Three Cool Space Launches Coming Up

The next month will feature three really cool space launches: Space Shuttle Endeavour on February 7th, the Solar Dynamics Laboratory on February 9th, and GOES-P on March 1st. All three missions are related to Earth and Earth environment observations.

Space Shuttle Discovery

Set to launch February 7th from Cape Canaveral in Florida, Space Shuttle Endeavour will carry one of the final pieces of the International Space Station (ISS), a vestibule-like module called Node 3 and another piece which attaches to Node 3, the Cupola. Node 3 goes by the moniker "Tranquility", though it is perhaps more famously known as the module that was nearly named after comedian Stephen Colbert.

This will be one of five Space Shuttle Launches this year, the final year of Space Shuttle operations. The final mission in the Space Shuttle series will be in September of this year.

Visit the NASA Space Shuttle mission page here.

Space Dynamics Observatory (SDO)

Launching just two days after Shuttle Discovery, SDO will launch aboard an Atlas V rocket from the Kennedy Space Center. SDO promises to deliver, for the first time, high-resolution imagery (better than HDTV) of the sun in multiple wavelengths once every 10 seconds. For comparison, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) delivers an image about once every 10 to 15 minutes. This increased resolution and frame rate will allow solar scientists to observe minute details of the solar surface as never seen before. SDO promises to open a new chapter in solar dynamics understanding.

Visit the SDO NASA mission page here.

Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-P (GOES-P)

GOES-P, if successfully launched, will renamed GOES-15 and with join four other orbiting GOES satellites. The GOES series of satellites provide the weather satellite imagery that is a staple of weather forecasting and observation. GOES-15 will likely be placed in a "storage" mode, to be reactivated if one of the currently-operational GOES satellites fails.

Visit the GOES program site here.