The CHESS 4 unit was successfully launched on April 16 on a NASA Black Brant IX rocket from the Atoll on the Marshall Islands. The mission will study the interstellar medium. It will focus on translucent gas clouds that provide fundamental building blocks for stars and planets. The clouds have extremely low density and the only way to study is to measure how they are affected by a star or a released stellar wind.
Systems reported that the span was in line with expectations. The payload must recover, making it second at NASA with a landing on the water. Initially, the launch was planned for April 13, but because of the wind had to be canceled.
CHESS 4 was created at the Laboratory of Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado (Boulder).
