SDO

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SDO is classified as:

Space & Earth Science

NORAD ID: 36395

Int'l Code: 2010-005A

Launch date: February 11, 2010
Source: United States (US)
Launch site: AIR FORCE EASTERN TEST RANGE (AFETR)

SDO (The Solar Dynamics Observatory) is a NASA mission which will observe the Sun for over five years. The satellite will be stationed in an unusual inclined geosynchronous orbit, and SDO will appear to hover in a figure-eight pattern oscillating about 28.5 degrees on both sides of the equator. The probe will remain in constant view over the White Sands ground station throughout its mission. Officials selected the orbit to maximize SDO's data return and minimize the time the satellite will spend in Earth's shadow, when the sun would be blocked from view. The satellite's three instruments will take rapid-fire images of the sun, peer into the solar interior and measure its extreme ultraviolet radiation output. SDO will return gargantuan volumes of data during its mission, beaming the information to dedicated antennas at White Sands, N.M. The sensors will send up to 150 million bits of data per second, almost 50 times more science data than any other mission in NASA history.

1 36395U 10005A   26261.02891831 -.00000071  00000-0  00000-0 0  9990
2 36395  34.8428  84.9295 0001519  79.8588 100.9825  1.00275079 60995

Source of the keplerian elements: AFSPC