Tag: space weather
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Starlink loss highlights current space weather prediction capabilities, coming advancements
On February 8, 2022, SpaceX announced the loss of around 40 of the 49 Starlink satellites launched on the Starlink Group 4-7 mission from LC-39A on February 3. For spacecraft initially orbiting at low altitudes, as the Starlinks did at the time upon deployment, many factors can lead to a craft not reaching its final…
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Starlink loss highlights current space weather prediction capabilities, coming advancements
On February 8, 2022, SpaceX announced the loss of around 40 of the 49 Starlink satellites launched on the Starlink Group 4-7 mission from LC-39A on February 3. For spacecraft initially orbiting at low altitudes, as the Starlinks did at the time upon deployment, many factors can lead to a craft not reaching its final…
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Swarm of NASA nanosats to probe source of solar eruptions
This image from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory in 2013 shows the bright light of a solar flare on the left side of the sun and an eruption of solar material shooting through the sun’s atmosphere, called a prominence eruption. This same region of the sun sent a coronal mass ejection out into space. Credit: NASA/SDO…
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DSCOVR resumes operations after eight-month outage
Artist’s concept of the Deep Space Climate Observatory. Credit: NOAA The Deep Space Climate Observatory has resumed regular observations after NOAA and NASA engineers uplinked a software patch to the spacecraft a million miles from Earth, restoring data on space weather and a daily series views of the sunlit side of our home planet. The…
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Japan prepares launch of satellite to probe Earth’s radiation belts
Artist’s concept of the ERG spacecraft in orbit, backdropped by an false-color illustration of Earth’s magnetosphere. Credit: JAXA Japanese engineers aim to launch an upgraded Epsilon booster Tuesday with a satellite to study the origins of powerful geomagnetic storms, phenomena that trigger picturesque polar auroras but could disrupt communications and and damage electric grids. The…
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Timeline of events during Epsilon rocket’s launch with the ERG mission
The ground track for the Epsilon rocket’s launch with Japan’s ERG mission. Credit: JAXA An Epsilon rocket is set to send a Japanese space weather research probe into an orbit stretching more than 20,000 miles (33,000 kilometers) above Earth to investigate how the Van Allen radiation belts shrink and swell with variable solar activity. The Exploration of…
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New and improved space weather observatory goes live next month
Artist’s concept of the Deep Space Climate Observatory. Credit: NOAA NOAA’s Deep Space Climate Observatory, a $340 million mission that spent more than a decade grounded in a Maryland warehouse, will begin warning forecasters of dangerous solar storms next month, giving notice of events that could disrupt air travel, radio communications, electrical grids and satellite…
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Faulty bracket leaves Norwegian satellite grounded
Artist’s concept of the Norsat 1 microsatellite in orbit. Credit: ESA/T. Abrahamsen Officials from the Norwegian Space Center are looking for another launch opportunity for a microsatellite designed to track ship traffic and study space weather after engineers determined it could not safely be attached to a Soyuz rocket set for liftoff Friday. Officials decided…
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DSCOVR space weather sentinel reaches finish line
The Deep Space Climate Observatory is operating at the L1 Lagrange point a million miles from Earth in line with the sun. Credit: NOAA A new space weather observatory launched in February has completed a four-month journey to an operating post a million miles from Earth, NOAA announced Monday. The $340 million mission will look…
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Space weather observatory blasts off after 17-year wait
The Falcon 9 rocket lifts off at 6:03 p.m. EST (2303 GMT) with the Deep Space Climate Observatory. Credit: SpaceX An interplanetary space weather station rocketed away from Cape Canaveral aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket Wednesday, speeding toward a remote operating post a million miles from Earth to help forecasters warn of intense solar…