File:EPIC cam.jpg

Feb 10, 2015

The DSCOVR (Deep Space Climate Observatory) satellite will be sending back daily images of the 'whole earth'...

"DSCOVR will be beaming back a steady stream of images of our home planet from space, a photo of Earth ever two hours, with the images expected to be available online the next day."

"They'll be posted on a website for the public to see," said Steven Clarke, director of NASA's Joint Agency Satellite Division. "I think it will be an inspiration for people to see the sunlit disk of the Earth."

Of course they'll be numbered by NASA engineers, even as the images inspire and allow us to go further than what the engineers have enabled.

"We believe we are 21st Century American transcendentalists... in a way we are all planet citizens." -- #GreenPolicy360

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"What will be the most impressive, after forty some years, will be the images of us, Planet Earth." -- #GreenPolicy360

"To see ‪and to experience #‎Earth360‬ daily, it's going to be a spectacular re-reminder of our place in the cosmos..." -- Steven Schmidt ‪

http://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Whole_Earth

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February 8, 2015 -- It's been some time since December 7, 1972 when the only picture ever snapped by a human of the whole earth was captured -- our iconic "Blue Marble" -- engineers that they are, when the Apollo 17 mission returned to Earth from the Moon, NASA named the famous 70mm Hasselblad image that became the most reproduced image in history -- AS17-148-22727

As we have been recalling the history, there hasn't been a 'whole earth' image since 1972. Today, Feb 10, the Associated Press reports Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Florida, also pointing out from Washington that there hasn't been a full, sunlit picture of the Earth since Apollo 17 in 1972 - NASA's last manned moon-landing mission. Subsequent images have been stitched together, the Senator noted, for composite shots. He has an exceptional point of view as he was an astronaut -- In January 1986, Nelson spent six days orbiting Earth as a payload specialist aboard space shuttle Columbia. His NASA bio adds "That experience gave him a new perspective on the Earth’s fragile environment and a greater appreciation of the importance of our nation’s space exploration program."

Launched delayed -- here in Florida where we are, the DSCOVR (Deep Space Climate Observatory) mission remains on hold; high winds forced another delay today -- the new launch is scheduled for Feb 11th.

The satellite will go up with multiple missions -- to monitor space weather and, due to the satellite's orbital distance from Earth (1 mil miles), DSCOVR will be sending back daily images of the 'whole earth' and measuring earth's earth's temperature, our "radiation balance" ("albedo").

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The "Original" Whole Earth image -- Dec 1972

NASA Image AS17-148-22727

... the first photograph taken of the whole round Earth and the only one ever snapped by a human being

Dec 7, 1972 -- the only picture ever snapped by a human of the whole earth is captured -- our "Blue Marble"

http://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:Whole_Earth_1972_Apollo_17.jpg

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http://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/PlanetCitizen