Watching the sun
Successful launch of the Solar Dynamics Observatory today. It was initially ready to go yesterday which put it slightly over 48hrs after the launch of Endeavour. That is about as fast as the Atlantic range can presently be reset. Planned upgrades are supposed to dramatically shorten that time, and hopefully we will have the rocket activity someday to put it to the test. There was a weird effect when the Atlas went through the cloud layers. It was almost like that when a stone is thrown in water and the sky rippled in every direction. I’ve never seen it happen quite like this before. It looked like strange CGI, and if it would have been a movie I might have thought it a little off. Two very interesting launches in a row.
As you would expect something called the Solar Dynamics Observatory is going to study the sun and all sorts of related phenomena. It’s going to take pictures of the sun in incredibly high resolution. Over 4096X4096 pixels which is about as good as what you see in Imax. It is also going to be able to measure the pressure waves as they move through the sun to develop a better picture of what is going on inside of it like a sonograph does. How is this thing is going to hear soundwaves in space? I don’t know, that’s why they are rocket scientists. Finally it’ll measure all of the magnetic fields that surround and constantly rip away from the sun. The SDO will collect an enormous amount of data, and beam it down to a dedicated station in New Mexico at 1.5 terrabytes per day.
It’ll only be in space for five years, but in that time we should have a greater understanding of the sun and the solar weather it produces. That data will help predict solar activity that affects our terrestrial power grid, communications, space satellites, and will probably be necessary to know if we ever have manned spacecraft traveling interplanetary distances.
One planet away there is slightly sadder news. The Mars rover Spirit has been declared to be permanently stuck, and has become a stationary research platform. It will never leave Troy. However, Opportunity has rolled past it’s 12 mile mark, and still seems to be going strong.
As you would expect something called the Solar Dynamics Observatory is going to study the sun and all sorts of related phenomena. It’s going to take pictures of the sun in incredibly high resolution. Over 4096X4096 pixels which is about as good as what you see in Imax. It is also going to be able to measure the pressure waves as they move through the sun to develop a better picture of what is going on inside of it like a sonograph does. How is this thing is going to hear soundwaves in space? I don’t know, that’s why they are rocket scientists. Finally it’ll measure all of the magnetic fields that surround and constantly rip away from the sun. The SDO will collect an enormous amount of data, and beam it down to a dedicated station in New Mexico at 1.5 terrabytes per day.
It’ll only be in space for five years, but in that time we should have a greater understanding of the sun and the solar weather it produces. That data will help predict solar activity that affects our terrestrial power grid, communications, space satellites, and will probably be necessary to know if we ever have manned spacecraft traveling interplanetary distances.
One planet away there is slightly sadder news. The Mars rover Spirit has been declared to be permanently stuck, and has become a stationary research platform. It will never leave Troy. However, Opportunity has rolled past it’s 12 mile mark, and still seems to be going strong.