Location
Salt Lake Community College
Start Date
5-10-2004 9:00 AM
Description
On November 19, 1976, a Talos-Castor rocket left the Poker Flat Research Range near Fairbanks, Alaska. Prepared by a team of engineers from Utah State University, the primary scientific instruments on board were two high power electron accelerators designed to shoot powerful beams of electrons into the atmosphere, thus creating artificial aurora. Though one of the accelerators experienced a short circuit, the other produced the desired electron beam up to and as the rocket reached its apogee at 265 kilometers, and then throughout its descent to approximately 84 kilometers.1 This particular launch, however, was merely a test of the electron guns and other accompanying instruments, and therefore provided valuable data that would later be used to produce and measure artificial aurora.
Utah State University, Auroral Research, and the Cold War
Salt Lake Community College
On November 19, 1976, a Talos-Castor rocket left the Poker Flat Research Range near Fairbanks, Alaska. Prepared by a team of engineers from Utah State University, the primary scientific instruments on board were two high power electron accelerators designed to shoot powerful beams of electrons into the atmosphere, thus creating artificial aurora. Though one of the accelerators experienced a short circuit, the other produced the desired electron beam up to and as the rocket reached its apogee at 265 kilometers, and then throughout its descent to approximately 84 kilometers.1 This particular launch, however, was merely a test of the electron guns and other accompanying instruments, and therefore provided valuable data that would later be used to produce and measure artificial aurora.