NASA prepares solar dynamic observatory
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is preparing the first of three Solar Dynamic Observatories to monitor the sun's ultraviolet brightness.
The University of Colorado-Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics delivered the Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment, or EVE, last week to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
EVE will monitor changes in the ultraviolet radiation emitted by the sun because such changes can cause outages in the Earth's radio communications and affect satellites orbiting the planet.
EVE will take measurements of the sun's ultraviolet brightness as often as every 10 seconds, providing space weather forecasters with warnings of communications and navigation outages.
The first solar dynamic observatory is expected to be launched no earlier than August 2008.
Copyright 2007 by United Press International
