Where Earth Meets Space

  • Released Monday, February 5th, 2018
  • Updated Wednesday, May 3rd, 2023 at 1:46PM
  • ID: 12823
NASA’s newest mission, GOLD, will explore the ever-changing boundary between Earth and space.

NASA’s newest mission, GOLD, will explore the ever-changing boundary between Earth and space.

No hard and fast line divides Earth's upper atmosphere from outer space. Instead, the little understood region where one fades into the other responds both to terrestrial weather in the lower atmosphere below and the tumult of space weather from above. This dynamic region has historically been difficult to observe; 60-400 miles above the surface, it’s too low to easily study with satellites and too high for aircraft and scientific balloons. On Jan. 25, 2018, NASA set out to change that with the launch of the Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk, or GOLD, instrument, hosted aboard a commercial communications satellite. From geostationary orbit, GOLD observes Earth's interface to space. Space is not completely empty: It’s teeming with fast-moving charged particles and electric and magnetic fields that guide their motion. At the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and space, these particles and fields - the ionosphere - co-exist with the upper reaches of the neutral atmosphere, called the thermosphere. The two commingle and influence one another constantly. GOLD inspects this interplay and the forces responsible for the day-to-day changes in this critical boundary layer. Watch the videos to learn more.

GOLD explores the dynamic region where Earth’s uppermost atmosphere meets space.

At geostationary orbit 22,000 miles over the Western Hemisphere, GOLD has a full-disk view of the upper atmosphere.

The ionosphere is a region of charged particles in near-Earth space that coexists with the neutral atmosphere, called the thermosphere.

The ionosphere is a region of charged particles in near-Earth space that coexists with the neutral atmosphere, called the thermosphere.

Bright swaths of light in the atmosphere, called airglow, are seen in this photo of Earth’s limb shot from the International Space Station.

Bright swaths of light in the atmosphere, called airglow, are seen in this photo of Earth’s limb shot from the International Space Station.

GOLD teams up with NASA’s Ionospheric Connection Explorer - ICON - to provide the most comprehensive ionosphere observations we’ve ever had.

GOLD teams up with NASA’s Ionospheric Connection Explorer - ICON - to provide the most comprehensive ionosphere observations we’ve ever had.

For More Information

See NASA.gov

Credits

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NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio

Missions

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