DSCOVR space weather sentinel reaches finish line

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http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/06/08/dscovr-space-weather-sentinel-reaches-finish-line/

DSCOVR space weather sentinel reaches finish line
Posted on June 8, 2015 by Stephen Clark

A new space weather observatory launched in February has completed a four-month journey to an operating post a million miles from Earth, NOAA announced Monday.

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DSCOVR arrived Sunday and entered a looping halo orbit around L1, where it will complete final instrument checks before entering service as soon as July. Once operational, DSCOVR will be the first U.S. weather satellite in deep space.

NOAA expects the mission to last at least two years, and DSCOVR carries enough fuel to function for five years.

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The door to DSCOVR’s Earth-viewing camera was expected to open some time after the satellite’s arrival at L1. Its first views of Earth should be released in the coming weeks.

The imager will take a full-color picture of the sunlit side of Earth every four-to-six hours, and NASA plans to post the imagery on a public website.

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1. DSCOVR was the first satellite SpaceX ever launched beyond Earth orbit.

http://spacenews.com/noaa-space-weather-satellite-reaches-orbit/

NOAA Space Weather Satellite Reaches Operational Orbit
by Dan Leone — June 8, 2015

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DSCOVR will eventually replace NASA’s 18 year-old Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) as the primary U.S. space-weather satellite, NOAA said in its press release. ACE was launched in 1997 on what was supposed to be a five-year mission.

Some notable DSCOVR facts:

• DSCOVR was the first satellite SpaceX ever launched beyond Earth orbit. After three false starts, the company’s Falcon 9 rocket blasted the spacecraft to escape velocity Feb. 11.

• DSCOVR was not designed as a NOAA space-weather satellite. Proposed in 1998 by then Vice President Al Gore, DSCOVR began life as a NASA Earth-observation satellite called Triana. Launch was pencilled in for 2003 aboard the ill-fated Space Shuttle Columbia. DSCOVR’s launch was put on hold in 2001 and the spacecraft spent more than 10 years in a NASA hangar before finally launching. Some people still jokingly call the satellite “Goresat.”