<\/p>\n SunRISE will fly to space<\/a> as part of a rideshare mission sponsored by the U.S. Space Force’s (USSF’s) Space Systems Command (SSC). Though it’s not stated specifically in the NASA<\/a> release, that may be a hint as to why the mission’s rocket was changed. On its most recent launch, USSF-87, Vulcan experienced an anomaly in one of its solid rocket boosters<\/a> \u2014 the second such incident to occur during the rocket’s four launches to date.<\/p>\n Vulcan succeeded in delivering the USSF-87 payload to its designated orbit on that launch, but the recurrence of the booster issue during ascent prompted the Space Force<\/a> to pause national security launches on Vulcan<\/a> until it could be addressed. Which mission SunRISE will be manifested on has not yet been released, but SSC has already shifted other launches<\/a> between Vulcan and SpaceX’s Falcon 9<\/a>, so NASA’s change in rockets for SunRISE could indicate either that the mission has been remanifested on a different SSC rideshare, or that another SSC mission has been shifted from Vulcan entirely.<\/p>\n SunRISE is a heliophysics study under the NASA Science Mission Directorate’s “missions of opportunity” umbrella and is part of the Explorers Program run by Goddard Space Flight Center<\/a> in Greenbelt, Maryland. It consists of six small satellites, each about the size of a mailbox. The mini-constellation’s mission is led by scientists at the University of Michigan and will be managed out of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory<\/a> in Southern California.<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n The half-dozen smallsats will be delivered to an orbit about 22,000 miles (35,000 kilometers) above Earth<\/a> \u2014 just above a geostationary parking altitude \u2014 and fly in a giant 10-mile (16-km) “X” formation, each extending its roughly 10-foot (2.5-meter) antenna booms to act as a single large radio telescope to track solar radio bursts. These kinds of bursts travel faster than the energetic particles from a solar storm, and precede their arrival when shot towards Earth.<\/p>\n Powerful solar storms, like the one that hit Earth in January<\/a>, are capable of disrupting<\/a> or disabling satellites by interfering with onboard electronics, sensitive instruments and communications systems. If a storm is severe enough, it can pose a radiation threat to astronauts in orbit and even airborne passengers flying near Earth’s poles<\/a>, where the planet’s magnetic field<\/a> is weaker.<\/p>\n \n The SunRISE satellites, seen at left, will fly in formation, illustrated on the right, working as one large radio telescope in Earth orbit. (Image credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech)<\/p>\n SunRISE will help researchers better understand the behavior of incoming solar radio bursts, but the mission won’t serve as an alert system by itself. Instead, scientists will use data collected by the spacecraft to improve prediction models for impending space weather<\/a>, which in turn could lead to mitigation plans to better thwart the effects of such solar events on orbital infrastructure.<\/p>\n Falcon Heavy is SpaceX<\/a>‘s heavy-lift launch vehicle, capable of launching up to 58,860 pounds (26,700 kg) to geostationary transfer orbit. It’s a triple-booster rocket that consists of three modified Falcon 9 first stages, and has launched 12 times since it debuted in 2018. Four of those have delivered national security payloads to orbit, with the most recent of those, USSF-52, launching in December 2023. Falcon Heavy’s most recent flight overall occurred this past April, when it sent the Viasat-3 F3 telecom satellite to orbit<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Space\"](\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/media\/img\/spc-logo-w.svg\"){kind=logo}
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