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
Ultraviolet are greater than simple heating effects, and many practical applications of UV radiation derive from its interactions with organic molecules. Suntan and sunburn are familiar effects of over-exposure of the skin to UV, along with higher risk of skin cancer. Living things on dry land would be severely damaged by ultraviolet radiation from the Sun if most of it were not filtered out by the Earth's atmosphere. More-energetic, shorter-wavelength "extreme" UV below 121 nm ionizes air so strongly that it is absorbed before it reaches the ground. Ultraviolet is also responsible for the formation of bone-strengthening vitamin D in most