NASA’s Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) mission powered on the GOLD instrument for the first time after launch on January 28, 7:23 p.m., EST.

Artistic rendition of the SES-14 that carries NASA's GOLD instrument.
This image is courtesy of NASA Goddard's Conceptual Image Lab
— Chris Meaney.

The systems engineers successfully established communication with the GOLD instrument and the spacecraft's detector doors opened upon command. After their tests, the engineers powered off the instrument on the same day, at 7:40 p.m. EST. The instrument will remain powered off until the host satellite, the SES-14, reaches geostationary orbit and GOLD operations commence later this year.

GOLD will investigate the dynamic intermingling of space and Earth’s uppermost atmosphere and seek to understand what drives change in this critical region. Resulting data will improve forecasting models of the space weather events that can impact life on Earth, as well as satellites and astronauts in space.