GHOST Mission Underway: Credits Colorado Space Grant’s RockSat Program

GHOST is a student-oriented research rocket that will be launched from Andøya Space in November 2025. It is a two-stage rocket that will fly up to an altitude of 248 kilometers as part of a larger research campaign organized by NASA.

In other words, it is a full-scale research rocket in a full-scale scientific
research campaign. What is special about GHOST is that the technological experiments it carries are not built by professionals, but by students from Norway, the USA, and Puerto Rico.

GHOST is a collaborative project between NASA and Andøya Space to foster cooperation among students across national borders. It is a unique opportunity to show students what they can experience should they choose a career in the space industry. The students will gain invaluable experience from a real rocket
mission and have the opportunity to make many new contacts within the space industry.

Grand Challenge Initiative

GHOST is part of a larger research program called Grand Challenge, which is a Norwegian initiative. Traditionally, researchers have worked independently to get their research rockets launched.

The idea behind Grand Challenge is to combine several small research projects into one large project, where all participants share their research data with each other, thereby gaining access to more research data for the same cost. The first joint project under the Grand challenge umbrella was called Project Cusp and focused on studying Earth’s magnetic field. GHOST is part of the second project, called Project Mesosphere / Lower Thermosphere, and is the second student rocket of this type.

Read the full article online at andoyaspace.no

Original Post Date: 1.26.26

Image Credit: Andoya Space