NASA Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) Launch Coverage

The Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (or IRIS) is a space probe to observe the Sun by NASA. It is a NASA Small Explorer program mission to investigate the physical conditions of the solar limb, particularly the chromosphere of the Sun. Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory (LMSAL) is integrating the observatory. The observatory consists of a spacecraft and spectrometer that LMSAL built, and a telescope provided by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Once in orbit it will be operated by Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory and NASA Ames Research Center.
Its instrument is a high-frame-rate UV imaging spectrometer; one image a second, 0.3 arcsec spatial resolution, and sub-angstrom spectral resolution.