Engineers at Lockheed Martin Corp. Space Systems [LMT], Boeing Co. [BA] launch managers and NASA officials were all smiles March 25 when the latest satellite for NASA lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. A Boeing-built Delta 2 rocket lifted off at 3:34 p.m. EST delivering the Lockheed Martin- built Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Systems Global Exploration (IMAGE) bird into orbit.

The NASA mission will provide global images of plasmas in the Earth’s magnetosphere, showing how the intense fluctuating streams of charged particles from the sun affect them. Studying these space storms may help commercial satellite executives deliver better service because solar wind disturbs communication satellites and causes electrical power blackouts.