GOES-U satellite launch this month will bring a solar activity monitor to space

A triple booster rocket blasts off from a launch tower with a blue hazy sky behind.

When it comes to tools, the more they are used, the less reliable they can get.

And, sure enough, while the Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph Experiment (LASCO)  instrument on NASA and the European Space Agency's SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) spacecraft did an excellent job providing us images during the recent powerful geomagnetic solar storms, it's getting old.