- Miami on track for MLS record points after win in Toronto
- Madrid beat Villarreal but Carvajal suffers knee injury
- Madrid beat Villarreal to move level with Liga leaders Barcelona
- Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- French rugby player on rape charge whistled but 'serene' on return
- Madrid beat Villarreal to level Liga leaders Barca
- Thuram treble fires Inter past Torino and up to second
- 'Fight': defiant Trump jets in to site of rally shooting
- Toddler among 3 dead in migrant Channel crossings
- Mexico City's new mayor sworn in with pledges on water, housing
- Israel on alert ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Guardians maul Tigers in MLB playoff series opener
- Macron criticises Israel on Gaza, Lebanon operations
- French rugby player whistled but 'serene' on return amid ongoing rape case
- Kovacic stars as Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- France's Auradou whistled on Pau return in Perpignan loss amid ongoing rape case
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Arsenal hit back in style after Southampton scare
- Thousands march for Palestinians ahead of Oct 7 anniversary
- Hezbollah heir apparent Safieddine out of contact after strikes
- Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win
- In dank Tour of Emilia, Pogacar shines in rainbow jersey
- DR Congo launches mpox vaccination drive, hoping to curb outbreak
- Trump returns to site of failed assassination
- Careless Leverkusen held to Bundesliga draw
- O'Brien's 'superstar' Kyprios posts landmark win on Arc weekend
- Toddler crushed to death in migrant Channel crossing
- Liverpool suffer Alisson injury blow
- Habosi helps Racing beat Vannes before Auradou's playing return
- Thousands march in London in support of Palestinians, 1 year after Oct 7
- Israel readying response to Iran missile attack
- Schutt, Mooney help Australia beat Sri Lanka in Women's T20 World Cup
- Liverpool extend Premier League lead with win at Palace
- Djokovic 'shakes rust off' to make third round of Shanghai Masters
- 'Imperfect' PSG fighting on all fronts - Luis Enrique
- Struggling Pakistan look to thwart adaptable England
- Child 'trampled to death' in asylum seekers' Channel crossing: minister
- Gauff fights back to set up Beijing final against Muchova
- Guardiola claims Premier League won't delay season for Man City
- Israel to mark October 7 attack as Gaza war spreads
- Gauff fights back to reach China Open final
- Recovering Stokes ruled out of first Pakistan Test
- Hezbollah battles troops on border as Israel pounds Lebanon
- Alcaraz, Sinner breeze into third round of Shanghai Masters
US launches satellite to better prepare for space weather
The United States on Tuesday launched a new satellite expected to significantly improve forecasts of solar flares and coronal mass ejections -- huge plasma bubbles that can crash into Earth, disrupting power grids and communications.
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket carrying the satellite into orbit took off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 5:26 pm (2126 GMT), the US space agency announced.
The GOES-U (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite U) mission is a collaboration between NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
It will be the fourth and final in a series of satellites that have tracked hurricanes and tornadoes, monitored climate and sea surface temperature, air quality and even meteor detections since 2016.
Orbiting 22,236 miles (35,785 kilometers) above the equator, the satellites match the speed of Earth's rotation in order to hold their positions over specific regions and provide continuous coverage.
They "are an indispensable tool for protecting the United States and the one billion people who live and work in the Americas," NOAA's Pam Sullivan told a press conference.
GOES-U is the first of the four to include a coronagraph, called the Compact Coronagraph-1 (CCOR-1). Coronagraphs block the Sun's disk and allow observation of its outermost layer, called the corona.
"That allows us to observe large explosions off the sun, called coronal mass ejections that can hurtle billions of tons of matter at millions of miles per hour towards Earth," said Elsayed Talaat, in charge of space weather observations at NOAA.
The ejections, known as CMEs, can disrupt Earth's magnetic field, causing satellites, energy infrastructure, and navigation systems to go down. Collecting space weather data allows authorities to issue warnings one to four days in advance.
In early May, the planet experienced its first level 5 geomagnetic storm in two decades, the highest rating on the scale, which unleashed spectacular auroras worldwide.
With the new coronagraph, the speed and direction of this event could have been better understood from the start, said Talaat.
Major disruptions weren't felt, but some farmers "reported being unable to plant their crops because the precision GPS relied upon by their equipment had malfunctioned," he said.
For the first time, the United States will have a coronagraph observing the solar corona almost continuously, with the CCOR-1 taking readings every 30 minutes.
Currently, such observations are received with a delay of up to eight hours. They are carried out by a satellite launched in 1995, which should cease operating within two years.
"Once operational CCOR-1 will mark a new chapter in space weather observations," said Talaat.
"Although the sun is no more active than in previous generations, our society has changed, and we are more sensitive than ever to the sun's changing mood."
O.Karlsson--AMWN