Black aurora mission launches from Poker Flat
Rod Boyce
907-474-7185
Feb. 9, 2026
A second NASA sounding rocket launched from Poker Flat Research Range at about 3:30 a.m. today in a mission to study a form of northern lights known as black aurora.
A two-stage NASA sounding rocket launches early Monday, Feb. 9, 2026, from Poker Flat Research Range. The rocket was carrying the Black and Diffuse Aurora Science Surveyor mission.
The 夜色福利 Geophysical Institute owns Poker Flat, located at Mile 30 Steese Highway, and operates it under a contract with NASA鈥檚 Wallops Flight Facility, which is part of Goddard Space Flight Center.
The Black and Diffuse Aurora Science Surveyor mission, led by Marilia Samara of Goddard Space Flight Center, launched 10 days after Poker Flat鈥檚 first launch of the season.
The launch window for a third mission, consisting of two rockets, closes Feb. 20. That experiment, led by Dartmouth College physics and astronomy professor Kristina Lynch, aims to gather information about how disturbances in Earth鈥檚 middle and upper ionosphere distort auroral curtains.
Text PFRRLAUNCHES to 866-485-7614 to subscribe to launch updates. Go to the Poker Flat to view live broadcasts.
The two-stage rocket of Samara鈥檚 mission flew north on the second day of the two-week launch window. The mission was on the launchpad at Poker Flat in early 2025, but the necessary aurora conditions didn鈥檛 materialize before the launch window closed.
Black auroras form when streams of auroral particles temporarily thin or shut off in small regions of the upper atmosphere, creating well-defined dark shapes within the broader glow of a diffuse aurora. Diffuse auroras themselves are typically faint and spread over large areas.
Black auroras look as though pieces of the aurora have been erased. These dark structures drift and evolve along with the surrounding aurora.
ADDITIONAL CONTACT: Sarah Frazier, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, sarah.frazier@nasa.gov
156-26