Scott E. Heatwole

Current Usage of Sounding Rockets to Study the Upper Atmosphere

Soundings rockets have played and continue to play a key role in the modeling of the upper atmosphere and predicting weather. Dr. Goddard's insight into the usefulness of rockets for this application came at a time when measurements had not been made above the troposphere. Present-day developments in sounding rockets have allowed more elaborate experiments to make measurements with multiple rockets and ejected sub-payloads allowing for in situ spatial and temporal measurements of the upper atmosphere, thus contributing to our understanding of both terrestrial weather and space weather.