Twin NASA spacecraft that will shed unprecedented light on solar explosions that can cause communications and power outages on Earth are being readied for launch at a payload processing facility near Kennedy Space Center.
The Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory spacecraft arrived at the Astrotech Space Operations processing center south of Titusville earlier this week. The facility is owned and operated by Spacehab Inc.
Known by the acronym STEREO, the spacecraft are to be launched aboard a Boeing Delta 2 rocket at Launch Complex 17 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The initial launch window for the mission extends from July 22 through Aug. 6.
The spacecraft will spend two years studying coronal mass ejections, which are violent explosions on the sun. The eruptions create bursts of solar wind that can disrupt satellite and radio communications on Earth and trigger problems with electrical power grids. They also create energetic particles that are hazardous to spacecraft electronics systems as well as astronauts working in low Earth orbit.
The mission is a joint effort of the U.S., the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Hungary, Switzerland and the European Space Agency.
Click to enlarge the photo of technicians towing the spacecraft into a processing bay at the Astrotech facility.
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