NASA launches third rocket from Australia

A NASA Black Brant IX suborbital sounding rocket was successfully launched on July 11, 2022, from the Arnhem Space Center (ASC) in the Northern Territory of Australia. The payload was the Dual-channel Extreme Ultraviolet Continuum Experiment (DEUCE) for the University of Colorado, Boulder. This will help astronomers measure an unstudied part of Centauri A and B’s ultraviolet light spectrum, helping them model stars and understand their effects on planetary atmospheres.

The rocket carried the science instrument to an altitude of 162 miles (262 km) before descending by parachute and landing southwest of the launch site. Recovery operations of the science instrument and the rocket motors are in progress.

Michael Jones, Executive Chairman and Group CEO of ELA, said the successful launch was a great finale to the NASA campaign of three separate launches that began on June 26.

“We are really proud to have achieved a very rare feat – three successful launches in just 15 days. Even more so given the challenging wind conditions,” Mr Jones said.

“Another successful launch at the Arnhem Space Centre further strengthens our team and builds the capability of the Australian space industry,” Mr Jones added.

“These missions with NASA have been an incredible chance to prove the capabilities of our team and facility and we are looking forward to welcoming more partners to the site.”

The DEUCE was the third of three NASA space science missions scheduled from ASC during the three-week period.  The X-ray Quantum Calorimeter, or XQC, experiment from the University of Wisconsin was successfully launched on June 26 and the Suborbital Imaging Spectrograph for Transition region Irradiance from Nearby Exoplanet, or SISTINE mission, from the University of Colorado, Boulder, was conducted on July 6.