Sept. 18, 2006

Erica Hupp/Dwayne Brown
Headquarters, Washington 
202-358-1237/1726

Steve Roy
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. 
256-544-6535

RELEASE: 06-316

NASA TEAMS UP WITH JAPAN, UNITED KINGDOM AND EUROPE TO STUDY THE SUN

To shed new light on the sun's magnetic field and how it impacts life 
on Earth, NASA is preparing major instrument components for launch 
this September on the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) 
Solar-B spacecraft. 

"Solar-B will record how energy stored in the solar magnetic field is 
released as that field rises into the sun's outer atmosphere," said 
Larry Hill, Solar-B project manager at NASA's Marshall Space Flight 
Center, Huntsville, Ala. 

Solar-B's three instruments -- the Solar Optical Telescope, the X-Ray 
Telescope and the Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer -- will 
perform coordinated measurements of the different layers of the solar 
atmosphere. Continuous, simultaneous observations of specific solar 
features by all three instruments will enable Solar-B to observe how 
changes in the magnetic field at the sun’s surface spread through the 
layers of the solar atmosphere. 

JAXA is the overall lead for the Solar-B mission, the spacecraft, the 
launch vehicle and management of space operations. NASA provided the 
Focal Plane Package for the Solar Optical Telescope, and components 
for the Solar X-ray Telescope and the Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging 
Spectrometer, as well as engineering support for integration of the 
instruments. 

The Solar Optical Telescope will be the first space-borne instrument 
to measure the strength and direction of the sun's magnetic field in 
the sun’s low atmosphere, also called the photosphere. 

The sun’s outer atmosphere, the corona, will be captured by the X-ray 
Telescope. The corona is the spawning ground for solar flares and 
coronal mass ejections. Powered by the sun's magnetic field, this 
explosive solar activity produces significant effects in the space 
between the sun and Earth. By combining observations from Solar-B's 
optical and X-ray telescopes, scientists will be able to study how 
changes in the sun's magnetic field trigger these powerful events.

The Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer will measure the speed of 
solar particles. The spectrometer provides a crucial link between the 
other two instruments, measuring the layers that separate the 
photosphere from the corona – an area known as the chromosphere and 
the chromosphere-corona transition region. The spectrometer will also 
be able to measure the temperature and density of solar plasma – the 
hot, ionized gas surrounding the sun. 

"The information that Solar-B will provide is significant for 
understanding and forecasting of solar disturbances, which can 
interfere with satellite communications, electric power transmission 
grids, and threaten the safety of astronauts traveling beyond the 
safety of the Earth's magnetic field," said John M. Davis, Solar-B 
project scientist at NASA Marshall. 

After its launch from Uchinoura Space Center in Kagoshima, Japan, the 
Solar-B spacecraft will circle Earth in an orbit that places the 
instruments in continuous sunlight for nine months each year. 
Following launch, NASA and the science teams will support instrument 
operations and data collection from the spacecraft operations center 
at JAXA's Institute of Space and Astronautical Science facility. 

NASA; Lockheed Martin, Palo Alto, Calif.; the High-Altitude 
Observatory, Boulder, Colo.; JAXA’s Institute of Space and 
Astronautical Science (JAXA/ISAS), Sagamihara, Japan; and the 
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), Tokyo, 
participated in the development of the instrumentation for the Solar 
Optical Telescope. The X-ray Telescope was built by the Smithsonian 
Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, Mass.; JAXA/ISAS; and NAOJ. The 
spectrometer was developed by the Mullard Space Science Laboratory of 
the University College London, United Kingdom; the Naval Research 
Laboratory, Washington; and NAOJ. 

Solar-B is a collaboration among the space agencies of Japan, U.S., 
the United Kingdom and Europe. The mission is part of the Solar 
Terrestrial Probes Program within the Heliophysics Division of NASA's 
Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

For more information about Solar-B, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/solar-b

	
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