Orbital SORCE - Manual

Heliophysics
Mission Description
The Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE) consists of a small satellite carrying four
instruments that measure total solar radiation and solar spectral radiation with current state-of-the-art
accuracy. From its orbit at the top of the Earth’s atmosphere, SORCE provides NASA’s Earth Science
Enterprise (ESE) with precise measurements of solar radiation critical to studies of the Sun and its
effect on the Earth. Data obtained by the SORCE instruments is used to model the Sun’s output
and to explain and predict the effect of the Sun’s radiation on the Earth’s atmosphere and climate. In
addition, the SORCE measurements will address policy-relevant questions from the U.S. Global Change
Research Panel including:
• How does the sun’s output vary and what is the impact on terrestrial climate?
• What aspects of solar variability are influencing the stratospheric ozone layer?
Orbital Sciences Corporation, under contract to the University of Colorado Laboratory for Atmospheric
and Space Physics (LASP), provided the SORCE spacecraft bus, instrument integration, satellite
(instrument and spacecraft bus) environmental test campaign, and launch operations, and provided
flight operations support to LASP mission operators during the spacecraft’s commissioning phase.
The mission has completed its planned
5 years and has been approved for
extended mission operations. The bus
has met or exceeded all requirements
since launch.
SORCE has been so efficiently operated
that the University of Colorado at
Boulder (which manages the mission)
presented a $3 million check to NASA
to reflect the cost savings associated
with the mission.
Mission:
• NASA Earth Observing System (EOS)
program
• Merger of previous SOLSTICE/SAVE
and TSIM Solar irradiance studies
Customer:
University of Colorado at Boulder, LASP
FACTS AT A GLANCE
SORCE at Orbital’s Dulles, Virginia satellite
manufacturing facility.
SORCE
Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment
LEO