In the latest news from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, there's a new NASA SpaceX observatory about to get launched into orbit, following complications in the last attempt to send it over to space - the new device will observe space weather, ultimately protecting many industries.
It's always a great day in science whenever there's a new NASA launch, as it often means that our planet is one step closer towards expanding the universe; however, the new NASA SpaceX observatory will have a much more mundane target, as it will circle Earth (in a point between our planet and the Sun that's known as the Lagragian point or L1) to check space weather and thus prevent issues with communications and other industries.
According to website The Mary Sue, the NASA SpaceX observatory was supposed to be launched last Tuesday, but there were absurdly high winds that ultimately prevented the launch. The weather was so bad at the time and place of the launch that there were waves that reached about three stories in height, a sort of tough weather the drone ship wasn't built to survive.
Space.com reports that the NASA SpaceX observatory drone ship, named "Just read the Instructions" after a colony ship in Iain M. Banks' science fiction novels, had only three out of four engines functioning at the time of its scheduled launch, which made its station-keeping even more difficult.
According to ABC.net.au, the NASA SpaceX observatory is a joint effort between the Elon Musk company, the US Air Force, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The project, in its whole called NASA's Deep Space Climate Observatory or DSCOVR will take the place of ACE, an aging satellite that passed its expiration date years ago - and it will provide the same accuracy.
Below, you can watch the official NASA streaming of the NASA SpaceX observatory launch, which will begin at 5pm EST.
Broadcast live streaming video on Ustream
