Two "space weather" satellites are scheduled to lift off on Wednesday night on a $550 million mission to observe the sun in three dimensions.
October 25, 2006 (Press Release) --
Two "space weather" satellites are scheduled to lift off on Wednesday night on a $550 million mission to observe the sun in three dimensions.
Carrying 16 instruments each, the satellites are to help scientists predict the billion-ton eruptions of electrified gas and deadly particles known as coronal mass ejections that cause the Northern Lights and can disrupt power grids on Earth.
The mission, called Stereo, for Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory, is the first in which NASA will use the tug of the moon's gravity to send spacecraft to their final orbits.
To gather 3-D views of the sun, the two satellites have to fly in separate orbits so they can perceive depth, like a pair of human eyes. The orbits will closely track the Earth's, but the two satellites will gradually separate, so that in four years they will be on opposite sides of the sun.
The project scientist for the mission, Michael Kaiser, said the coronal mass ejections were the most powerful solar phenomena.
"They also cause electrical damage to spacecraft that are in orbit or even the ground power systems and, conceivably, even astronauts if they were exposed to one of these storms," Kaiser said.
Russ Howard, a scientist with the Naval Research Laboratory, said the eruptions were a concern to fliers on polar routes, where the number of solar particles is much higher than normal and the Earth's protective magnetic field is weaker.
Kaiser said that at different times on the mission, each instrument would be at its most favorable position to study solar features.
Another mission scientist, Janet G. Luhmann of the University of California, Los Angeles, said that even when the stereoscopic ability was limited the satellites would "have a broadside view of the speed at which things are approaching the Earth."
"So it's really a very good space weather forecast," Luhmann said.
The mission had originally been scheduled to fly last April, but was repeatedly delayed by instrument problems.
Author: STEFANO S. COLEDAN
Source: http://www.chron.com/
Carrying 16 instruments each, the satellites are to help scientists predict the billion-ton eruptions of electrified gas and deadly particles known as coronal mass ejections that cause the Northern Lights and can disrupt power grids on Earth.
The mission, called Stereo, for Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory, is the first in which NASA will use the tug of the moon's gravity to send spacecraft to their final orbits.
To gather 3-D views of the sun, the two satellites have to fly in separate orbits so they can perceive depth, like a pair of human eyes. The orbits will closely track the Earth's, but the two satellites will gradually separate, so that in four years they will be on opposite sides of the sun.
The project scientist for the mission, Michael Kaiser, said the coronal mass ejections were the most powerful solar phenomena.
"They also cause electrical damage to spacecraft that are in orbit or even the ground power systems and, conceivably, even astronauts if they were exposed to one of these storms," Kaiser said.
Russ Howard, a scientist with the Naval Research Laboratory, said the eruptions were a concern to fliers on polar routes, where the number of solar particles is much higher than normal and the Earth's protective magnetic field is weaker.
Kaiser said that at different times on the mission, each instrument would be at its most favorable position to study solar features.
Another mission scientist, Janet G. Luhmann of the University of California, Los Angeles, said that even when the stereoscopic ability was limited the satellites would "have a broadside view of the speed at which things are approaching the Earth."
"So it's really a very good space weather forecast," Luhmann said.
The mission had originally been scheduled to fly last April, but was repeatedly delayed by instrument problems.
Author: STEFANO S. COLEDAN
Source: http://www.chron.com/
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