Some NASA missions are designed for very specific tasks, but they all help cultivate an understanding of our universe, sometimes pale blue dots, work. There is a new mission to study one of the more esoteric parts of the atmosphere, launched on Wednesday (September 24), and will monitor the planet’s outer atmosphere range for the next two to three years.
The Carruthers Geocorona Observatory lifted the EDT from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 7:30am. Participate in the National Atmospheric and Marine Agency (NOAA) Space Weather (SWFO-L1) probe on NASA’s interstellar mapping and acceleration probe (IMAP) and the trip to L1 Lagrange Point between the country and the sun.
You might like it
This is because in April 1972, astronauts Apollo placed a primitive UV camera on the Descartes Highlands on the moon while visiting there. The images of Geocorona were superb, but camera inventor Dr. George Carruthers found he didn’t show the big picture. Even the camera, with the moon far away, could not capture the entire exosphere.
It took over 50 years, but his dream of starting a mission to capture that perfect image is ultimately fulfilled quickly.
The new model of the camera is far ahead of his original model, representing 50 years of advances in UV imaging. There are imagers for both squares and proximity fields. The former takes a photograph of the entire exosphere, while the latter provides details on how it interacts with both the low atmosphere and particles from the sun.
That solar interaction is one of the most interesting parts of the mission, as it is one of the main ways that the Earth loses hydrogen. This is one of the main components of water, as we know, important to life. Understanding how that hydrogen loss occurs could help scientists potentially narrow the search for potential exoplanets with sufficient water.
Once you reach the L1 point of Earth Disease, four times the distance from the moon, reaching 1.6 million kilometers closer to the sun than Earth, the Carruthers Geocorona Observatory begins a commissioned sequence. It is supposed to start filming the data next March, with a two-year operating lifespan planned, but if everything goes well, it could be significantly expanded. Seeing our pale blue dots shine brightest, in this case it helps us to better understand the other pale blue dots scattered throughout the galaxy. But perhaps most importantly, it is to realize the dreams of a pioneering engineer and physicist who passed away in 2020 at the age of 81.
The original version of this article was published today in Universe. Lightly edited for accuracy.
Source link
