Welcome to the web page of the Johns Hopkins University Sounding Rocket Program. The Rocket Program is a research group in the Henry A. Rowland Department of Physics and Astronomy. The Rocket Program at JHU was founded in 1961 by G. Dieke and W. Fastie. Since then, the group has launched over 70 sounding rockets, from Aerobee class rockets to the two stage Terrier-Black Brants and observed targets including but not limited to the Earth's aurora, Venus, Jupiter, several comets including Halley and Hale-Bopp, the Io Plasma Torus, a Solar eclipse, several hot star calibrations, reflection and planetary nebulae, and the first Ultraviolet observation of quasar 3C273. These observations have lead to over 30 Ph.D. theses since the inception of the program.

Watch the Launch of 36.243!

The group specializes in the development of Ultraviolet (UV) instrumentation and observation of targets in the 900-2000 Å  wavelength range. As these wavelengths of light are strongly attenuated by the Earth's atmosphere, these observations can only be made by sounding rockets or orbiting telescopes.

The Rocket Program has also been intimately involved with a number of related NASA programs, including the Apollo 17 Ultraviolet Spectrometer Experiment, the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope, and observing programs using the Copernicus, IUE, and FUSE observatories.

Rocket Group Personnel

Recent Launches

Recent Publications

Sounding Rocket Photo Album

General Description of Sounding Rockets

Sounding Rocket Links