# DSCOVR
*missions*

## Specifications
- **operator**: noaa
- **actual launch**: 2015-02-11
- **current status**: operational
- **orbit type**: Sun-Earth L1 Lagrange point, about 1.5 million km from Earth
- **tasking supported**: false
- **current geographic priority**: Full sunlit Earth disk and upstream solar-wind monitoring
- **planned decommission**: 2029-12-31
- **archive depth years**: 10
- **launch vehicle**: spacex-falcon-9
- **entity type**: mission
- **last verified date**: 2026-06-14
- **verified by**: agency-doc
- **claim status**: agency-sourced
- **provider**: noaa
- **attributes**: {"operator":"noaa","actual_launch":"2015-02-11","current_status":"operational","orbit_type":"Sun-Earth L1 Lagrange point, about 1.5 million km from Earth","tasking_supported":false,"current_geographic_priority":"Full sunlit Earth disk and upstream solar-wind monitoring","planned_decommission":"2029-12-31","archive_depth_years":10,"launch_vehicle":"spacex-falcon-9"}
- **relevance**: in-scope

## Editorial
DSCOVR (Deep Space Climate Observatory) is a NASA/NOAA Earth and space-weather observatory positioned at the Sun-Earth L1 Lagrange point, approximately 1.5 million km from Earth. Launched 11 February 2015 on a SpaceX Falcon 9, the satellite is a refurbished version of the original Triana spacecraft. NOAA operates the spacecraft and its space-weather instruments; NASA operates the two Earth-facing science instruments EPIC and NISTAR.[^noaa-dscovr][^nasa-earthdata-dscovr]

The Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) captures 10-band spectral images of the full sunlit Earth disk, supporting vegetation mapping, tropospheric trace-gas column retrieval, and aerosol monitoring.[^nasa-epic-about] The National Institute of Standards and Technology Advanced Radiometer (NISTAR) measures absolute broadband solar-reflected and Earth-emitted irradiance from the complete sunlit face of the planet, contributing to Earth radiation budget science.[^wmo-nistar]

The mission also carries a fluxgate magnetometer and charged-particle instruments (an electron spectrometer and a Faraday Cup) for upstream solar-wind plasma and interplanetary magnetic field monitoring, feeding operational NOAA space-weather products. WMO OSCAR lists the mission status as operational with an expected service life extending to at least 2029.[^wmo-dscovr]

## Compositional position
- DSCOVR --[mission_payloads]--> epic-dscovr (products)
- DSCOVR --[mission_payloads]--> nistar (products)
- DSCOVR --[mission_payloads]--> dscovr-mag (products)
- DSCOVR --[mission_payloads]--> dscovr-electron-spectrometer (products)
- DSCOVR --[mission_payloads]--> dscovr-faraday-cup (products)
- DSCOVR --[related-topic]--> earth-radiation-budget (topics)
- DSCOVR --[related-topic]--> ozone-stratosphere (topics)
- DSCOVR --[related-topic]--> air-quality (topics)

## Sources
- [wmo-dscovr] | WMO OSCAR: DSCOVR | https://space.oscar.wmo.int/satellites/view/dscovr | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-14
- [nasa-earthdata-dscovr] | NASA Earthdata: DSCOVR | https://www.earthdata.nasa.gov/data/platforms/space-based-platforms/dscovr | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-14
- [noaa-dscovr] | NOAA NESDIS: DSCOVR | https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/our-satellites/currently-flying/dscovr-deep-space-climate-observatory | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-14
- [nasa-epic-about] | NASA GSFC: EPIC instrument | https://epic.gsfc.nasa.gov/about/epic | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-14
- [wmo-nistar] | WMO OSCAR: NISTAR | https://space.oscar.wmo.int/instruments/view/nistar | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-14

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Source: https://eo-atlas.org/missions/dscovr
Maintainer: SpectraWorks B.V. (CC-BY 4.0)