NASA launches rocket to test accuracy of solar experiment data

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LOS ANGELES, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- U.S. space agency NASA launched a sounding rocket Monday, which will verify the accuracy of data it is receiving from an orbiting experiment measuring the sun's output.

Instruments aboard the rocket will support the calibration of the EUV Variability Experiment (EVE), aboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) satellite.

The SDO, which was launched in 2010, is designed to evaluate the complex mechanisms of the sun. EVE measures the total extreme ultraviolet output of the sun, called its irradiance.

A Black Brant IX rocket, which is projected to fly to an altitude of about 173 miles (about 278 km) during a 15-minute flight, carrying the EVE calibration instrument took off at 2:00 p.m. EDT (0600 GMT) from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

Project scientist Thomas Woods, from the University of Colorado at Boulder, confirmed good data was received during the flight. As planned, recovery of the payload was in progress, he said.

This kind of calibration is known as an under-flight. It uses a near-replica of the SDO/EVE instrument to gather a calibrated sounding rocket observation in coordination with the orbital satellite's observations, according to a NASA statement

Comparison of the two data sets then validates the accuracy of the SDO/EVE data, providing crucial calibration of any long-term changes in the orbital instrumentation.

The rocket calibration flight occurs about once a year as part of the SDO/EVE program to accurately determine the long-term variations of the solar extreme ultraviolet irradiance. This is the fourth under-flight calibration for the EVE instrument.

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