California-based Space X sent a weather satellite into space earlier this month atop a 224ft Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral to monitor solar winds and storms that affect Earth’s power grids and other technology.

Its secondary mission is to collect data about the planet’s aerosol levels, ozone and radiation balance.

The Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite is headed to the L1 Lagrange point between the Earth and the sun. The journey will take 110 days, followed by 40 days of instrument tests.

Former US Vice-President Al Gore, who first supported the project in the 1990s, was at the launch and said he was grateful to all those who “kept his dream alive”.

A NASA spokesman said: “The satellite will typically be able to provide a warning 15-60min before the effects of a coronal mass ejection reach Earth.

"Our national security and economic well-being, which depend on advanced technologies, are at risk without this warning.”