NASA Sounding Rockets Launch Multiple Science Payloads

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

Newly proven technology developed at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility near Chincoteague, Virginia, turns a single sounding rocket into a hive deploying a swarm of up to 16 instruments. The technology offers unprecedented accuracy for monitoring Earth's atmosphere and solar weather over a wide area.

The Swarm Communications technology, as dubbed by its NASA Wallops creators, spreads sub-payloads up to 25 miles out from the rocket. Each cannister streams its unique telemetry and science data using onboard radios through the host rocket's communications system to the ground.

Sounding Rocket Program technologist Cathy Hesh and electrical engineer Scott Hesh assembled a team to develop this technology in 2017 in response to requests from scientists in NASA's sounding rocket working group.

"We were lucky enough that we had this core team with the right skill set to get this done," Scott Hesh said. "We were able to turn this around from concept to flight in under three years."

Today, after three science-enabling test flights, the system is already booked by mission teams for another four launches through mid-2024.

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