14 DAY TRIAL // Earlier this year, on February 11, the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite launched into Earth's orbit from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, US.
Fast forward a few months, and earlier this week, the DSCOVER satellite delivered a positively gorgeous view of our planet, as seen from a distance of 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers).
DSCOVR obtained this image of the entire sunlit side of our home planet with the help of its NASA-made Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC). The view shows not just land masses and seas or oceans between them but also complex cloud patterns.
“As a former astronaut who’s been privileged to view the Earth from orbit, I want everyone to be able to see and appreciate our planet as an integrated, interacting system,” NASA Administrator Charlie Boden commented on the image in an interview.
Now, as stunning as this portrait of Earth might be, the fact of the matter is that DSCOVR wasn't launched just to play space photographer to our planet. Au contraire, it has a far more important mission.
As explained by scientists, this state-of-the-art satellite is expected to deliver data concerning ozone and aerosol levels in our planet's atmosphere, help measure cloud height and even study vegetation scattered across Earth's surface.
