Rocket Trajectory Sculptures

I made this sculpture as a gift for Prof. Kristina Lynch, the primary investigator for the GNEISS mission, which I contributed to.

The GNEISS rocket mission successfully collected ionospheric data describing parameters of the aurora by sending two sounding rockets on slightly different parabolic flight trajectories over rural Alaska.

The two arcs in the sculpture demonstrate the slight differences in these trajectories as well as their azimuthal separation. The base below represents snow-covered Alaska where the launch took place.

I powdered coated the welded sculpture in chrome to give it a space-age feel.