DSCOVR

Deep Space Climate Observatory

Artist's rendering of DSCOVR
Names	Triana
Mission type	Solar observation
Operator	NASA / NOAA
COSPAR ID	2015-007A
SATCAT no.	40390
Website	www.nesdis.noaa.gov/DSCOVR/
Mission duration	Planned: 5 years Elapsed: 2 years, 2 months and 11 days
Spacecraft properties
Launch mass	570 kg (1,257 lb)
Dimensions	Undeployed: 1.4 × 1.8 m (54 × 72 in)
Power	600 W
Start of mission
Launch date	February 11, 2015, 23:03:02 (2015-02-11UTC23:03:02Z) UTC
Rocket	Falcon 9 v1.1
Launch site	Cape Canaveral SLC-40
Contractor	SpaceX
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Heliocentric
Regime	L1 point
Instruments PlasMag Plasma-Magnetometer NISTAR National Institute of Standards and Technology Advanced Radiometer EPIC Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera ES Electron Spectrometer PHA Pulse Height Analyzer

Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR; formerly known as Triana, unofficially known as GoreSat) is a NOAA Earth observation and space weather satellite launched by SpaceX on a Falcon 9 launch vehicle on February 11, 2015 from Cape Canaveral.

It was originally developed as a NASA satellite proposed in 1998 by then-Vice President Al Gore for the purpose of Earth observation. It is in a Lissajous orbit at the Sun-Earth L₁ Lagrangian point, 1,500,000 km (930,000 mi) from Earth, to monitor variable solar wind condition, provide early warning of approaching coronal mass ejections and observe phenomena on Earth including changes in ozone, aerosols, dust and volcanic ash, cloud height, vegetation cover and climate. At this location it has a continuous view of the Sun and the sunlit side of the Earth. The satellite is orbiting the Sun-Earth L₁ point in a six-month period, with a spacecraft-Earth-Sun angle varying from 4 to 15 degrees. It takes full-Earth pictures about every two hours and is able to process them faster than other Earth observation satellites.

DSCOVR started orbiting around L₁ by June 8, 2015, just over 100 days after launch. After the spacecraft arrived on site and entered its operational phase, NASA began releasing near-real time images of Earth through the EPIC instrument's website.

Originally known as Triana, named after Rodrigo de Triana, the first of Columbus's crew to sight land in the Americas, the satellite's original purpose was to provide a near-continuous view of the entire Earth and make that live image available via the Internet. Gore hoped not only to advance science with these images, but also to raise awareness of the Earth itself, updating the influential Blue Marble photograph taken by Apollo 17. In addition to an imaging camera, a radiometer would take the first direct measurements of how much sunlight is reflected and emitted from the whole Earth (albedo). This data could constitute a barometer for the process of global warming. The scientific goals expanded to measure the amount of solar energy reaching Earth, cloud patterns, weather systems, monitor the health of Earth's vegetation, and track the amount of UV light reaching the surface through the ozone layer.