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John F. Kennedy Space Center
Kennedy Space Center, Florida 32899
AC 321-867-2468
_______________________________For Release: Jan. 25, 2003
David E. Steitz
Headquarters, Washington 
(Phone: 202/358-1730)

Lynn Chandler
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
(Phone:  301/286-2806)

Bruce Buckingham
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
(321) 867-2468						

KSC RELEASE: 12 - 03

NASA'S  SORCE SATELLITE SOARS INTO SPACE TO CATCH SOME RAYS

NASA's Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE) successfully 
launched today aboard a Pegasus XL rocket over the Atlantic Ocean. 
Dropped from the wing of a L-1011 carrier aircraft at 3:14 p.m. EST, 
separation of the spacecraft from the rocket occurred 10 minutes and 
46 seconds after launch at about 3:24 p.m.  Initial contact with the 
satellite was made seven seconds after separation via a NASA 
communications satellite network.

"Today's successful launch adds to our constellation of Earth-viewing
satellites that help us to understand and protect our home planet," 
said Dr.  Ghassem Asrar, NASA's Associate Administrator for Earth 
Sciences, Washington.

"We are all tremendously excited by what we will learn about the solar
climate connection from SORCE," said Bill Ochs, SORCE Project Manager 
at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.  "We're very 
proud of the mission team led by the University of Colorado and 
supported by Orbital Sciences Corporation. This mission is a great 
example of how NASA, universities, and industry can partner together 
to create successful science missions." 

Over the next few days, the mission team will insure that the 
spacecraft is functioning properly. The SORCE science instruments will 
then be turned on and their health verified.  Approximately 21 days 
after launch, if all is going well, the instruments will start initial 
science data collection and calibration will begin. The spacecraft 
will study the Sun's influence on our Earth and will measure from 
space how the Sun affects the Earth's ozone layer, atmospheric 
circulation, clouds, and oceans.

This mission is a joint partnership between NASA and the University of
Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics in Boulder,
Colorado. The mission is a principal investigator led mission with 
NASA providing management and scientific oversight and engineering 
support.   

Scientists and engineers at the University of Colorado designed, 
built, calibrated, and tested the four science instruments on the 
spacecraft. The University subcontracted with Orbital Sciences 
Corporation for the spacecraft and observatory integration and 
testing.  The Mission Operations Center and the Science Operations 
Center are both operated at the University. The University will 
operate the spacecraft over its five-year mission life and is 
responsible for the acquisition, management, processing, and 
distribution of the science data. 

For more information about the this mission to explore Earth's climate
please see

http://lasp.colorado.edu/sorce

For more information about NASA's Earth Science Enterprise and it's 
role in climate change research please see:

http://www.earth.nasa.gov

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