A NASA sounding rocket was launched from the Poker Flat Research Range early this morning as part of a mission to study a phenomenon known as black aurora. The launch occurred at about 3:30 a.m. and is the second of the season from the facility.
Poker Flat Research Range, located at Mile 30 on the Steese Highway, is owned by the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute and operated under contract with NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, which is part of Goddard Space Flight Center.
The Black and Diffuse Aurora Science Surveyor mission is led by Marilia Samara from Goddard Space Flight Center. This launch comes ten days after the first rocket launch of the season at Poker Flat.
A third mission involving two rockets is scheduled before February 20. That experiment, led by Kristina Lynch, a professor of physics and astronomy at Dartmouth College, will focus on how disturbances in Earth’s middle and upper ionosphere affect auroral curtains.
Black auroras occur when streams of auroral particles temporarily thin or stop in certain areas of the upper atmosphere. This creates dark shapes within the broader glow of diffuse aurora. Diffuse auroras are generally faint and cover large regions.
“Black auroras look as though pieces of the aurora have been erased. These dark structures drift and evolve along with the surrounding aurora,” according to information provided about the mission.
The two-stage rocket for Samara’s mission was previously on the launchpad at Poker Flat in early 2025 but could not be launched due to unsuitable aurora conditions during that window.
For those interested in following future launches or viewing live broadcasts, updates are available via text message subscription or through Poker Flat’s active missions webpage.
