Current usage of sounding rockets to study the upper atmosphere.

Abstract

Sounding rockets have played and continue to play a key role in the modeling of the upper atmosphere and predicting weather. Goddard's insight into the usefulness of rockets for this application came at a time when measurements had not been made above the troposphere. Present-day developments in sounding rockets have allowed more elaborate experiments to make measurements with multiple rockets and ejected subpayloads allowing for in situ spatial and temporal measurements of the upper atmosphere, thus contributing to our understanding of both terrestrial weather and space weather.