Validation of the DSCOVR Spacecraft Mission Space Weather Solar Wind Products

Abstract

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) mission was launched in February 2015 to the 1st Lagrange point (L1), which is located about 1.5 million kilometers from Earth, toward the sun, along the Sun-Earth line. The DSCOVR mission is a NOAA space weather operational mission that provides and sustains the United States' real-time solar wind monitoring capabilities, which are critical to the accuracy and lead time of NOAA's space weather alerts and forecasts. NOAA funded NASA to refurbish the DSCOVR spacecraft and solar wind instruments, develop the command and control portion of the ground segment, and manage the launch and activation of the satellite. The United States Air Force funded and managed the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch services for DSCOVR. On 7 June 2015, DSCOVR reached its final L1 destination, and in late October 2015, after checkout and post-launch testing, NOAA officially took command of the DSCOVR satellite. DSCOVR became the NOAA operational L1 solar wind monitor on