NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory Arrives at Kennedy Space Center

July 10, 2009

George H. Diller
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
321-867-2468


Rob Gutro/Laura Layton
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-286-4044/8170
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RELEASE: 36-09

NASA'S SOLAR DYNAMICS OBSERVATORY ARRIVES AT KENNEDY SPACE CENTER

GREENBELT, Md. -- NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) arrived at
NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla., on July 9 for its upcoming mission
to study the sun in unprecedented detail and its effects on Earth.

The spacecraft left NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt,
Md., where it was built and tested, on July 7.

SDO will undergo final testing at Astrotech Space Operations, located
near Kennedy Space Center, in preparation for its anticipated
November launch. Engineers will perform a battery of comprehensive
tests to ensure SDO can withstand the stresses and vibrations of the
launch itself, as well as what it will encounter in its space
environment after launch.

After the final tests are completed, SDO will move to Launch Complex
41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. A United Launch Alliance
Atlas V rocket will launch the solar-studying spacecraft into orbit.

SDO will take measurements and images of the sun in multiple
wavelengths for at least five years during its primary science
mission. The spacecraft will collect a staggering 1.5 terabytes of
data daily, the equivalent of downloading a half million songs a day.

Space weather results from changes on the sun, called solar activity.
Active regions on the sun can erupt suddenly and violently, usually
in the form of a solar flare or coronal mass ejection (CME).

Flares and CMEs can send millions of tons of solar material and
charged particles streaming toward Earth on the solar wind. When the
star stuff reaches Earth's atmosphere, it can damage orbiting
satellites and wreak havoc on navigation systems and the power grid.
Understanding space weather requires knowing the nature of changes
that happen in the sun.

SDO is the first space weather research network mission in NASA's
Living With a Star Program. The spacecraft's long-term measurements
will give solar scientists in-depth information about changes in the
sun's magnetic field and insight into how those changes affect Earth.

For more information about SDO, visit:

http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov

http://www.nasa.gov/sdo


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