes, there is the possibility that the rocket gets blown in exactly the wrong direction, which could become dangerous. In order to make sure that this does not happen, the team at the launch range releases weather balloons about every half hour to track the winds. These are quite large helium balloons that they can track to see where the winds blow them as they go up in altitude.



Still, even if the winds are calm at high altitudes, we have to worry about the winds at ground level, but for a completely different reason. Take a look at the sketch below, which is from a rocket that we launched last year, very similar to the one we are trying to launch now.




You can see the huge fins at the bottom (right) of the rocket, which are used to help keep the rocket pointed straight as it leaves the rail and takes off. Maybe you can imagine that, when the rocket first leaves the rail, it is not moving very fast. In that case, the fins would not have much of an effect. In fact, they would be pushed sideways by strong ground winds rather than help the rocket stay pointing upward. The result, of course, is that the rocket takes off in the wrong direction, which could be a disaster!!!