Cabo Cañaveral, Florida – A group of spatial weather satellites took off Wednesday morning to closely observe solar storms that can produce impressive auroras, but also interrupt communications and threaten astronauts in flight.
The three satellites rose from the NASA Kennedy Space Center, shortly after dawn, in a Spacex rocket.
Its objective was an observation position in solar orbit at 1.6 million kilometers from the earth, each in its own mission.
In total, NASA satellites and the Oceanic and Atmospheric National Administration (NOAA), plus related costs, are worth around $ 1.6 billion. Joe Westlake of NASA calls it ‘the best cosmic shared trip’ by sharing a rocket to save money.
Heading the row is the NASA Interstellar and Mapeo Mapeo probe, the first to be deployed. It will examine the outer limits of the helosphere, the gas protective bubble driven by the solar wind around our solar system.
As additional benefit, IMAP will be able to provide an early warning of solar storms, a valuable 30 -minute warningfor astronauts who explore the moon under the NASA Artemis program. Officials expect the observatory to be in full functioning for when four astronauts fly around the moon and return next year.
The Carruthers Geocorona Observatory is also flying, smaller than NASA, which focuses on the outermost bright atmosphere of the earth that extends far beyond the moon. He is named after the late scientist George Carruthers, who invented the ultraviolet telescope that Apollo Apollo 16 left on the moon in 1972.
The new NOAA Meteorological Observatory will be driven at a full -time and 24 -hour forecast service. It will maintain a form of the activity of the sun and measure the solar wind to help keep the earth safe from the threatening flares.
Officials expect NASA satellites to be in position and operational at the beginning of next year, and the NOAA spacecraft for spring.
NASA is contributing more than $ 879 million for its two missions, while the NOAA part is $ 693 million.
While NASA already has a fleet of solar observation spacecraft, the head of the scientific mission, Nicky Fox, said that These new missions offer more advanced instruments that will provide more sensitive measurements.
“Just be able to get all that to give us a much better vision of the sun,” he said.
The goal is to better understand the sun to better protect the earthaccording to the officials. As spectacular as they are, the lights of the North and the South will not be the focus of the missions.
During a preview of the next NASA Artemis mission around the Moon, scientific officials said on Tuesday that these new space meteorological missions will improve forecasts and provide vital alerts if an important solar activity occurs.
If that happens, the four astronauts will temporarily take refuge in a storage area under the floor of the capsule to avoid high levels of radiation.