Mesquito

	The Mesquito sounding rocket
Function	Sounding rocket
Manufacturer	NSROC
Country of origin	United States
Launch history
Status	Active
Launch sites	LC-2, Wallops Island
Total launches	2
Success(es)	1
Failure(s)	1
First flight	6 May 2008

The Mesquito is an American sounding rocket vehicle developed for the NASA Sounding Rocket Program on Wallops Island, Virginia. The Mesquito was developed to provide rocket-borne measurements of the mesospheric region of the upper atmosphere.[1] An area of great science interest is in the 82–95 km region, where the conventional understanding of atmospherics physics is being challenged.

The Mesquito is a two-stage sounding rocket using a 9-inch-diameter (230 mm) solid propellant rocket motor as the first-stage propulsion device. The non-propulsive second-stage dart contains a free-flying structural body that includes an avionics suite and an experiment space with interface.

The maiden flight occurred on 6 May, 2008, from LC-2 at the Wallops Flight Facility.

Launch history

Date	Time (GMT)	S/N	Mission	Outcome	Remarks
2008-05-06	18:00-20:00	12.065	Test	Success	Maiden flight[2]
2008-05-07	18:00-20:00	12.066	Test	Failure	Loss of control following burnout[2]

References

"Mesquito". www.astronautix.com. Retrieved 2023-03-07.
Flowers, Betty; Rebecca Powell (2008-05-12). "Inside Wallops" (PDF). Volume XX-08, Issue 17. NASA Wallops Flight Facility. p. 2. Retrieved 2008-05-15.

"Sounding Rocket Technology Development". NASA. Archived from the original on 2008-05-20.

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[1] "Mesquito". www.astronautix.com. Retrieved 2023-03-07.

[WFF-08-17-2] Flowers, Betty; Rebecca Powell (2008-05-12). "Inside Wallops" (PDF). Volume XX-08, Issue 17. NASA Wallops Flight Facility. p. 2. Retrieved 2008-05-15.