Tue January 29, 2013 If You're Along The Eastern Seaboard, Look
Up! NASA Has A Light Show For You If you're along the Eastern
Seaboard tonight, it might be worth your while to look at the
sky this evening. NASA's Wallops Flight Facility is scheduled to
launch a sounding rocket that will release "two red-colored
lithium vapor trails in space." As Space.com reports, those
trails might be seen across the Mid-Atlantic and perhaps as far
north as Canada and as far south as northern Florida. Space.com
explains how these trails will produce a "night sky show:" "The
sounding rocket that will be used to create the two NASA-made
glowing cloud trails will be a Terrier-Improved Orion.In this
technology test launch, two canisters in the rocket's payload
section will contain solid metal lithium rods or chips embedded
in a thermite cake. The thermite is ignited and produces heat to
vaporize the lithium. "Once the vapor is released in space, it
can be detected and tracked optically. The rocket will eject two
streams of lithi