The launch of a Black Brant IX sounding rocket carrying the Advanced Supersonic Parachute Inflation Research Experiment or ASPIRE was successfully conducted at 12:19 p.m. EDT, March 31, 2018, from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

The next ASPIRE test at Wallops is currently scheduled for later this summer.

The rocket was carrying the Advanced Supersonic Parachute Inflation Research Experiment (ASPIRE) from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. The payload carrying the test parachute reached an altitude of 32 miles approximately two minutes into the flight.

The payload splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean 40 miles from Wallops Island and was recovered and returned to Wallops where data retrieval and inspection will be conducted in coming days.

The ASPIRE payload is a bullet-nosed, cylindrical structure holding a supersonic parachute, the parachute's deployment mechanism, and the test's high-definition instrumentation, including cameras, to record data.

ASPIRE is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, with support from NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, and Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California, for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

Related Links
Sounding Rockets at NASA
Mars News and Information at MarsDaily.com
Lunar Dreams and more

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