NASA ready for 3D views of Sun with STEREO

To track solar storms more accurately and to study the sun for the first time in three dimensions, NASA has launched twin Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatories mission, known as STEREO that will enable scientists to track solar storms more accurately by taking three-dimensional pictures of the Sun.

STEREO, a pair of solar probes, was launched on a Boeing-built Delta rocket, which lifted off at 8:52pm local time (0052 GMT) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida on Wednesday.

Nearly 90 minutes after the take off, the two spacecraft split off from their launch vehicle and began their respective paths into orbit, one ahead of Earth in its orbit and the other trailing behind.

Designed and built by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), the $520 million project, STEREO is a two-year mission using two nearly identical observatories which after being deployed will enable the observers to map the structure of the sun and study the general environment in space.

The twin spacecraft loaded with scientific instruments will keep themselves busy in measuring solar eruptions from their source, through space and all the way to the point at which they affect Earth's atmosphere.

The spacecraft are placed in a temporary, looping orbit around the Earth. On December 15, lunar gravity will catapult the first spacecraft into a solar orbit just ahead of Earth's path. The second satellite will be pitched into an orbit lagging Earth on January 21. From the perspective of the Sun, the spacecraft will orbit 45 degrees apart, providing enough distance to work like a pair of human eyes that can view in three dimensions.

The eruptions, called coronal mass ejections, are a key source of the magnetic disruptions on Earth and are a major component of space weather. These can greatly effect satellite operations, can shut down communications and navigational satellites, affect aircraft and disrupt electricity supplies as billions of tonnes of charged particles are sent streaming into space.

Now, with the STEREO mission that will provide 3-D measurements of the sun and its flow of energy, the science experts would be able to study the nature of coronal mass ejections and why they happen.

"Right now we can only see the Sun, essentially, in just two dimensions," said Terry Kucera, STEREO's deputy project scientist. “We can't tell in some cases whether coronal mass ejections are moving towards us or away from us. That's pretty fundamental.”

"With 3-D, we'll be able to tell basic things like how fast is it going, is it speeding up or slowing down?,” Kucera asserted. "These are important things that we need to know if we're going to be able to predict what the impact of a particular event is going to be."

The mission is being managed by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. APL will maintain command and control of the observatories throughout the mission, while NASA tracks and receives the data, determines the orbit of the satellites, and coordinates the science results.