A $340 million satellite that aims to alert people to potentially dangerous solar activity and geomagnetic storms blasted off toward deep space Wednesday atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

 

Experts say the DSCOVR -- a joint collaboration of the US Air Force, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) -- will help with the preparation and response to "space weather," thereby protecting utilities, consumers and industries.

 

DSCOVR is headed to a destination between the Earth and Sun known as Lagrangian point, or L1. The journey will take 110 days, followed by 40 days of instrument tests.

 

Space weather is the primary objective of the five-year mission, although the initial idea for the satellite came from former US vice president Al Gore, who dreamed of a spacecraft that would observe Earth and send back live images that would raise environmental awareness of the planet's fragility.

 

DSCOVR will replace an aging satellite, known as ACE, that is many years past its expiration date. It should provide the same accuracy as its predecessor, officials said.

 

Initially known as Triana, it was built in the late 1990s but the mission was canceled in 2001 by the George W Bush administration.

 

NASA stored the observatory in a clean room, and about seven years ago determined the equipment was still viable, said Stephen Volz, assistant administrator of the NOAA Satellite and Information Service.

 

The name was changed to DSCOVR and the instruments were refurbished so that it could take real-time measurements of solar wind and send data swiftly to Earth.

 

Its secondary mission is to collect scientific data about aerosol levels, ozone and radiation balance on Earth.

 

 

PHOTO: NOAA's DSCOVR satellite is launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, on February 11, 2015.

CREDIT: AFP Photo/-