Feb 11, 2010

George H Diller Kennedy Space Center, Fla 321-867-2468 george h diller@nasa gov

Dwayne C Brown Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1726 dwayne c brown@nasa gov

Don Savage Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md 301-286-8982 donald savage@nasa gov

RELEASE: 10-040

NASA SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHES A NEW EYE ON THE SUN

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla - NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, lifted off Thursday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch Complex 41 on a first-of-a-kind mission to reveal the sun's inner workings in unprecedented detail The launch aboard an Atlas V rocket occurred at 10:23 a m EST

The most technologically advanced of NASA's heliophysics spacecraft, SDO will take images of the sun every 0 75 seconds and daily send back about 1 5 terabytes of data to Earth -- the equivalent of streaming 380 full-length movies

"This is going to be sensational," said Richard R Fisher, director of the Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington "SDO is going to make a huge step forward in our understanding of the sun and its effects on life and society "

The sun's dynamic processes affect everyone and everything on Earth SDO will explore activity on the sun that can disable satellites, cause power grid failures, and disrupt GPS communications SDO also will provide a better understanding of the role the sun plays in Earth's atmospheric chemistry and climate

SDO is the crown jewel in a fleet of NASA missions to study our sun The mission is the cornerstone of a NASA science program called Living With A Star This program will provide new understanding and information concerning the sun and solar system that directly affect Earth, its inhabitants and technology

The SDO project is managed at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md NASA's Launch Services Program at Kennedy Space Center managed the payload integration and launch

For launch coverage, briefing materials, and multimedia, visit:

http://www nasa gov/mission_pages/sdo/news/briefing-materials-20100209 html

For more information about the SDO mission, visit:

http://sdo gsfc nasa gov

http://www nasa gov/sdo

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