Image: Atlas V (401), No. AV-021, with SDO on board before arriving at Launch Pad 41

Description: CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – The lightning masts at Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station stand ready to protect the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, with NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory atop, from Florida's dynamic weather. The observatory, known as SDO, is the first mission in NASA's Living With a Star Program and is designed to study the causes of solar variability and its impacts on Earth. The spacecraft's long-term measurements will give solar scientists in-depth information to help characterize the interior of the Sun, the Sun's magnetic field, the hot plasma of the solar corona, and the density of radiation that creates the ionosphere of the planets. The information will be used to create better forecasts of space weather needed to protect the aircraft, satellites and astronauts living and working in space. Liftoff is set for 10:26 a.m. EST Feb. 10. For information on SDO, visit http://www.nasa.gov/sdo.
Title: Atlas V (401), No. AV-021, with SDO on board before arriving at Launch Pad 41
Credit: http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/detail.cfm?mediaid=45544
Author: Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller
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