NASA attacks Alaska

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/0....ap/index.html

Aurora rocket crashes after launch
Monday, March 7, 2005 Posted: 1:53 PM EST (1853 GMT)

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- A rocket launched to collect information on the aurora's appearance and
movement flew for five minutes before crashing in the mountains north of Fairbanks.

The 70-foot (21-meter) Black Brant XII rocket was launched Sunday from the Poker Flat Research
Range. It should have flown for 40 minutes, said Greg Walker, the range manager.

Walker said range staff searching by air and on ground with snowmobiles found the rocket based on
its final global positioning system transmissions.

"It was right where it was supposed to be," Walker said.

Range staff planned to retrieve the rocket debris and analyze it to determine what caused the crash.

The rocket was to fly through the aurora and investigate how and why the aurora moves and appears
the way it does on Earth, Hartley said.

Auroras, also known as the northern and southern lights, emit light as highly charged particles from
the sun excite atoms and molecules high in Earth's atmosphere, which creates a glow in the same
manner as neon lights.

While concentrated in the most northerly and southerly regions, particularly strong aurora displays
can extend down into the mid-latitudes. Northern lights, for instance, occasionally creep down to
Mexico.

Poker Flat Research Range has been the site of more than 2,000 rocket launches since it opened in
1969. It is about 30 miles (48 kilometers) north of Fairbanks