After a 24-hour delay, the European Space
Agency (ESA) successfully launched the first tandem of four
satellites in its Cluster II program that it hopes will develop
a further understanding of the weather in space.
A Soyuz rocket launched the two satellites from the Baikonur
cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 6:39 p.m. in what scientists hope
will lead to a breakthrough in space exploration.
"This has been an excellent start and we look forward to
the second launch next month," said ESA Director of Science
Roger-Maurice Bonnet in a press release from the ESA website.
"Cluster is one of the key cornerstone missions in our
Horizons 2000 long-term scientific program and it will provide
unique insights that will revolutionize our understanding of
near-Earth space."
The two satellites, given the names 'Salsa' and 'Samba,'
along with two other satellites that will be launched in the
near future, will gather information that will be researched
over a period of two years. Literally hundreds of scientists
have contributed to this project and will continue to throughout
the research phase of the operation.
Cluster II project manager, Dr John Ellwood, praised the
efforts of all those involved in the ESA press release, saying,
"Without the dedication and teamwork of these people,
today's success would not have been possible. Only three years
after we began the Cluster II program, we are already starting
to see the fruits of all our efforts."
Each of the four satellites will gather data each day that is
equivalent to two compact disks. The objective of the study is,
hopefully, to give scientists new information that would enable
them to detect and forecast magnetic storms more accurately in
what experts have termed the magnetosphere of space.
This may seem too abstract to be concerned about, but it
actually would serve a practical purpose to better understand
this phenomenon. The magnetosphere is an area between Earth and
space that protects the Earth from electron, proton and ion
particles fired from the Sun. However, some of these particles
make it into the Earth's atmosphere, causing electric storms
that have the ability to knock out communications networks as
well as satellites.
By having a greater understanding of the phenomenon, experts
will be able to better detect when these particles may enter the
atmosphere, giving them further opportunity to prepare
communications networks for such an occurrence.
The original Cluster project went up in flames shortly after
lift-off in 1996 when the rocket carrying the satellites into
space exploded. From then until the launch of the Cluster II,
there hasn't been any attempt to launch probes or satellites
into space to further research the magnetosphere
