Satellites Launched To Spy On Sun

(AP)  Twin spacecraft blasted off on a mission to study huge eruptions from the sun that can damage satellites, disrupt electrical and communications systems on Earth and endanger spacewalking astronauts.

The two spacecraft, known as STEREO, for Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory, lifted off Wednesday night, stacked one on top of the other, aboard a single Delta II rocket.

The lift off was delayed by several minutes after launch managers became concerned late in the countdown that winds could blow toxic material over populated areas should there be an accidental explosion. However, the winds became acceptable about 15 minutes before launch, permitting the rocket to soar off the launch pad with a roar.

Scientists hope the $550 million, two-year mission will help them understand why these eruptions occur, how they form and what path they take.

The eruptions — called solar flares — typically blow a billion tons of the sun's atmosphere into space at a speed of 1 million mph. The phenomenon is responsible for the Northern Lights, or aurora borealis, the luminous display of lights seen in the upper latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere.

"Of the bazillion stars that we have in our night sky, the sun is the only one that counts," said NASA scientist Madhulika Guhathakurta. "Any understanding or breakthrough we can make in understanding the sun and the sun's environment is of direct relevance to every human being on this planet."

The two observatories will provide scientists with the first-ever three-dimensional view of the sun by working in tandem, like a set of eyes, in different orbits.

NASA hopes information about the solar flares helps the astronauts who fly to moon and eventually Mars in the coming decades. Astronauts exposed to the eruptions can receive a year's worth of radiation.

The spacecraft's launch was delayed several times this year because of technical problems.

Scientists plan to release to the public movies and other images created by the STEREO spacecraft, though viewers may need to use the type of 3-D glasses worn for movies like "Creature From the Black Lagoon."

[rasuth]

Wow.. have we not paid attention to the history of manned spaceflight and it's 'collataral benefits'.

I guess that's ok. Eventually planes, trains, and automobiles will be replaced by UAV-style equivalents and we can view everything without interaction

[alphaa10-2009]

Though it is hard to make a case for a half-billion dollar satellite, it is much more valuable than sending a multi-billion manned mission to Mars, merely to report it has left footprints on another extraterrestrial object. At the rate automated remote sensing systems are improving, it becomes a race between what a Mars asronaut could accomplish and what an automated surveyor might. The core of the issue about automated vs. manned missions is whether humans provide a mission-critical advantage.

Freighting human cargo multiplies not only the cost but the complexity of a mission exponentially. It makes no sense at all to claim a 99.99 percent reliability to a manned mission when we must admit to the astronauts, themselves, "We do not claim this reliability for machines, so we cannot assure it for your mission, either."

In the best of budget worlds, we should not be forced to choose, and each mission would be designed by its best options. But it appears STEREO is the wave of the future, not manned travel. And for those romantics who think boggling their minds with space travel is worth billions of extra dollars and years of extra time, they need to talk to the taxpayers who pay for their obsession.