NASA launches Wallops Rocket with technology experiments

NASA successfully launched a NASA Black Brant IX suborbital sounding rocket carrying two space technology demonstration projects from its Wallops Flight Facility on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, the space agency said Tuesday.

The rocket, which was launched at 6:15 a.m. EDT, carried the SOAREX-8 Exo-Brake Flight Test from NASA's Ames Research Center in California and the Radial Core Heat Spreader from NASA's Glenn Research Center in Ohio. The rocket Preliminary analysis shows that data was received on both projects, official said.

The SOAREX-8 experiment is testing an Exo-Brake that can passively de-orbit an object in space. The Exo-brake utilizes nano- satellite technology housed in a 50-unit Cubesat ejector pod.

The Radial Core Heat Spreader is a new heat transfer technology for Radioisotope Power Systems that substantially reduces the component level mass while providing increased scalability to higher power systems. The Black Brant IX experiment does not contain any nuclear materials.

The payload carrying the development projects reached to an altitude of 206 miles and impacted in the Atlantic Ocean approximately 10 minutes after launch. The payload will not be recovered.

The next launch from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility is a Terrier-Improved Malemute suborbital sounding rocket early in the morning on August 11 carrying the RockSat-X university student payload.