Time to celebrate!
SORCE in orbit 6 months!
Mission
Update –
The days and months have flown by since SORCE was launched January
25th. We certainly have something to celebrate and be proud
of! This is a great achievement and everyone is looking forward
to a very long and scientifically rewarding mission.
The SORCE team is very pleased with SORCE’s progress to
date and they are delighted to be on the way to meeting the
mission long-term science objectives. These objectives are:
1) to extend the current 24-year record of TSI measurements,
2) to establish a data set of SSI with daily measurements over
the wavelength (color) range from 1 nm to 2000 nm, and 3) to
improve our understanding of the Sun’s variability and
its effect on our atmosphere and climate.
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Spacecraft
and Instrument Status –
All spacecraft systems continue to perform exceptionally well. The
spacecraft is in its nominal Sun pointing mode, and is making two
scheduled ground contacts each day. New experiment commands are
up-loaded daily to the spacecraft, and the quality and quantity
of solar data continues to expand.
Operating in normal mode, SORCE instruments are making excellent
daily solar observations, with nightly stellar observations for
calibration. Scientists and engineers continue to verify the instrument
calibrations and data processing software. The preliminary data
products generated are reviewed as scientists work towards data
validation by improving data processing code. This process will
continue for months. Data are being distributed to the science community
through the Goddard Space Flight Center DAAC.
SORCE
Science Meeting
December 4-6, Sonoma, California –
The next
SORCE Science Meeting – Physical Processes Linking
Solar Variability with Global Change – is
scheduled for December 4–6, 2003 in Sonoma, California.
The SORCE meeting dates have been selected to accommodate people
wanting to attend the AGU meeting, which is the following week
in San Francisco.
The meeting will be devoted to our understanding of the physical
processes that connect the Sun’s radiation and its variability
to our terrestrial environment, including the direct and indirect
processes that cause this solar forcing and the mechanisms that
cause solar variations. The agenda will consist of both invited
and contributed oral presentations and posters, and the Call for
Papers will be coming out in early August.
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