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NASA Space Science

NASA Solar Probe Blasts Toward Rendezvous With Sun 90

Posted by CmdrTaco from the bring-me-danny-boyle dept.
coondoggie writes "NASA this morning used a United Launch Alliance Atlas rocket to blast its 6,800lb Solar Dynamics Observatory into an orbit 22,300 miles above Earth. The $808 million spacecraft will ultimately study the Sun and send back what NASA called a prodigious rush of pictures about sunspots, solar flares and a variety of other never-before-seen solar events. The idea is to get a better idea of how the Sun works and let scientists better forecast the space weather to offer earlier warnings to protect astronauts and satellites, NASA said."
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NASA Solar Probe Blasts Toward Rendezvous With Sun More

NASA Solar Probe Blasts Toward Rendezvous With Sun

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  • First we bomb the moon... (Score:5, Funny)

    by PumpkinDog ( 1253988 ) on Thursday February 11, 2010 @12:12PM (#31101242)
    ...now we're sending a spaceship to the sun?? I hope they're at least sending it at night so it won't get burnt.
    • Just remember to wear protective lenses when looking at the pictures it sends back. We don't want anyone going blind.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dgatwood ( 11270 )

      Sending a spaceship to the sun for science without a politician or a lawyer in it? What a waste of a perfectly good sun-bound craft.

  • Sounds like (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward

    ...a bright idea.

  • Just make sure that you hit the thrusters at the right moment or you won't be able to escape the sun's gravity for the slingshot.

    • Mmmmmmm Floyd.

      My Dad used to play that song for me a lot when I was a toddler....interesting.

  • A "prodigious rush" is 16 megabytes per second! Now we know.
    • So a stinkin' probe buzzing the sun is able to get torrents more than 10 times faster than I can at home?

      I suppose they need this to be able to upgrade the kernel quickly when stuff starts to melt.

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by DMUTPeregrine ( 612791 )
        It's in orbit of earth. It's not going anywhere near the sun, at least not much nearer than earth.

    • I would kill for that speed, not so much the latency though, that's gotta suck

      • It's not just the speed. Maybe I should have said 16 megabytes *each* second. We will get 1.4 TB of data every day from this thing. (I'm on a satellite connection, so I have that latency. Believe me, it does suck.)

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Infiniti2000 ( 1720222 )
      I don't know about the rest of you, but a little piece of me died inside when I read the comparison to iTunes: "It's like downloading 500,000 iTunes a day, NASA stated." Are comparisons to iTunes downloads really needed in today's world?
  • ...sadily the craft is made of asbestos, and we connot recover the data....

  • So we'll get a little bit of warning that a big flare is on the way, gps is going to be disrupted, and the air-traffic-control system is going to fail.

    Excellent!

    Dave

  • I can see from my house.

  • Rendezvous ? (Score:5, Informative)

    by mbone ( 558574 ) on Thursday February 11, 2010 @12:25PM (#31101392)

    I think that I will go outside and rendezvous with the Sun too.

    However, even if it isn't going much closer to the Sun than my back yard, it is in a cool orbit [nasa.gov].

    SDO is a sun-pointing semi-autonomous spacecraft that will allow nearly continuous observations of the Sun with a continuous science data downlink rate of 130 Megabits per second (Mbps). The spacecraft is 4.5 meters high and over 2 meters on each side, weighing a total of 3100 kg (fuel included). SDO's inclined geosynchronous orbit was chosen to allow continuous observations of the Sun and enable its exceptionally high data rate through the use of a single dedicated ground station.

    So, it is in a geostationary orbit with the major advantage of the L1 Lagrange point (continuous observations) but requiring less fuel to reach, less power to communicate, and only one ground station (a L1 observatory needs 3, or sufficient on-board recording). That sounds like a major win for this new orbit, which I predict will be used more in the future.

    With this orbit, it might also be able to get some cool pictures of Lunar eclipses, which SOHO (at the L1 Lagrange point) can never do.

    • Re: Rendezvous ? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by zippthorne ( 748122 ) on Thursday February 11, 2010 @01:05PM (#31101846) Journal

      It will be equipped with its own artificial eclipse which will be precisely sized to look at various parts of the photosphere, corona, etc. There is not any real benefit of a lunar eclipse, since the unlit side of the moon would be.. unlit, thus making it equivalent to a small metal disk anyway. I suppose you could talk about lunar mountain ranges, but frankly, the point of an orbital sun-observing satellite is that there isn't any atmosphere to drown out your signal with diffuse light. That is particularly important *before* the occulting disk: the atmosphere can't scatter light that never reaches the atmosphere.

      Good observations can be made if the occulting disk is *ahead* of the atmosphere, the problem being the moon is the only appropriately sized disk for an earthbound observatory to use, and it's on the moon's time. If the moon is what you want to observe, you should be able to get pictures of it from earth as well or better than pictures from an equally distant space-based station.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by mbone ( 558574 )

        Oh, there is no major scientific benefit to SDO going through a lunar eclipse, but I still think it should make for some cool pictures.

    • Re: Rendezvous ? (Score:5, Informative)

      by tweak13 ( 1171627 ) on Thursday February 11, 2010 @01:06PM (#31101866)
      It is in a geosynchronous orbit, not a geostationary orbit. Any orbit with inclination cannot be geostationary and would require multiple ground stations or a steerable antenna. It may also be possible that they are using a fixed antenna and a highly elliptical orbit, and using that to create a long period of relatively little apparent motion from earth during which to perform their downlinks. That may also be how they create longer observation times.

      Either way, this wouldn't allow continuous observation of the sun. It may be close, but at some point it is going to be near enough to the night side of earth to be in its shadow.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by mbone ( 558574 )

        Good point - you are correct and I was sloppy about "stationary" vs "synchronous."

        Inclined orbits like this will generally go through "eclipse periods" twice per year (when the orbit appears edge on from the Sun, and thus goes through the Earth's shadow). Each eclipse period will last a few days, and the spacecraft will be in shadow for order an hour each orbit. Also during these periods the satellite will pass in front of the Sun, which is also likely to cut down on communication due to Solar interference.

        • They're calling for [nasa.gov] more than a few days of the year:

          The disadvantges of this orbit include higher launch and orbit acquisition costs (relative to LEO) and eclipse (Earth shadow) seasons twice annually, During these 2-3 week eclipse periods, SDO will experience a daily interruption of solar observations. There will also be three lunar shadow events each year from this orbit.

  • let scientists better forecast the space weather to offer earlier warnings

    In Approximately 8 minutes, there will be a heatwave along the Eastern Coast, as you can tell by our satellite imagery here on the sun. Now to Greg with a sports update.

  • Some Advice For the Robot (Score:3, Funny)

    by Kozar_The_Malignant ( 738483 ) on Thursday February 11, 2010 @12:52PM (#31101684)
    Do not look at sun with remaining camera.
  • You don't rendezvous with something by pointing a camera at it. I'm guessing the guy who wrote the summary either doesn't know what the word means, or is some sort of deluded voyeur? "Yeah, I rendezvous with the chick across the street every night - she NEVER closes her curtains!"

  • The current administration cuts have affected this program. They realise the expense of sending a probe to the sun is costly and a one-way trip.

    To reduce these costs and to be able to retrieve their probe the current administration has decided we'll go at night.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by IceFoot ( 256699 )

      The current administration cuts have affected this program. They realize the expense of sending a probe to the sun is costly and a one-way trip.

      To reduce these costs and to be able to retrieve their probe, the current administration has decided we'll just put it in earth orbit instead.

  • Oh, great! (Score:1, Troll)

    by dwiget001 ( 1073738 )

    I can see, in the next five years, "the sky is falling" fear mongering about "Solar Climate Change".

    You give them an inch, they take 150 million kilometers.

  • Wasn't this on an episode of Josie & the Pussycats in Space? A bunch of giant aliens captured the ship so they could fly it into their sun to extinguish it. But then those darn kids foiled their plan but suggested they try sunglasses instead.

  • The launch footage posted on SpaceWeather.com [spaceweather.com] is very impressive.

  • NASA stole his ship.

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