Two NASA sounding rockets launch from Alaska during solar flare

Two Black Brant IX sounding rockets launched from Poker Flat Research Range in Fairbanks, Alaska, April 17, 2024, during an M-class solar flare for NASA’s sounding rocket solar flare campaign.

The first rocket launched at 2:13 p.m. local Alaska time for the Focusing Optics X-ray Solar Imager (FOXSI) mission that used X-ray vision to observe the sun during the solar flare event by focusing directly on high-energy X-rays.

The second rocket launched at 2:14 p.m. for the High Resolution Coronal Imager, or Hi-C, mission designed to observe a large, active region in the sun’s corona. The rockets reached altitudes up to 168 miles (271 km) and were able to successfully observe the solar flare.