Hinode, Formerly Solar-B Options

[jamescanvin]

Only a couple of weeks to the launch and we don't have a thread for this yet!


Launch date: 2006 September 23 (JST) (22nd in Europe/Americas)


Website (in english): http://solar-b.nao.ac.jp/index_e.shtml


Looks like they are going to have quite a nice data archive system (with MPEG-2 movies) - I wonder how long we'll have to wait for the data?

Wishing Japan a bit more luck with this mission!

[spdf]

In related news this is the final launch of the M-V. Jaxa is developing a new solid-fueled rocket. Despite its flagship missions ISAS wants to develop smaller satelittes up to 500 kg too with two missions per year.

http://www.universetoday.com/2006/09/11/so...res-for-launch/

Solar B Prepares for Launch
September 11th, 2006

Solar flares are the most powerful explosions in the Solar System, releasing enormous energy in the form of radiation, high energy particles and magnetic fields. A new spacecraft, Solar B, developed by the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) is set to launch on September 22, 2006, and will be able to detect these flares as they're forming. The spacecraft will measure the movement of magnetic fields across the surface of the Sun, to help scientists predict when they will build up to a flare.



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Artist impression of Solar B. Image credit: NASA
Click to enlarge
Solar flares are tremendous explosions on the surface of our Sun, releasing as much energy as a billion megatons of TNT in the form of radiation, high energy particles and magnetic fields. The Suns magnetic fields are known to be an extremely important factor in producing the energy for flaring and when these magnetic fields lines clash together, dragging hot gas with them, an enormous maelstrom of energy is released. This boiling cauldron of plasma is ejected at huge speeds into the solar system and high energy particles, such as protons, can arrive at Earth within tens of minutes, to be followed a few days later by Coronal Mass Ejections, huge bubbles of gas threaded with magnetic field lines, which can cause major magnetic disturbances on Earth, sometimes with catastrophic results. Whilst scientists understand the flaring process very well they cannot predict when one of these enormous explosions will occur. The Solar-B mission, designed and built by teams in the UK, US and Japan, will investigate the so called trigger phase of these events.

Solar flares are fast and furious they can cause communication black-outs at Earth within 30 minutes of a flare erupting on the Suns surface. Its imperative that we understand what triggers these events with the ultimate aim of being able to predict them with greater accuracy said Prof. Louise Harra, the UK Solar-B project scientist based at University College Londons Mullard Space Science Laboratory [UCL/MSSL].

Solar-B will measure the movement of magnetic fields and how the Suns atmosphere responds to these movements. Since the Sun is constantly changing on small timescales Solar-B will be able to distinguish between steady movements and the changes that will build-up to a flare.

The spacecraft will be launched on the 22nd September 22:00 UT from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Uchinoura Space Centre at Uchinoura Kagoshima in southern Japan. Solar-B will be launched into a Sun-synchronous orbit allowing uninterrupted viewing.

The Sun behaves unpredictably and will be as likely to flare during spacecraft night when Solar-B would be behind the Earth, which is why we have chosen a special type of polar orbit that will give us continuous coverage of the Sun for more than 9 months of the year, said Prof. Len Culhane from UCL/MSSL, Principal Investigator of the Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer [EIS] instrument on Solar-B.

Solar-B carries three instruments which have been designed to explore the critical trigger phase of solar flares. The UK (UCL/MSSL) led EIS instrument, an extremely lightweight 3-metre long telescope, will measure the dynamical behaviour of the Suns atmosphere to a higher accuracy than ever before, allowing measurement of small-scale changes occurring during the critical build-up to a flare.

In order to make the EIS as light as possible we used the same type of carbon fibre structure, from McClaren Composites, that is used to build racing cars, although being in space will subject the material to many more demands than the average racing car said Dr Ady James, EIS Instrument Project Manager at UCL/MSSL.

The EIS instrument is complemented by optical and X-ray telescopes and all three instruments will help solve the long-standing controversies on coronal heating and dynamics.

Solar-B will give us an increased understanding of the mechanisms which give rise to solar magnetic variability and how this variability modulates the total solar output and creates the driving force behind space weather, said Prof. Keith Mason, CEO of the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council [PPARC], the funding agency behind UK involvement in the spacecraft. Prof. Mason added, With an understanding of what triggers solar flares our opportunities for reliable prediction increase substantially".

The Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, part of the Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils [CCLRC], provided the EIS calibration and observing software.

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

BBC Online have a news video on the mission, STILL using the same 40 year old stock footage of Ha flares

[ljk4-1]

Launch Time of SOLAR-B/M-V-7

September 22, 2006 (JST)
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) would like to announce
that the launch time of the Solar Physics Satellite (SOLAR- aboard
the M-V Launch Vehicle No. 7 (M-V-7) has been determined as follows
based on the collision avoidance analysis with the manned space
system(s)*. (The date and time are Japan Standard Time, JST.)

Scheduled Launch Day: September 23 (Sat), 2006

Launch Time: 6:36 a.m.**

* A collision avoidance analysis is an analysis carried out prior to a
rocket launch to avoid a collision with manned space systems, such as
the International Space Station, which are in orbit. In principal, a
launch vehicle and any of its separated objects should not collide
with manned space systems from the launch until its completion of the
first round around the earth.

** The launch time has been determined based on the best time to
inject the satellite into its orbit as the whole original launch time
range (6:00 to 7:00 a.m.) was found to be free from any possibility of
collision with manned space systems after the collision avoidance
analysis.

This information is also available on the following website:

SOLAR-B/M-V-7 Countdown

http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/e/countdown/index.shtml

Mission website:

Solar Physics Satellite "SOLAR-B"

http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/e/enterp/missions/...r-b/index.shtml

This page URL:

http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2006/09/20060922_solar-b_e.html

[stevesliva]

The launch will be shown live on http://jaxa.tv

[stevesliva]

Well, the video of the second stage being jettisoned was really neat... hopefully it will be available online soon. It cut out just afterwards, though. I hope everything went ok. I think the camera was pointing upwards from the second stage. It may have gotten fried by the third stage ignition.

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/e/countdown/index.shtml

SOLAR-B/M-V-7 was launched from the Uchinoura Space Center (USC).
Launch Day : September 23,2006
Launch Time: 6:36 (JST)

Santiago Station tracked SOLAR-B satellite, and confirmed satellite separation and solar panel deployment. M-V-7 vehicle has succeeded in orbit injection of SOLAR-B satellite.

[MCS]

Well, the video of the second stage being jettisoned was really neat... hopefully it will be available online soon. It cut out just afterwards, though. I hope everything went ok. I think the camera was pointing upwards from the second stage. It may have gotten fried by the third stage ignition.

I was watching it live. I was worried about the video cutting out at first, but since things seemed to be still okay after that (people in the control room weren't going crazy or anything), I figured like you did that the cameras were fried. It's too bad there wasn't a third stage camera.

The video is up at http://jaxa.tv.

You can see everything from launch to where the cameras cut out. For those who missed it, the live coverage was mostly taken up by video presentations about Solar B, the rocket program leading up to the M-V, and launch preparations, with shots of the M-V on the pad and a few from the control room. You didn't get commentary the way you do for NASA launches. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it was different.

The link above brings up part of the launch blog along with the video links. To get the whole thing, go to:

Solar B Launch Blog

[dilo]

Nice video and very inusual audio commentary...

EDIT: and I hope they will publish real time images from 2K x 2K CCDs! (à la SOHO manner)

[MCS]

Nice video and very inusual audio commentary...

Well, they do seem to like counting a lot!

Looking at it again, I noticed that the camera in the lower right panel seemed to get messed up right after launch. Maybe it got coated over by rocket residue? That was unfortunate.

Regarding this being the M-V's last launch, there's a press release in Japanese here (I didn't see an English version), and there's some commentary about it at The Planetary Society of Japan. The entry for August 2 has more background information. The first post is dated September 20, so you can find it when it's archived. In addition to JAXA developing what is hoped to be a cheaper all-solid launcher for light satellites, as spdf mentioned earlier, it seems that Galaxy Express is being tapped to fill the mid-range niche. The list of companies involved is interesting, as is the launch vehicle. It looks like an Atlas lite (the PDF says the Atlas III is a basis for 1st stage development, and it's "lite" because the payload capacity seems much smaller), with an RD-180 as the first stage engine, and LNG used as the fuel for the second stage - though I suppose if that doesn't work out they could always press Centaur engines into service if necessary. There's a lack of recent news, even on the Japanese pages. I couldn't say if they're on schedule at this point or not.

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

Nice video and very inusual audio commentary...

EDIT: and I hope they will publish real time images from 2K x 2K CCDs! (à la SOHO manner)

I havent seen any information related to public release of images, so I dont hold out much hope for this.

[MCS]

According to the first light schedule, we shouldn't expect to get any images until October 25. There are plans to make the data web accessible, though they don't say whether there will be any access restrictions.

The official name of the probe is now Hinode (hi-no-de), meaning "sunrise."

[dilo]

I havent seen any information related to public release of images, so I dont hold out much hope for this.

This is my fear too!
Anyway, I still hope the technical database (thanks, MCS) will give free access to everyone...

[helvick]

First Light for Hinode

[ups]

First Light for Hinode

Nov. 2 , 2006: Get ready for some fantastic images of the Sun.

The Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) onboard Japan's Hinode spacecraft has opened its doors and started snapping pictures. Shown below is a "first light" image taken Oct. 23rd. The light and dark blobs are solar granules, masses of hot gas that rise and fall like water boiling atop a hot stove. Each granule is about the size of a terrestrial continent. SOT has no trouble seeing such detail from Earth-orbit 93 million miles away.

"We have confirmed that SOT is achieving a very high spatial resolution of 0.2 arcseconds, a primary objective of the instrument," says the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in a statement released Oct. 31st. One arcsecond is an angle equal to 1/3600 of a degree—or approximately the width of a human hair held thirty feet away.

full article

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