The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has launched a solar monitoring satellite into space to measure solar wind conditions and monitor solar activity.NOAA’s Deep Space Climate Observatory took off from Cape Canaveral in Florida and is scheduled to reach its final destination nearly 110 days from launch, the Commerce Department said Thursday.
DSCOVR is designed to orbit between Earth and the Sun at the Lagrange point to collect data which NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center forecasters will use to predict geomagnetic storm magnitude.
The spacecraft will take its place alongside the Advanced Composition Explorer satellite, NASA’s legacy warning system for solar magnetic storms.
DSCOVR carries two NASA Earth-observing instruments designed to gather data on ozone measurements, aerosol amounts and changes in Earth’s radiation.
NOAA, NASA and the U.S. Air Force are partners for the DSCOVR mission.
NOAA will operate the spacecraft from its Suitland, Maryland-based satellite operations facility and process the space weather data at the Boulder, Colorado-based SWPC.
