Unmanned space probes have revealed a lot to us and along with Space Station round trips, I feel should be the focus of NASA’s development until we have the ability to fly greater distances through space.
The US space agency (Nasa) will attempt to launch its latest Sun probe on Wednesday from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The Solar Dynamics Observatory will acquire detailed images of our star to try to get a keener understanding of why it behaves the way it does.
An active Sun can disrupt satellite, communication, and power systems at Earth – especially when it billows charged particles in our direction.
Scientists want to see if they can forecast this “space weather” better.
The Solar Dynamics Observatory will assist this drive by investigating the physics at work inside, on the surface and in the atmosphere of the Sun.
The SDO is being launched on an Atlas rocket from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The launch is timed for 1026 local time (1526 GMT).
“SDO is the solar variability mission,” said Lika Guhathakurta, the SDO programme scientist at Nasa Headquarters.
Cool stuff.