SOLAR DYNAMICS OBSERVATORY

Mission

Kind: Solar research

State: Operational

Place: sun

Operator: NASA GSFC

Date

Start:

Duration: Planned: 5–10 years Elapsed: 10 years, 8 months, 29 days

Mission Ending

"Life's like a movie, write your own ending. Keep believing, keep pretending." - Jim Henson

Rocket

Rocket: Atlas V 401

Kind: NASA GSFC

Mass: 3,100 kilograms (6,800 lb)

Launch Site: Cape Canaveral SLC-41

Flyby

"Requesting permission for flyby." Maverick - Top Gun

Orbit

Reference System: Geocentric

Lander

"The journey, not the arrival, matters; the voyage, not the landing." - Paul Theroux

The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) is a NASA mission which has been observing the Sun since 2010. Launched on February 11, 2010, the observatory is part of the Living With a Star (LWS) program. The goal of the LWS program is to develop the scientific understanding necessary to effectively address those aspects of the connected Sun–Earth system directly affecting life and society. The goal of the SDO is to understand the influence of the Sun on the Earth and near-Earth space by studying the solar atmosphere on small scales of space and time and in many wavelengths simultaneously. SDO has been investigating how the Sun's magnetic field is generated and structured, how this stored magnetic energy is converted and released into the heliosphere and geospace in the form of solar wind, energetic particles, and variations in the solar irradiance.