An artist's impression of the Earth/Sun Lagrange points. L1 is the final destination of the Carruthers Geocorona Observatory. (Image courtesy of NASA's Conceptual Imagery Lab/Christopher Kim)
Some NASA missions are designed to address very specific needs, but all of them help us better understand our universe and, in some cases, our own pale blue dot. A new mission to study one of the most mysterious parts of the atmosphere successfully launched on Wednesday (September 24) and will observe the outer layers of our planet's atmosphere for the next two to three years.
Carruthers' Geocorona Observatory launched at 7:30 a.m. ET from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It will join NASA's Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) and the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration's (NOAA) Space Weather Observatory (SWFO-L1) on their journey to the L1 Lagrange point between Earth and the Sun.
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We know this because in April 1972, Apollo astronauts installed a primitive ultraviolet camera on the Moon's Planum Descartes during their visit. The images it produced of the geocorona were absolutely stunning, but the camera's inventor, Dr. George Carruthers, realized it didn't tell the whole story. Even a camera as far away as the Moon couldn't capture the entire exosphere.
It took more than 50 years, but his dream of launching a mission to capture that full image will finally come true.
The new camera model is significantly more advanced than its predecessor and reflects 50 years of experience in ultraviolet imaging. It will be equipped with both a wide-field sensor and a near-field sensor. The former will capture images of the entire exosphere, while the latter will provide detailed information on its interactions with both the lower atmosphere and solar particles.
A photograph from Carruthers' original Apollo 16 mission in 1972.
This interaction with the Sun is one of the most exciting parts of the mission, as it is one of the primary mechanisms by which Earth loses hydrogen—one of the main components of water, which is critical for life as we know it. Understanding how this hydrogen loss occurs could help scientists narrow the search for potential exoplanets with sufficient water to be habitable.
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Once the Carruthers Observatory reaches the L1 point of the Earth-Sun system, which is four times farther than the Moon and 1.6 million kilometers closer to the Sun than Earth, it will begin operations. It is scheduled to begin collecting data in March of next year, and its planned operational life is two years, though if all goes well, this could be significantly extended. Observing our Pale Blue Dot shine at its peak brightness will, in this case, help us better understand other Pale Blue Dots scattered throughout the galaxy. But perhaps most importantly, the observatory will fulfill the dream of a pioneering engineer and physicist who died in 2020 at the age of 81.
The original version of this article was published in Universe Today magazine. It has been lightly edited for accuracy.
Andy Thomaswick
Andy has been interested in space exploration since reading the book “Pale Blue Dot” in high school. An engineer by training, he prefers to focus on the practical challenges of space exploration, whether it's eliminating perchlorates on Mars or creating ultra-smooth mirrors for ever-clearer data. When not writing or engineering, he enjoys entertaining his wife, four children, six cats, and two dogs, or running laps to stay in shape.
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