January 2015: The American space agency NASA has successfully launched four sounding rockets from Poker Flat Research Range in Alaska. Two of the four rockets belong to the MTeX Mission (Mesosphere-Lower Thermosphere Turbulence Experiment), which investigates turbulences in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere. These atmospheric layers provide also the auroras, the mesmerizing light effects at the nightly sky, by interaction of solar winds and Earth’s atmosphere. Part of the scientific payload is the CONE Instrument, which was developed and built by company von Hoerner & Sulger GmbH (vH&S) in Schwetzingen together with the Institute for Atmospheric Physics in Kühlungsborn.
Rocket experiments have been built by vH&S since more than 30 years. The MTeX-CONE instruments have been funded by NASA. Dr. Richard Collins from the University of Alaska Fairbanks is the Principal Investigator in collaboration with Prof. Dr. Gerald Lehmacher from the Clemson University.
The first image shows a composite shot of all four sounding rockets for the MTeX and MIST experiments, made up of 30 second exposures. Image by courtesy of NASA.
The second image shows the two cylindrical MTeX-CONE instruments without the sensor head. The device in the background is used as PC interface for laboratory testing the MTeX-CONE instruments.