That doesnt endanger the spacecraft, the missions principal investigator told space.com, but it does keep Acrimsat from making its measurements of the total energy that comes from the sun.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory-built satellites instrument will remain turned off until the glitch is fixed.

To accurately measure the total energy that comes from the light of the sun, Acrimsat must be pointed within 0.5 degrees of its target. At present, the satellite mistakenly believes it is pointed within 0.25 degrees of the sun.

Principal Investigator Richard Willson said either launch vibrations or a software glitch caused the problem. "The spacecraft is otherwise in excellent health," he said.

The satellite was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California last month on a five-year mission. However, the satellite was placed in a 443-mile (714-kilometer) orbit, or about 55 miles (89 kilometers) higher than planned.

Willson said the satellite could now remain on orbit for as long as 50 years. Its instruments, built to last five years, could hold out for a full decade. Acrimsat is the third in a series of satellites to measure the suns total irradiance.

Even minute changes in the amount of solar energy that reaches Earth are thought to impact the global climate.

For instance, a one-quarter of 1-percent drop in the total solar irradiance possibly led to the period known as the Maunder Minimum, or "Little Ice Age." From about 1645 to 1715, global temperatures were about 3 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius) cooler than todays average.

Conversely, a rise in the levels of solar radiance reaching the Earth may also play a corresponding role in global warming, perhaps contributing to 25 percent of the rise in temperatures over the last century.

NASA will turn on Acrimsats instrument as early as the end of this month if the pointing error is corrected. Willson said he expected to learn by the end of the week if the software patch did the trick for the 253-pound (115-kilogram) satellite.