Solar Maximum mission - Definition and Overview

The Solar Maximum Mission satellite (or SolarMax) was designed to investigate solar phenomenon, particularly solar flares. It was launched on Valentine's Day (14th February) 1980.

Whilst not unique in this endeavour, the SMM was notable in that its useful life compared with similar spacecraft was significantly increased by the direct intervention of a manned space mission. In 1984 the Space Shuttle Challenger intercepted it, manoeuvering the SSM into the shuttle's payload bay for maintenance and repairs.

Significantly, the SMM's ACRIM instrument packgage showed that, contrary to common sense, the Sun is actually brighter during the sunspot cycle maximum (when the most number of dark 'sunspots' is facing Earth). This is because sunspots are surrounded by bright features called faculae, which more than cancel the darkening effect of the sunspot.

The Solar Maximum Mission ended on 2 December 1989 when the spacecraft finally re-entered the atmosphere and burned up.

External links

• HEASARC (http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/heasarc/missions/solarmax.html), SMM
• JPL (http://leonardo.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/QuickLooks/smmQL.html), SMM
• Marshall Spaceflight Center (http://science.nasa.gov/ssl/pad/solar/smm.htm), SMM

This astronomy article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it (http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Solar_Maximum_Mission).