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Photo by Eric Engman

Photo by Eric Engman

Photo by Eric Engman

FAIRBANKS — Countless hours spent in the lab, six and half years in development — only five minutes in the air.

The University of Alaska Fairbanks’ student rocketry program finally launched its payload Saturday at the Poker Flat Research Range.

The launch kicked off the range’s 2009 launch season. Every two years, NASA researchers descend on the range to conduct Arctic research, and there usually is a chance for student payloads to be launched as well.

The payload’s original launch was canceled after tests found it wouldn’t be able to handle the intense vibrations of the launch. So, it was back to the lab — for another two years.

On Saturday, the core student team of Tess Caswell, Devin Hahne, Daniel Peter and Jesse Frey was divided among different tasks. Project Manager Caswell and Peter were taking care of the payload at the Blockhouse Complex while Hahne and Frey were across the range, making sure all of the data equipment was working at the Telemetry Building.

The 147-pound payload was built entirely by students and includes 10 instruments such as plasma probes, sun sensors and flight instruments. Peter said some of the instruments were the thesis projects of students who have since graduated from UAF.

The payload included four instruments belonging to students from two Japanese universities.

With 20,000 pounds of thrust, the rocket can travel 59 miles in 2 and half minutes, said Joe Hawkins, professor of electrical and computer engineering at the Geophysical Institute.

“It moves right along,” he said.

The morning was dedicated to sending up weather balloons to measure wind speeds and test rockets to ensure radar sensors were working. A dress rehearsal was held the day before and revealed a couple of snags in the payload, especially with the communication links, Peter said.

“We only get one shot at it,” Caswell said.

At the Telemetry Building, a group of visitors, including some Japanese students and UAF Chancellor Brian Rogers, mingled with researchers and students who were manning data-recording equipment.

After the test rockets, Operations Controller Kathe Rich announced the payload launch was 10 minutes away.

“Six years, and it comes down to 10 minutes,” Hahne said with a excited smile.

Hawkins said an average of 10 to 15 students worked on the payload every year, and the current core team of students said they felt fortunate and excited to be at the range to witness the launch.

Hahne has been involved with the project for the past four and half years, while Caswell has been working on it for the past three.

“I’m very excited to see it get off of the ground,” Hahne said.

But not everyone could see the event.

Caswell and Peter had to stay in Poker Flat’s blockhouse to control the payload. Caswell said she was told they would hear a loud noise like dynamite exploding and the pair had real-time video of the launch but that would be the closest they would get. Frey and Hahne made plans to sneak out to the parking lot of the Telemetry Building to join the other observers.

At one minute to launch, visitors readied their cameras in the parking lot overlooking the launch pad, and range manager Greg Walker counted down the seconds. As soon as he finished, the payload rocketed through the sky, leaving a long contrail behind it. Frey and Hahne had managed to sneak out, and as Hahne ran to the edge of the parking lot to get a better picture, he wiped tears of relief and accomplishment from his eyes.

“I didn’t know what I was going to do at this moment,” he said. “I’m just glad it didn’t explode.”

David Leetch also was relieved to see the payload get a successful launch. Leetch is a former student who helped develop the power system, flight instruments and other electronic components in the payload.

“I’m just relieved to have, finally, a launch go up and work,” he said. “It feels good.”

Right after the launch, Denise Thorsen, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineer, said two of the 12 thermocouples — a type of thermometer — fell off the payload, but that wasn’t the biggest problem. The payload had a door that was supposed to open during the launch, allowing a plasma probe to start collecting data. A sensor would alert researchers on the ground if the door opened, but Thorsen said the sensor never went off. The data from probe was of particular interest to the UAF researchers and the Japanese team. The researchers will have to look at the results closer in the lab to see if data can be collected.

“We’ll see what happened,” Thorsen said.

For Hahne, the excitement didn’t end with the end of the payload’s journey.

“What are we doing out here? There is TM (telemetry) data to look at,” he yelled over his shoulder as he raced back into the building.