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| |  | | | | STEREO Cleanroom Gallery
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06.28.05
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The two Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO) spacecraft are currently being assembled at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md. and will arrive at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. in September for testing. Instruments for the spacecraft were built in institutions around the world - everywhere from California and New Hampshire to England and Belgium. STEREO is set to launch in Spring 2006 and capture brilliant 3-D images of the Sun for the first time. Click on the icons for print resolution stills. For more information, please contact Rachel Weintraub.
+ STEREO Feature Story
+ STEREO Animation Gallery
+ Additional Cleanroom Photos
  
Image 1: Engineers unpack a portion of the Sun-Earth Connection Coronal and Heliospheric Investigation (SECCHI) instrument, led by the Naval Research Laboratory. The Sun Centered Imaging Package (SCIP) consists of two white light coronagraphs and an extreme ultraviolet imager. Image 2: A technician readies a high-gain antenna for vibration testing. During spacecraft construction, individual parts and assemblies are tested in an APL facility that simulates vibrations a spacecraft will encounter during its ride aboard a launch vehicle. Eventually this antenna will be attached to the STEREO "A" observatory. Image 3: STEREO technicians work on a spacecraft harness, the electrical framework on which all spacecraft electronics systems communicate. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
   
Image 1: Using a crane, engineers lower the Sun Centered Imaging Package (SCIP) into one of the twin STEREO observatories. Image 2: A STEREO engineer helps guide the SCIP into place within the center of one of the twin observatories as a crane lowers it in place. Image 3: STEREO's lead harness technician at APL inspects the spacecraft harness on one of the twin observatories to ensure its proper placement. Image 4: A STEREO quality assurance representative watches as a mechanical team member integrates one of the four reaction wheel assemblies onto the STEREO "B" observatory. Reaction wheels provide a spacecraft with attitude control and stability during space-based operations. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
  
Image 1: The "B" observatory (to be placed "behind" Earth in its orbit around the Sun) in the cleanroom at APL. Image 2: STEREO team members power up the twin observatories while monitoring the spacecraft from a room overlooking the facility where the spacecraft are being built at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md. The area houses the ground support equipment used to test the spacecraft while they're on the ground to ensure systems will operate properly after launch. This equipment will travel with the spacecraft during their testing and launch preparations at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, in Greenbelt, Md., and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. Image 3: With the spacecraft sitting atop a hollow round stand, STEREO technicians easily bond temperature sensors onto the center cylinder of the STEREO "A" observatory (to be placed "ahead" of Earth in its orbit around the Sun). The sensors' associated wiring was routed to the exterior of the spacecraft's cylinder so it could be integrated into STEREO's main thermal harness. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
Stay Tuned for a STEREO View of Stormy Space Weather
+ NASA Goddard STEREO Web Site
+ JHU Applied Physics Lab STEREO Web Site
+ Watch the Sun in Real-Time
+ Sun-Earth Day
+ First Solar Flares of 2005
+ Fall Storms Blow Through the Solar System
+ November 2004 Auroras Light Up the Sky
+ Earth's Safe Zone Became Hot Zone During Legendary Solar Storms
+ Fall Storms Produce Spectacular Auroras
+ October Solar One-Two Punch
+ More on Sunspots
Rachel A. Weintraub
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
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