The Atlas V lifted off Thursday morning around 10:23 am, from Cape Canaveral on a first-of-a-kind mission. Known as the Solar Dynamics Observatory or SDO, the spacecraft will look at the sun’s inner workings and provide data and information that would allow for greater understanding of the sun and its effects on life.
The launch which was scheduled for Wednesday morning was delayed by one day owing to high winds and also on account of the 24-hour push back of the Space Shuttle Endeavour.
NASA said that the SDO will explore activity on the sun that can disable satellites, cause power grid failures and disrupt GPS communications. The research is expected to reveal the sun’s inner workings by constantly taking high resolution images of the sun, collecting readings from inside the sun and measuring its magnetic field activity. It is anticipated that the data would give researchers greater insight to predict solar storms and other activity that affects the Earth’s population.
The SDO is the crown jewel in a fleet of NASA missions to study the sun.
