NASA's First 3-D Solar Imaging Mission Soars Into Space

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10.25.06

Erica Hupp
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1237

Rani Gran/Lynn Chandler
Goddard Space Flight Center, Md.
301-286-2483/2806

RELEASE: 06-340

NASA'S FIRST 3-D SOLAR IMAGING MISSION SOARS INTO SPACE

NASA's twin Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatories mission, known 
as STEREO, successfully launched Wednesday at 8:52 p.m. EDT from Cape 
Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.

STEREO's nearly identical twin, golf cart-sized spacecraft will make 
observations to help researchers construct the first-ever 
three-dimensional views of the sun. The images will show the star's 
stormy environment and its effects on the inner solar system, vital 
data for understanding how the sun creates space weather.

"The stunning solar views the two observatories will send back to 
Earth will help scientists get a better understanding of the sun and 
its activity than we've ever been able to obtain from the ground or 
any of our other missions," said Nick Chrissotimos, STEREO project 
manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

The two observatories were launched on a Delta II rocket in a stacked 
configuration and separated from the launch vehicle approximately 25 
minutes after lift-off. After receiving the first signal from the 
spacecraft approximately 63 minutes after launch, mission control 
personnel at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory 
(APL), Laurel, Md., confirmed each observatory's solar arrays 
successfully deployed and were providing power. NASA's Deep Space 
Network antennas in Canberra, Australia received the initial radio 
signals.

During the next two weeks, mission managers at APL will ensure all 
systems are properly working. For the next three months, the 
observatories will fly from a point close to Earth to one that 
extends just beyond the moon's orbit.

After about two months, STEREO's orbits will be synchronized to 
encounter the moon. The "A" observatory will use the moon's gravity 
to redirect it to an orbit "ahead" of Earth. The "B" observatory will 
encounter the moon again for a second swing-by about one month later 
to redirect its position "behind" Earth. STEREO is the first NASA 
mission to use separate lunar swing-bys to place two observatories 
into vastly different orbits around the sun.

Just as the slight offset between human eyes provides depth 
perception, this placement will allow the STEREO observatories to 
obtain 3-D images of the sun. The arrangement also allows the two 
spacecraft to take local particle and magnetic field measurements of 
the solar wind as it flows by.

During the observatories' two-year mission, they will explore the 
origin, evolution and interplanetary consequences of coronal mass 
ejections, some of the most violent explosions in our solar system. 
These billion-ton eruptions can produce spectacular aurora, disrupt 
satellites, radio communications and Earth's power systems. Energetic 
particles associated with these solar eruptions permeate the entire 
solar system and can be hazardous to spacecraft and astronauts.

Better prediction of solar eruptions provides more warning time for 
satellite and power grid operators to put their assets into a safe 
mode to weather the storm. A better understanding of the nature of 
these events will help engineers build better and more resilient 
systems.

"We're becoming more and more reliant on space technologies in our 
everyday lives and are hatching ambitious plans to explore our outer 
space surroundings," said Michael Kaiser, STEREO Project Scientist at 
Goddard. "But nature has a mind of its own and STEREO is going to 
help us figure out how to avoid those surprises the sun tends to 
throw at us and our best-laid plans."

For more information about STEREO, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/stereo

Goddard manages the STEREO mission. The APL designed and built the 
spacecraft. The laboratory will maintain command and control of the 
observatories throughout the mission, while NASA tracks and receives 
the data, determines the orbit of the satellites, and coordinates the 
science results. Each observatory has 16 instruments, including 
imaging telescopes and equipment to measure solar wind particles and 
to perform radio astronomy.

The STEREO mission includes significant international cooperation with 
European partners in instrument development, data sharing and 
analysis.

	
-end-



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