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36.289 US DIDKOVSKY/UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Degradation Free Spectrometers (DFS)
- Mission
- Vehicle
- Launch
- Photos
36.289 US Terrier-Black Brant was launched from White Sands Missile Range on July 22, 2014. This was a re-fly of the 36.263 payload that contained the new prototype experiment instruments known as the Degradation Free Spectrometers (DFS) for Solar Physics. The mission objectives are to:
- Improve our knowledge of solar physics driven spectral variability over all solar cycle time scales through stable, radiometrically accurate spectral irradiance measurements in the highly dynamic EUV/soft X-ray range. These are improvements on the previous work for SDO/EVE/ESP and SOHO/SEM.
- Demonstrate flight quality, degradation-free solar EUV and soft X-ray flight instruments such as the Dual Grating Spectrometer (DGS) and the Optics- Free Spectrometer (OFS).
- Provide well calibrated, significantly improved absolute irradiance measurements (with instrument response functions measured at the NIST SURF synchrotron facility) for inter-calibration with on-orbit EUV instrumentation.
The Principal Investigator is Dr. Leonid Didkovsky/University of Southern California.
For more information about this mission, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/mission-to-study-the-suns-energy/
![Drawing of a Terrier-Black Brant sounding rocket](../images/vehicles/Terrier-Black-Brant-sm.png)
The Black Brant 9 is a two stage sounding rocket with a Terrier first stage and Black Brant second stage. The Black Brant 9 can reach altitudes of about 600 km. Payloads weighing from 400 to 1200 pounds can be flown.
![Google Earth Map showing White Sands Missile Range.](../images/WSMR.jpg)
The Degradation Free Spectrometers mission was launched from White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico on July 22, 2014.