ACE, workhorse of NASA's heliophysics fleet, is 15
Thursday, August 30, 2012 - 09:02
in Astronomy & Space
(Phys.org)—The Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) is Earth's vanguard. Orbiting around a point 900,000 miles away between the Earth and our sun, this satellite is ever vigilant, recording the combination of radiation—from the sun, from the solar system, from the galaxy—that streams by. None of this radiation can harm humans on Earth, but the biggest bursts of particles from the sun can flow into near-Earth space causing a dynamic space weather system that can damage satellites and interfere with radio communication transmissions and navigation systems.