Telescope Door on IRIS Opens

In its first step towards science operations since launch, the IRIS team opened the IRIS telescope door on July 17, 2013.

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Learning that Maths is Rocket Science in Ireland

Teachers participating in an astronomy lecture

Before they head off on their summer holidays, fifty-one Irish teachers had the opportunity to learn about using space in the classroom.

NASA Launches Satellite to Study How Sun's Atmosphere Is Energized

NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) spacecraft launched Wednesday at 7:27 p.m. PDT (10:27 p.m. EDT) from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The mission to study the solar atmosphere was placed in orbit by an Orbital Sciences Corporation Pegasus XL rocket.
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Aircraft Carrying IRIS Solar Observatory Takes Off

An Orbital Sciences L-1011 carrier aircraft takes off from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., on a mission to launch NASA's IRIS spacecraft into low-Earth orbit.

NASA Ames Research Center News and Features Update

NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph spacecraft launched Wednesday at 7:27 p.m. PDT from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. IRIS will study the solar atmosphere.

Original Source

NASA Launches Satellite to Study How Sun's Atmosphere is Energized

NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) spacecraft launched Wednesday at 7:27 p.m. PDT (10:27 p.m. EDT) from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The mission to study the solar atmosphere was placed in orbit by an Orbital Sciences Corporation Pegasus XL rocket.
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Stargazer Aircraft Carrying IRIS Takes Off

The Orbital Sciences L-1011 aircraft takes off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 9:30 p.m. EDT on June 27, 2013, headed over the Pacific Ocean to release the Pegasus XL rocket carrying NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, or IRIS, solar observatory.

Launch of NASA's New Solar Mission Rescheduled to June 27

The launch of NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) mission is being delayed one day to 7:27 p.m. PDT (10:27 p.m. EDT) Thursday, June 27, from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Live NASA Television launch coverage begins at 6 p.m. PDT.

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IRIS Launch Set For Thursday

Technicians and engineers at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California mate the Pegasus XL rocket with the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, or IRIS, solar observatory to the Orbital Sciences L-1011 carrier aircraft. The launch of NASA's IRIS mission has been delayed one day to 10:27 p.m. EDT on Thursday, June 27.

Live NASA Television launch coverage begins at 9 p.m. IRIS will open a new window of discovery by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the chromospheres and transition region into the sun's corona using spectrometry and imaging. The IRIS mission will observe how solar material moves, gathers energy and heats up as it travels through a largely unexplored region of the solar atmosphere.

The interface region, located between the sun's visible surface and upper atmosphere, is where most of the sun's ultraviolet emission is generated. These emissions impact the near-Earth space environment and Earth's climate.
Image Credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin

Original Source

Ames Hosts Media for Rescheduled IRIS Launch

The launch of NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) mission has been delayed to 7:27 p.m. PDT, June 27, 2013.

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IRIS Preps for Launch

IRIS Preps for Launch

06/20/2013 12:00 AM EDT

The fully integrated spacecraft and science instrument for NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) mission is seen in a clean room at the Lockheed Martin Space Systems Sunnyvale, Calif. facility. 

The solar arrays are deployed in the configuration they will assume when in orbit. IRIS is scheduled to launch on June 26, 2013. Understanding the interface between the photosphere and corona remains a fundamental challenge in solar and heliospheric science. 

The IRIS mission opens a window of discovery into this crucial region by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the chromosphere and transition region into the corona using spectrometry and imaging. IRIS is designed to provide significant new information to increase our understanding of energy transport into the corona and solar wind and provide an archetype for all stellar atmospheres. 

The unique instrument capabilities, coupled with state of the art 3-D modeling, will fill a large gap in our knowledge of this dynamic region of the solar atmosphere. The mission will extend the scientific output of existing heliophysics spacecraft that follow the effects of energy release processes from the sun to Earth. 

Image Credit: NASA/Lockheed Martin

Preparing IRIS Spacecraft for Launch

Preparing IRIS Spacecraft for Launch

06/12/2013 12:00 AM EDT

Orbital Sciences team members move the second half of the payload fairing before it is placed over NASA's IRIS (Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph) spacecraft. The fairing connects to the nose of the Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket that will lift the solar observatory into orbit.

The work is taking place in a hangar at Vandenberg Air Force Base, where IRIS is being prepared for launch on a Pegasus XL rocket.Scheduled for launch from Vandenberg on June 26, 2013, IRIS will open a new window of discovery by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the chromospheres and transition region into the sun's corona using spectrometry and imaging.

IRIS fills a crucial gap in our ability to advance studies of the sun-to-Earth connection by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the foundation of the corona and the region around the sun known as the heliosphere.

Photo Credit: NASA/Tony Vauclin

NASA Ames Research Center News and Features Update

NASA Selects Suborbital Space Technology Payloads

NASA has selected 21 more space technology payloads for flights on commercial reusable launch vehicles, balloons, and a commercial parabolic aircraft.

NASA Schedules Media Events and Coverage for New Solar Mission Launch

NASA Schedules Media Events and Coverage for New Solar Mission Launch

06/11/2013 12:00 AM EDT

NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) mission is scheduled to launch at 7:27 p.m. PDT (10:27 p.m. EDT) Wednesday, June 26, from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.