{"id":166150,"date":"2025-09-24T16:14:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T16:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/166150\/"},"modified":"2025-09-24T16:14:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T16:14:13","slug":"a-trio-of-space-weather-satellites-blast-off-together-to-study-the-suns-violent-side","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/166150\/","title":{"rendered":"A trio of space weather satellites blast off together to study the sun\u2019s violent side"},"content":{"rendered":"

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. \u2014 A cluster of space weather<\/a> satellites blasted off Wednesday morning to cast fresh eyes on solar storms<\/a> that can produce stunning auroras<\/a> but also scramble communications and threaten astronauts in flight.<\/p>\n

The three satellites soared from Kennedy Space Center shortly after sunrise on the same SpaceX rocket. They aimed for a sun-orbiting lookout<\/a> 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers) from Earth, each on its own separate mission.<\/p>\n

Altogether, the satellites from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, plus related costs, are worth about $1.6 billion. NASA\u2019s Joe Westlake calls it \u201cthe ultimate cosmic carpool\u201d by sharing a rocket to save money.<\/p>\n

Heading the lineup is NASA\u2019s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe, the first to be deployed. It will scrutinize the outer limits of the heliosphere, the protective, solar wind-driven bubble of gas around our solar system.<\/p>\n

As a bonus, IMAP will be capable of providing advance notice of solar storms \u2014 a valuable 30-minute heads-up \u2014 for astronauts exploring the moon under NASA\u2019s Artemis program. Officials expect the observatory to be fully operational by the time four astronauts fly around the moon and back next year.<\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s smaller Carruthers Geocorona Observatory also is flying, focusing on Earth\u2019s outermost, glowing atmosphere that extends well beyond the moon. It\u2019s named after the late scientist George Carruthers, who invented the ultraviolet telescope left on the moon by the Apollo 16 astronauts in 1972.<\/p>\n

NOAA\u2019s newest space weather observatory will be pushed into full-time, around-the-clock forecasting service. It will keep tab on the sun\u2019s activity and measure the solar wind to help keep Earth safe from threatening flares.<\/p>\n

Officials expect NASA\u2019s satellites to be in position and operational by the beginning of next year, and NOAA\u2019s spacecraft by spring.<\/p>\n

NASA is kicking in more than $879 million for its two missions, while NOAA\u2019s share is $693 million.<\/p>\n

While NASA already has a fleet of sun-observing spacecraft, science mission chief Nicky Fox said these newer missions offer more advanced instruments that will provide more sensitive measurements.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust being able to put all those together to give us a much, much better view of the sun,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The goal is to better understand the sun in order to better protect Earth, according to officials. As spectacular as they are, the northern and southern lights will not be the missions\u2019 focus.<\/p>\n

During a preview of NASA\u2019s upcoming Artemis mission around the moon, science officials said Tuesday that these new space weather missions will enhance forecasting and provide vital alerts if major solar activity strikes. If that happens, the four astronauts will take temporary shelter in a storage area under the capsule\u2019s floor to avoid the heightened radiation levels.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. \u2014 A cluster of space weather satellites blasted off Wednesday morning to cast fresh eyes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166151,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[64,63,128,285],"class_list":{"0":"post-166150","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-space"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}