Table of Contents
WHAT HAPPENED RECENTLY?
- NASA’s Ionospheric Connection Explorer or ICON spacecraft is finally in orbit after years of delays and postponed launches.
- It is part of NASA’s Explorers program
- ICON was launched with Air launch to orbit launch system
TWO TYPES OF LAUNCHES
AIR LAUNCH TO ORBIT LAUNCH SYSTEM
- Air launch to orbit is the method of launching rockets at altitude from a conventional horizontal-take-off aircraft, to carry satellites to low Earth orbit.
IONOSPHERIC CONNECTION EXPLORER
- ICON was designed to detect and study changes in the ionosphere, a region of the upper atmosphere bombarded by space weather from above and Earth’s weather from below. In particular, its instruments will observe an aurora-like phenomenon called airglow, which will allow it to see how particles move in that region.
IONOSPHERIC CONNECTION EXPLORER
- The spacecraft will send back data that could help scientists figure out how we can deal with ionospheric interference that affects communication signals. Also, its observations could help us understand why the ionosphere’s weather can cause spacecraft to decay prematurely, as well as know more about the radiation-related health risks it poses to astronauts.
IONOSPHERE
- The ionosphere is the ionized part of Earth’s upper atmosphere, from about 60 km (37 mi) to 1,000 km (620 mi) altitude, a region that includes the thermosphere and parts of the mesosphere and exosphere.
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