VIDEO: Atlas 5 launches NASA's SDO craft

VIDEO: NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory launch today.

Atlas lofts NASA Solar Observatory into Space

(updated at 12:16 pm EST) -- A NASA satellite designed to study the Sun's effect on earth, including the occurrence of severe space weather, was carried aloft this morning by an Atlas rocket from America's Space Coast.

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory will set the stage as the space agency begins a new program known as Living with a Star. The SDO will spend over five years studying earth's closest star, our Sun, and the solar weather it emits and it's traverse across space and upon earth.

The solar spacecraft lifted-off atop a United Launch alliance Atlas 5 rocket today at 10:23:01 am EST, from pad 41 her at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

A beautiful launch, the Atlas 5 lept from her ocean side pad going straight up an before tilting toward and easterly trajectory of 28.7 degrees inclination.

Climbing through thin clouds, the Atlas rocket's RD-180 engine burned for four minutes, 16 seconds before being jettisoned seconds later.


The protective cover over the spacecraft known as the payload fairing then split in half and separated on time.

The rocket's centaur upper stage then took over burning its RL10 engine for the next several minutes. This burn placed the spacecraft into orbital velocity. Thirteen minutes after launch, the Centaur-SDO stack was 2,040 miles east of the Cape at an altitude of 118 miles.

Following several more burns and correction firings by Centaur, the solar observatory separated at 12:11:48 pm.

It's solar arrays and antenna then deployed thus beginning the SDO's odyssey of the Sun and the solar weather it creates.

High Winds Scrub Atlas V Launch Today

High winds forced NASA to scrub the launch of an Atlas rocket this morning from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Launch has been retargeted for Thursday morning with a new launch time of 10:23 am EST. The launch window is one hour.

Wind speeds in excess of the 20 mph rule caused the Atlas launch team to delay the launch time three times before calling a scrub for the day one second after the count picked up at T-4 minutes.

Low clouds may be a concern tomorrow along America's Space Coast, thus the Air Force Meteorology group is forecasting 60% go for favorable weather.

SpaceLaunchNews.com will have LIVE TV of the prelaunch through spacecraft separation beginning at 8AM EST tomorrow.

NASA Solar Observatory set for Wednesday Launch

A NASA satellite will embark on a multi-year mission to research and the Sun's effect on earth, as well as the dynamics of the solar flares which create space weather.

The Solar Dynamics Observatory was cleared for launch aboard an Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral, FL on Wednesday morning at 10:26:00 am EST. The launch window is one hour.

The spacecraft will operate using three science gathering instruments, and according to NASA when the amount of data starts to flow in it will get busy.

The main source of data collection will come from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly, or AIA. Using four photographic telescopes, AIA will focus on the Sun's atmosphere going all the way down to the surface photographing with much greater detail what it observes than on past solar missions.

SDO will send back nearly 1 GB of data about the solar weather every 36 seconds, according to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

"SDO is going to send us images ten times better than high definition television," says Dean Pesnell, the project scientist for the SDO mission. "A typical HDTV screen has 720 by 1280 pixels; SDO's images will have almost four times that number in the horizontal direction and five times in the vertical. “The pixel count is comparable to an IMAX movie -- an IMAX filled with the raging sun, 24 hours a day."

Pesnell also adds that the science team will receive "IMAX-quality images every ten seconds".

A second experiment The Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) focuses on the outer shell of the Sun as it studies the magnetic field. The instrument will basically study the photosphere (Sun's surface) as it looks at the billions of ripples which move across the surface every day. These studies will help scientists at Stanford University work to figure out the Sun's internal makeup and activity.

SpaceLaunchNews.com will have LIVE launch coverage beginning at 8AM EST on Wednesday. Follow our updates via Twitter: @spacelaunchnews.