http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/ SDO is designed to help us understand the Sun's influence on Earth and Near-Earth space by studying the solar atmosphere on small scales of space and time and in many wavelengths simultaneously. http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/site/SDO_logo_glassy.jpg http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/ February 2, 2009 http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/01/30/sunday/main4765422.shtml Since even before the dawn of civilization, the sun has been essential in farming, religion, and telling time. It's a star that's been worshipped and studied, and so to celebrate our 30th anniversary, correspondent Martha Teichner looks at the history of the sun, as well as a look forward to the future. November 20, 2008 http://www.agu.org/journals/sw/swa/feature/article/?id=2008SW000449 Sometime around 2012, the waxing 11-year solar cycle once again will reach its peak. Between now and then, magnetically turbulent sunspots, spawned by some still mysterious process, will form near the poles in increasing numbers and migrate toward the Sun's faster-rotating equator in pairs of opposite polarity. December 22, 2008 http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov United Launch Alliance and Kennedy Space Center have assigned SDO a launch date between October 8, 2009 and November 6, 2009. November 10, 2008 http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/resources/ar11-10-08.php With a successful functional test, SDO has successfully completed the critical 'shout, shake, and bake' tests," said Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) Project Scientist Dr. Dean Pesnell. September 30, 2008 http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/30sep_blankyear.htm Sept. 30, 2008: Astronomers who count sunspots have announced that 2008 is now the "blankest year" of the Space Age. As of Sept. 27, 2008, the sun had been blank, i.e., had no visible sunspots, on 200 days of the year. To find a year with more blank suns, you have to go back to 1954, three years before the launch of Sputnik, when the sun was blank 241 times. "Sunspot counts are at a 50-year low," says solar physicist David Hathaway of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. "We're experiencing a deep minimum of the solar cycle." September 29, 2008 http://www.washingtonparent.com/articles/0809/nasa.php July 17, 2008 http://7thspace.com/headlines/286404/nist_assists_in_solar_stake_out_to_improve_space_weather_forecasts.html The sun is about to undergo unremitting scrutiny. About six times each minute of every hour for at least five years, a soon-to-be launched NASA satellite will measure the sun's quirky and sometimes stormy output of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light. To ensure that this solar stake-out yields data useful for understanding the weather in space and its earthly consequences, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) are helping a NASA team prepare for annual rocket-borne check-ups of key instruments aboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). April 3, 2008 http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2008/sdo_propulsion.html Imagine a wedding dress or a tailored suit that fit the first time you try it on. That's pretty similar to how engineers felt when the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) spacecraft bus was lowered onto the propulsion module and it attached on the first try. "It's like lowering a telephone booth over a person," said Gary Davis, SDO propulsion subsystem manager at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. "The mechanical people made the operation look easy. It's never easy. There are some mechanical things you can never model and predict." March 3, 2008 http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2008/sdo_overview.html About 93 million miles from us lies an immense nuclear furnace spanning 100 Earths. In just one second, it produces enough power to supply the entire United States for nine million years. It is the closest star, our sun. Although its light powers almost all life on Earth, the sun has a dark side. Storms from the sun can knock our finely tuned technological civilization off balance, disrupting satellites, power grids, and radio communication, including the Global Positioning System. Radiation from solar storms can cause cancer in astronauts on unshielded areas, like the moon's surface. Sometime between the end of 2008 and the beginning 2009, NASA will launch the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) to trace these disturbances back to their origin deep within the sun. SDO will discover how the sun builds up and explosively releases magnetic energy, which powers severe space weather. February 17, 2008 # SDO started its first Comprehensive Performance Test (CPT), designed to make sure all of the individual parts of the observatory work and can talk to each other. This series of tests lasts 6 days and will be repeated several more times as SDO is tested under launch and orbital conditions at the Goddard Space Flight Center. January 2, 2008 http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2007/sdo_aia.html The third and final instrument for NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) has joined the other two at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) was delivered to Goddard in preparation for SDO's scheduled launch in December 2008. The AIA was designed and built at the Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory of the Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center (ATC), Palo Alto, Calif. November 16, 2007 http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2007/sdo_hmi.html The Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager, an instrument for the Solar Dynamics Observatory built by Stanford University and the Lockheed Martin Solar Astrophysics Laboratory, Palo Alto, Calif., has arrived at Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. The imager will use a technique called "helioseismology" to gaze through the Sun at internal processes that will help us to understand the origins of solar weather. It is one of three instruments on the Observatory. October 19, 2007 http://wamu.org/programs/mc/07/10/19.php#18014 Every month the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland hosts "Family Science Night." It's open to the public and designed for middle school students AND their parents. Part of the idea is to show parents the importance of science - in the hope that they'll encourage kids to take more science and math classes at school. And while black holes CAN be thrilling, Science Night organizers say the most fascinating part of the evening is watching families work together and teach one another. Stephanie Kaye reports. October 19, 2007 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/18/AR2007101800528.html?sub=new "Do we have intelligent life?" asks Diana Newman of Upper Marlboro. "It's right here," says Kyle, her 11-year-old son, pointing to a small green stick figure drawn on poster board. The mini alien is surrounded by pompoms, yarn and balloons, which represent planets, comets and asteroids. Kyle's father, Glenn, is also hunched over the model of the universe that the Newmans have created during Family Science Night at NASA's Goddard Visitor Center in Greenbelt. And at a dozen other round tables nearby, more adults and children are spending two hours tackling science-related tasks while learning from one another and NASA program leaders. October 19, 2007 http://cse.ssl.berkeley.edu/segway/ SEGway is a group of educator-scientists working to present the latest astronomy and space science research to students, teachers, and the general public. SEGway actively collaborates with partners across the United States and has developed E/PO (education and public outreach) programs for a number of NASA space science missions including the EUVE, FAST, RHESSI, CHIPS, STEREO/IMPACT, WISE, and THEMIS satellite missions. SEGway has also been involved with E/PO programs for science projects such as the National Virtual Observatory and Stardust@home. October 17, 2007 http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2007/october17/sciserv-101707.html A dozen crickets atop a table: Half of them are crawling and jumping around, while the rest lie still on their sides. Which ones are alive, and which are dead? Stanford students are asked this question and others in preparation for volunteering as a youth mentor for Science in Service, a program housed in the university's Haas Center for Public Service. Articulating the seemingly simple distinction between life and death proves daunting even for those studying science and engineering, according to program director Kelly Beck. But in the process, they learn how to ask the right questions and how to engage young minds in discussions about the whats and whys of the physical world. September 25, 2007 http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/SDO_GODDARD_VIEW.pdf The University of Colorado at Boulder delivered the Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment (EVE), the first of three Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO) instruments, to Goddard Space Flight Center. EVE will measure how much the Sun.s ultraviolet brightness changes. September 10, 2007 http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Science/2007/09/10/nasa_prepares_solar_dynamic_observatory/7867/ GREENBELT, Md., 10 (UPI) -- The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is preparing the first of three Solar Dynamic Observatories to monitor the sun's ultraviolet brightness.
The University of Colorado-Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics delivered the Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment, or EVE, last week to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. August 28, 2007 http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/resources/ar09-28-07.php More than any other time in space exploration history, it's an exciting age for educators and students to be part of. Before the end of the next decade, NASA astronauts will return to the moon. This time, we're planning to stay, building outposts and paving the way for eventual journeys to Mars and beyond. Today's students will be tomorrow's explorers. April 28, 2007 http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=22534 Violent solar events, like flares and coronal mass ejections, are the hurricanes of space weather, capable of causing havoc with satellites, power grids, and radio communication, including the Global Positioning System. The sun is heading into a new season of turbulent solar activity. Just like its seasonal hurricane predictions, on April 25, 2007, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will issue an update on efforts to predict the sun's next solar cycle. April 25, 2007 http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2007Apr25/0,4670,SolarCycle,00.html WASHINGTON - The peak of the next sunspot cycle is expected in late 2011 or mid-2012 potentially affecting airline flights, communications satellites and electrical transmissions. But forecasters can't agree on how intense it will be. March 28, 2007 http://www.gazette.net/stories/032807/silvnew203859_32327.shtml Silver Spring complex offers a variety of educational, health services thanks to partnerships. Herminia Servat, 66, carefully pressed the "Control" and "P" keys on her computer Monday night, just as her instructor prompted, so a flier she had created would print. The Silver Spring resident regularly goes to the Pine Ridge Community Center in her apartment complex to take advantage of the classes it offers. March 7, 2007 http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/resources/ar03-07-07.php Family Science Night at GSFC's Visitor Center inspires discovery and generates enthusiasm in the wide variety of science and engineering research conducted at Goddard. During two hours of exciting hands-on activities, NASA EPO professionals, scientists, and engineers work with local middle school students and their families as they explore various science, technology, engineering, and mathematical (STEM) themes. March 2007 http://allesoversterrenkunde.nl/cgi-bin/scripts/db.cgi?db=default&id=default&ID=605&ww=1&view_records=1 There's more than enough reason to worry about the sun's behavior. Of course, the sun provides us with warmth and light, without which we wouldn't be able to survive. But energetic solar outbursts also disrupt radio links, short-circuit spacecraft electronics, and knock off power grids, resulting in huge economic damage. Moreover, solar panels degrade more quickly as a result of strong solar activity, and satellites in low-Earth orbit experience more atmospheric drag, leading to shorter lifetimes. December 18, 2006 http://www.space.com/spacenews/businessmonday_061218.html The U.S.-led panel charged with predicting the intensity of the next cycle of sunspot activity will have to resolve highly divergent predictions issued this year by two leading solar forecasting modelers, according to solar experts at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco. August 12, 2004 http://www.washingtontimes.com/metro/20040811-095733-2813r.htm "When sunspots change, they change everything in the solar system," he says. "When there are a lot of sunspots, there are storms on the sun. Magnetic energy turns to radiation, and it emits charged particles. When that happens, the magnetic field of the Earth is charged by the magnetic field of the sun." March 24, 2004 http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/03/24/sun.watching/index.html Beneath the buffer zone of the atmosphere and magnetic field, Earth is an oasis nourished by the light and heat of the sun. However, the solar fireball can adversely impact our increasingly technology-driven society as well as our climate. September 30, 2003 http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/goddardnews/20030905/sdo.html The Dynamic Sun Workshop is the brainchild of Dr. Barbara Thompson, Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) Project Scientist here at NASA Goddard. The SDO scientists developed a workshop geared towards engineers who have a desire to do outreach would be a great way to empower NASA employees to get the NASA vision out to the community at large. August 26, 2002 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/08/020826070938.htm NASA has selected a team of astrophysicists at Stanford University to design and oversee the primary experiment aboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) a new research satellite scheduled for launch in August 2007. According to NASA officials, part of SDO's mission is to learn how to predict destructive flares and solar storms generated by the Sun's mysterious magnetic fields. The satellite will be designed to remain in geosynchronous orbit 22,000 miles above Earth for at least five years, providing a constant stream of data about the complex magnetic fields generated deep in the solar interior. August 21, 2002 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/08/020821070823.htm NASA has selected three proposals for implementation for the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) mission. The SDO is the first in a series of missions in the Living With a Star (LWS) Program. SDO flight instruments will be flown on a NASA-supplied Sun-pointing spacecraft in geosynchronous orbit that NASA intends to launch in August 2007 for a prime mission of five years. August 19, 2002 http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0208/20sdo/ NASA has selected three proposals for implementation for the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) mission. The SDO is the first in a series of missions in the Living With a Star (LWS) Program. SDO flight instruments will be flown on a NASA-supplied Sun-pointing spacecraft in geosynchronous orbit that NASA intends to launch in August 2007 for a prime mission of five years. August 19, 2002 http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/sdo_pr_08192002.pdf NASA has selected three proposals for implementation for the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) mission. The SDO is the first in a series of missions in the Living With a Star (LWS) Program. SDO flight instruments will be flown on a NASA-supplied Sun-pointing spacecraft in geosynchronous orbit that NASA intends to launch in August 2007 for a prime mission of five years.