The University of Colorado at Boulder has been selected by NASA to design and build an instrument package for a new satellite known as the Solar Dynamics Observatory, the first mission in the agency's new "Living with a Star" program.
CU-Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics will receive roughly $29 million over the next 11 years from NASA to design and integrate a suite of instruments for the Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, to study extreme ultraviolet radiation from the sun, said LASP Senior Research Scientist Tom Woods. The LASP experiment, which will consist of six instruments, is known as the Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment, or EVE.
"EVE should help us understand the sun and the output of extreme ultraviolet radiation, which has direct effects on Earth," said Woods, the principal investigator of the LASP experiment. "It should provide information on space weather above 30 miles in altitude, one of the regions where the solar output can affect satellite communications."
Slated for launch in 2007, the six-year-long SDO mission will measure the sun's dynamics to increase understanding of the nature and sources of solar variability, said Woods. The EUV radiation in particular -- the most variable part of the solar spectrum -- can change by a factor of 1,000 at some wavelengths over time scales of minutes to years.
Although it never reaches Earth's surface, EUV from the sun is known to hinder both Earth's space-to-ground and ground-to-ground communications, especially during high solar activity, he said.Ìý
It also can produce temperature and chemical changes in the upper atmosphere tied to the natural production and depletion of nitric oxide and ozone in the mesosphere and thermosphere located from 30 miles to 300 miles above Earth, Woods said.
EVE will consist of three LASP spectrographs that will measure EUV radiation at three different ranges in the electromagnetic spectrum, said Woods. Each will be attached to a charged-coupled device to enhance observing power. In addition, the University of Southern California will provide a spectrometer for the payload, as well as two spectrophotometers to collect photons of EUV light.
The satellite will be launched in a geosynchronous orbit about 22,000 miles high, providing measurements of solar radiation 24 hours a day, said Woods. Data will be downloaded continuously to NASA's Goddard Space flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., then transmitted to LASP's Space Technology Building at the CU Research Park in close to real-time for analysis.
The EVE Science Team at LASP also includes Project Scientist Frank Eparvier and Co-Investigators Gary Rottman and Don Woodraska. The CU-Boulder project will involve about 40 LASP engineers and 40 students.Ìý
The students, primarily undergraduates, will participate in all phases of the project, including the design, testing, calibration and day-to-day operations of EVE from LASP's Research Park facility. The students also will be heavily involved in data analysis during the mission.
"On most of the space missions or instruments we control from campus, we have about one contact a day," said Woods. "But with our experiment on EVE, we will have contact 24 hours a day." The satellite will orbit Earth once each day because of its geosynchronous orbit.
NASA's new "Living with A Star" program is a space-weather focused and application-driven research program to develop the scientific understanding needed to address sun-Earth connections that directly affect life and society.