The Only University-Owned Rocket Range in the World

The Only University-Owned Rocket Range in the World. . , UAF's Poker Flat Research Range, 30 miles (48 kilometers) northeast of Fairbanks, is owned and operated by the UAF Geophysical Institute. It launches rockets under contract to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Poker Flat is the world's only university-owned scientific rocket launch facility. It is also one of the world's largest land-based rocket ranges., As of 2015, Poker Flat had launched more than 340 large rockets and 1,500 meteorological rockets since it was established in 1969. The largest vehicle launched from Poker Flat so far was 85 feet long (25.9 meters). It flew to an altitude of 932 miles (1,500 kilometers) before coming down in the Arctic Ocean., Poker Flat began operations in 1969 on a shoestring budget on land leased from the state of Alaska. Since then facilities have gradually been upgraded in response to requirements of increasingly sophisticated experiments. The range now incorporates rocket assembly and launching capabilities, telemetry receiving stations, and ground-based instruments needed for launch decisions and space, aeronomy and atmospheric science., RIGHT [photo caption] A composite exposure of four rockets launched within 30 minutes on Jan 26, 2015. The white smears to the right are trimethyl aluminum released to track mesospheric turbulence., LOCATED 35 MILES NORTHEAST of Fairbanks on the Steese Hwy in Chatanika, Alaska, the 5,000-acre Poker Flat Research Rocket range is an ideal location to launch sounding rockets to study the aurora.