SpaceX Gets DSCOVR Off the Ground on 3rd Attempt, Forced to Nix Rocket Re-Landing Attempt
BySpaceX has successfully taken the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite on its way to orbit the Earth.
According to the Associated Press, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket took off from the Cape Canaveral, Fla. Air Force base Wednesday evening thanks to favorable launch conditions. However, SpaceX decided not to try and re-land the rocket because of rough seas where the landing pad was situated.
Mega storm preventing droneship from remaining on station, so rocket will try to land on water. Survival probability <1%.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 11, 2015
SpaceX said in a statement they will try to recover "valuable landing data" by attempting "a soft landing in the water through the storm." Less than an hour after the launch, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk reported via Twitter the soft landing boded well for future attempts.
Rocket soft landed in the ocean within 10m of target & nicely vertical! High probability of good droneship landing in non-stormy weather. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 11, 2015
The DSCOVR satellite is designed to detect solar storms, which can disrupt Earth's communications and electrical grids, earlier than previously possible. Its launch was also 17 years in the making. Al Gore first proposed the mission when he was President Bill Clinton's vice president.
"It was inspiring to witness the launch of the Deep Space Climate Observatory," Gore said in a statement. "DSCOVR has embarked on its mission to further our understanding of Earth and enable citizens and scientists alike to better understand the reality of the climate crisis and envision its solutions. DSCOVR will also give us a wonderful opportunity to see the beauty and fragility of our planet and, in doing so, remind us of the duty to protect our only home."
DSCOVR is on track to start its regular operation in 110 days.
"DSCOVR will serve as our 'tsunami buoy in space', if you will, giving forecasters up to an hour's warning on the arrival of the huge magnetic eruptions from the Sun that occasionally occur called Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs)," Tom Berger, director of NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado, told BBC News. "CMEs are the cause of the largest geomagnetic storms at Earth, some of which can severely disrupt our technological society, causing loss of communications with aircraft, particularly those flying over the poles; damage to satellites in orbit; and even damage to power grid equipment on the ground."
