Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment The Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE) is a NASA-sponsored satellite mission that measures incoming X-ray, ultraviolet, visible, near-infrared, and total solar radiation. These measurements specifically address long-term climate change, natural variability and enhanced climate prediction, and atmospheric ozone and UV-B radiation. These measurements are critical to studies of the Sun, its effect on our Earth system and its influence on humankind. The SORCE spacecraft launched on January 25, 2003 on a Pegasus XL launch vehicle to provide NASA's Earth Science Enterprise (ESE) with precise measurements of solar radiation. SORCE measures the Sun's output using
Radiation effects from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster to poison centres around the world after taking iodine tablets in response to fears about harmful levels of radiation coming out of the damaged nuclear power plant in Fukushima. In Operation Tomodachi, the United States Navy dispatched the aircraft carrier and other vessels in the Seventh Fleet to fly a series of helicopter operations. A U.S. military spokesperson said that low-level radiation forced a change of course en route to Sendai. The "Reagan" and sailors aboard were exposed to "a month's worth of natural background radiation from the sun, rocks or soil" in an hour and the carrier was repositioned.