CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Feb. 8 (UPI) — SpaceX will launch a Falcon 9 rocket at 6:10 p.m. EST on Sunday carrying the Deep Space Climate Observatory and then attempt to land the rocket on a floating platform.
The Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) will be placed 1.5 million kilometers (just under 1 million miles) from Earth, or about four times as far from Earth as the Moon. It will monitor the Earth and the Sun to look for solar storms and other incidents so scientists on Earth can prepare.
“DSCOVR will serve as our tsunami buoy in deep space,” Tom Berger, the director of NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado, said in a press conference Saturday. Solar storms can affect satellite navigation and power grids.
The second part of the mission will be SpaceX’s second attempt to land discarded rocket stages on a floating platform in the Atlantic Ocean. The first attempt failed, with the rocket crashing into the platform at an angle, but that was largely because the fins that control the angle ran out of hydraulic fluid. Elon Musk has stated the rocket will be carrying plenty of hydraulic fluid this time around.
Reusable rocket stages should dramatically lower the cost of spaceflight.
Rocket reentry will be much tougher this time around due to deep space mission. Almost 2X force and 4X heat. Plenty of hydraulic fluid tho.— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 8, 2015
Painting the name on the droneship … pic.twitter.com/X8R8O4KjPx— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 29, 2015
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