NASA Plans Rocket Launch To Study Atmospheric Movement
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Weather permitting, NASA plans to launch a rocket early Thursday morning, releasing chemicals from a payload that will color a section of the pre-dawn eastern sky.
Derrick Pitts, chief astronomer at the Franklin Institute, says it's all part of an experiment by atmospheric scientists to trace the flow, the motion, and movement of winds in the atmosphere.
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He says the rocket being launched from Wallops Island, Virginia, is carrying canisters of chemicals the size of soda cans that will be released and cause vapor tracers showing up as red, green, and blue in the clouds.
TheTerrier-Improved Malemute sounding rocket launch, scheduled for 5/31 is delayed to 6/1. The launch window is 4:27 – 4:42 a.m. EDT. pic.twitter.com/ESej9W4ukN
— NASA Wallops (@NASA_Wallops) May 30, 2017
"If you were over in south Jersey in the Vineland area or even down at the Jersey shore, you might be able to see not only the clouds but you might even be able to see the rocket as it takes off from Wallops Island which will be down south and east of New Jersey," Pitts said.
He says lift off is tentatively set between 4:25 a.m. and 4:45 a.m. on Thursday morning and the rocket is expected to climb to an altitude of 96 to 125 miles.
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