STEREO
STEREO (Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory) is a solar observation mission. Two nearly identical spacecraft were launched in 2006 into orbits around the Sun that cause them to respectively pull farther ahead of and fall gradually behind the Earth. This enabled stereoscopic imaging of the Sun and solar phenomena, such as coronal mass ejections.
Illustration of a STEREO spacecraft during solar array deployment | |||||||||||
| Mission type | Solar observation | ||||||||||
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| Operator | NASA | ||||||||||
| COSPAR ID | STEREO-A: 2006-047A STEREO-B: 2006-047Bn | ||||||||||
| SATCAT no. | STEREO-A: 29510 STEREO-B: 29511 | ||||||||||
| Website | http://stereo.gsfc.nasa.gov/ http://stereo.jhuapl.edu/ | ||||||||||
| Mission duration |
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| Spacecraft properties | |||||||||||
| Manufacturer | Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory | ||||||||||
| Launch mass | STEREO-A: 620 kg STEREO-B: 620 kg | ||||||||||
| Dry mass | 547 kg (1,206 lb) | ||||||||||
| Dimensions | 1.14 × 2.03 × 6.47 m 3.75 × 6.67 × 21.24 ft | ||||||||||
| Power | 475 W | ||||||||||
| Start of mission | |||||||||||
| Launch date | October 26, 2006, 00:52 UTC | ||||||||||
| Rocket | Delta II 7925-10L | ||||||||||
| Launch site | Cape Canaveral SLC-17B | ||||||||||
| Contractor | United Launch Alliance | ||||||||||
| End of mission | |||||||||||
| Last contact | STEREO-B: September 23, 2016 | ||||||||||
| Orbital parameters | |||||||||||
| Reference system | Heliocentric | ||||||||||
| Period | STEREO-A: 346 days STEREO-B: 388 days | ||||||||||
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Contact with STEREO-B was lost in 2014 after it entered an uncontrolled spin preventing its solar panels from generating enough power, but STEREO-A is still operational.
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