The student-oriented sounding rocket mission GHOST has reached a major milestone in its preparations for the upcoming launch campaign later this year.
“GHOST is a bilateral student rocket mission in partnership with NASA,” explains Kolbjørn Blix, VP of Andøya Space, and head of the Sub-Orbital division. “Students from the USA, Norway, and Puerto Rico are contributing to the mission by designing and building several research experiments.”
The rocket’s payload section recently completed its final integration and testing at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility.
“Completing the final integration means that GHOST – officially designated as 46.040 Koehler-Blix – is now ready to be shipped to Norway and Andøya Space for its launch campaign in November,” says Blix.
Students participating in the mission represent a diverse group of institutions:
- Clemson University
- West Virginia University
- University of Puerto Rico
- University of Oslo
- University of Tromsø, Campus Narvik
- Andøy High School
- University of Kentucky
GHOST is a two-stage sounding rocket designed to reach an altitude of about 250 kilometers, deploying student-built experiments along its trajectory. A similar mission, G-CHASER, was successfully launched from Andøya Space in 2019. That mission also included Japanese students from the University of Tokyo.
“Empowering the next generation of explorers is essential, ” Blix says. “I’m truly impressed by the dedication and enthusiasm these students bring to the mission. Their work today is shaping the future of space science.”
“I would also like to express my gratitude to NASA (headquarters and Wallops Flight Facility), Andøya Space and my Co-PI – Christopher Koehler in RockSat-X for helping Norwegian and American students experience such full-scale rocket projects as part of their education. Which certainly contributes to recruitment for space-related professions that we probably would not have achieved without such bilateral projects,” Blix concludes.