The Ionospheric Connection Explorer will capture a closer view from within the upper atmosphere itself, 350 miles above Earth. ICON can also directly measure particles and how they move.
will be air-launched on Northrop Grumman's L-1011 Stargrazer aircraft on the Pegasus XL rocket, which takes off at 8:33 p.m. The mission was initially expected to launch last November. It was rescheduled "following the completion of a joint
principal investigator at the University of California, Berkeley." can also directly measure particles and how they move. It will operate amid bright bands of color known as airglow.Read MoreAirglow, which creates bands of red and green or purple and yellow light, happens when atoms and molecules in the upper atmosphere shed excess energy because they receive so much from the sun in this region. Unlike auroras, airglow is constant because of daily radiation, forming a light bubble around the Earth.
'goes for gold' Thursday with successful mission launchBut there are indicators that space weather and weather on Earth are linked, and they create a power struggle as they meet in the ionosphere. has all the tools to see the drivers and their effects in the system."This will work in concert with another
is examining the response of the upper atmosphere to force from the sun, the magnetosphere and the lower atmosphere. Learning more about the ionosphere -- part of Earth's upper atmosphere where the sun's radiation collides with gas that breaks into electrons and ions -- is key. This dynamic environment is always changing and could easily garble radio signals coming through our atmosphere.
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