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The Associated Press
November 26, 2018 at 3:36 pm (Eastern Time)
The federal agency responsible for offshore oil leasing was commented on of the Arctic Ocean drilling unexpectedly – NASA .
The Alaska Energy Office reports that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has requested a comment while the Trump administration is considering selling a lease for 2019 in the Beaufort Sea.
A letter from NASA indicates that drilling rigs in the Beaufort Sea could be affected by launches from its only range of high-latitude rockets.
Image of representation.
The Space Administration funds the Flat Flat Range Research Program located outside of Fairbanks. The University of Alaska, Fairbanks, has been managing the range of high latitude rockets for decades.
"We are known for researching aurora," said Kathe Rich, director of Poker Flat.
Scientists launch rockets that pbad through the aurora and sometimes land at great distances from the launch site.
"If we are looking for something that is quite north, it will descend into the Beaufort Sea or the Arctic Ocean,"
In April, the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center of NASA sent a letter to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in which it was estimated that 70 pieces of rockets had landed in the Beaufort Sea since the 1960s.
NASA voiced According to NASA, scientists are using rockets more performers, but more and more scientists could use more efficient rockets nowadays. In addition, scientists would use more efficient rockets, we learned more and more often. Chance Rockets are extremely unlikely to break on oil rigs, Rich said. Scientists would not launch them if they thought people or infrastructure would be in danger. More likely, more activities in the Beaufort Sea could limit research opportunities, Rich said.
"The area at the bottom of the beach that we have may look like a needle with all the things we need to avoid," Rich said. I said. "So whenever you have to add something, it can be avoided, which can reduce launch opportunities for us."
Rich is optimistic that NASA and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will come to an agreement. Research is important because auroras are like a visual manifestation of the sun's energy entering the upper atmosphere of the Earth. This energy can affect cellular communications or the power grid
Office spokesman John Callahan said by email that the agency would work with NASA to explore the best options.
"We are happy that they have contacted us to talk about safe operations in the Beaufort," said Callahan. "It's a great example of good lines of communication between federal agencies here."
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