On Feb 5, 2010, at 1:37 PM, Derek C Breit wrote:
> On February 9th at no earlier than 10:30am EST, the Solar Dynamics
> Observatory (SDO) will be launching aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V
> rocket.
> The goal of this mission is to give astronomers a closer look at the
> sun and help us understand the source of the sun's energy so spaceweather
> can better be predicted. SDO is different compared to other satellites in
> that it will be collecting enough data to fill a single CD every thirty-six
> SECONDS! Not only that, but SDO has no data recording system here on Earth
> where its data will be stored, so it essentially has to build its own. In
> order for this to happen, SDO will be placed in a geosynchronous orbit and
> will remain constantly in orbit above its ground communication station in
> New Mexico.
>
>
>
> Derek
>
>
> PS.. I will want to see this one.. :-))
>
Me too -- I've been involved in SDO since 2001 (when we wrote a proposal to NASA to
build the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly at our lab -- LMSAL). It's my understanding
that SDO launch will slip if the Shuttle launch slips. I'd love to see some pictures of the
satellite when it's up. Anyone up for the challenge?
Cheers,
Bart
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bart De Pontieu -- Lockheed Martin Solar & Astrophysics Lab, Palo Alto
bdp@lmsal.com -- 3251 Hanover St., Org. ADBS, Bldg. 252, CA 94304
http://leffe.lmsal.com/bdp -- Phone 1-650-424-3094 / Fax 1-650-424-3994
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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