Launch Now Thursday, Nov 8: ICON to Explore Boundary Between Earth and Space
Wednesday, November 7, 2018 - 10:20
in Astronomy & Space
Editor's note: The Nov. 7 launch attempt has been scrubbed. The next launch opportunity will be Thursday, Nov. 8. Overlapping the farthest reaches of Earth’s atmosphere and the very beginning of space, the ionosphere stretches roughly 50 to 400 miles above the surface. Solar radiation cooks tenuous gases there until they lose an electron (or two or three), creating a sea of electrically charged ions and electrons. Neither fully Earth nor space, the ionosphere reacts both to winds and weather from the lower atmosphere below and solar energy streaming in from above, changing constantly to form conditions we call space weather. News Article Type: Homepage ArticlesPublished: Wednesday, November 7, 2018 - 09:48