This image shows an artist's rendition of the HESSI spacecraft with the Earth in the background. The lower left image shows a picture of the Sun taken by the Yohkoh satellite. The lower right image or inset shows an enlargement of a solar flare taken in the x-ray segment of light.
Click on image for full size
Courtesy of NASA
HESSI is Off!
News story originally written on February 6, 2002
The HESSI spacecraft was supposed to be launched a long time ago. But,
several problems stopped that from happening. The important thing is that HESSI was launched on February 5, 2002, and the mission is going well so far.
HESSI is the name of NASA's newest satellite built to study the Sun. HESSI stands for High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager. Those big words mean that HESSI will study solar flares. Solar flares are high energy and they can have big effects on the Earth!
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