Original upload date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Archive date: Tue, 07 Dec 2021 09:46:08 GMT
NASA SOAREX 6 onboard probe video, after surviving launch vehicle explosion. Note the burning rocket pieces in the view.
SOAREX 6 was launched August 22, 2008 on the ill-fated ATK ALV X-1 rocket, w
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hich was intentionally destroyed 20 seconds into flight after veering off course. The SOAREX 6 main experiment, built by NASA Ames Research Center, would have attempted to characterize an innovative self-orienting reentry vehicle shape called the Slotted Compression RAMP (SCRAMP) probe. The SOAREX 6 package also included an atmospheric density calibration probe built by NASA Ames in cooperation with the University of Idaho, and an AIS probe built by the United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL).
After detonation of the rocket, the SOAREX 6 enclosure inside was broken open and the SCRAMP thrown out. The probe, designed to activate upon ejection, did exactly that and acquired two TDRSS satellites overhead and an S-band tracking dish on land. It transmitted sensor and video data until it was destroyed on splashdown.
