Unboxing a New NASA Spacecraft

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  • 
    ID: 13106 Produced Video

    Tour the Plane Giving NASA’s ICON a Ride to Space

    Nov. 6th, 2018
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    Early in the morning of Nov. 7, 2018, NASA launches the Ionospheric Connection Explorer, or ICON, a spacecraft that will explore the dynamic region where Earth meets space. ICON launches on a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket, which is carried aloft by the Stargazer L-1011 aircraft.Join NASA on a behind-the-scenes tour of this plane, once a jet airliner and now uniquely retrofitted to boost spacecraft into low-Earth orbit. Learn about ICON’s science and meet the people — including an engineer, technician, and pilot — who will help launch the spacecraft into orbit.Learn more at: nasa.gov/icon ||

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  • 
    ID: 12902 Produced Video

    The Secrets behind Earth’s Multi-colored Glow

    Oct. 22nd, 2018
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    What does our planet look like from space? Most are familiar with the beloved images of the blue marble or pale blue dot — Earth from 18,000 and 3.7 billion miles away, respectively. But closer to home, within the nearest region of space, you might encounter an unfamiliar sight. If you peer down on Earth from just 300 miles above the surface, near the orbit of the International Space Station, you can see vibrant swaths of red and green or purple and yellow light emanating from the upper atmosphere. This is airglow. Airglow occurs when atoms and molecules in the upper atmosphere, excited by sunlight, emit light in order to shed their excess energy. Or, it can happen when atoms and molecules that have been ionized by sunlight collide with and capture a free electron. In both cases, they eject a particle of light — called a photon — in order to relax again. The phenomenon is similar to auroras, but where auroras are driven by high-energy particles originating from the solar wind, airglow is energized by day-to-day solar radiation. ||

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  • 
    ID: 12974 Produced Video

    ICON's Launch Site

    Oct. 21st, 2018
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    The Ionospheric Connection Explorer, or ICON, will study the frontier of space: the dynamic zone high in our atmosphere where Earth weather and space weather meet. In fall 2018, the mission launches on an Northrop Grumman (formerly Orbital ATK) Pegasus XL rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. || An animation zooming into ICON's launch site at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cap Canaveral, Florida with no location labels. || An animation zooming into ICON's launch site at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cap Canaveral, Florida with location labels. ||

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  • 
    ID: 12910 Produced Video

    ICON Launch Sequence

    June 2nd, 2018
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    The Ionospheric Connection Explorer, or ICON, will study the frontier of space: the dynamic zone high in our atmosphere where Earth weather and space weather meet. In fall 2018, the mission launches on an Northrop Grumman (formerly Orbital ATK) Pegasus XL rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. || Animated depiction of ICON's launch from a Northrop Grumman (formerly Orbital ATK) Pegasus XL rocketCredit: NASA GSFC/CIL/Josh Masters ||

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  • 
    ID: 12699 Produced Video

    Meet ICON: NASA’s Airglow Explorer

    Oct. 18th, 2017
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    Music credit: Design Principle by Wayne RobertsComplete transcript available. || NASA's Ionospheric Connection Explorer, or ICON launches in fall 2018. It orbits above the upper atmosphere, through the bottom edge of near-Earth space. From this vantage point, ICON observes both the upper atmosphere and a layer of charged particles called the ionosphere, which extends from about 50 to 360 miles above the surface of Earth. Processes in the ionosphere also create bright swaths of color in the sky, known as airglow. ICON will observe how interactions between Earth's weather and the ionosphere create such shimmering airglow as well as other changes in the space environment. Find more views of the ionosphere from the International Space Station at The Crew Earth Observations Video Page ||

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  • 
    ID: 20265 Animation

    ICON Beauty Pass

    April 3rd, 2017
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    Beauty pass showing ICON observing the ionosphere. Credit: NASA/GSFC/CIL || The Ionospheric Connection Explorer will study the frontier of space: the dynamic zone high in our atmosphere where terrestrial weather from below meets space weather above. In this region, the tenuous gases are anything but quiet, as a mix of neutral and charged particles travel through in giant winds. These winds can change on a wide variety of time scales -- due to Earth's seasons, the day's heating and cooling, and incoming bursts of radiation from the sun.This region of space and its changes have practical repercussions, given our ever-increasing reliance on technology -- this is the area through which radio communications and GPS signals travel. Variations there can result in distortions or even complete disruption of signals. In order to understand this complicated region of near-Earth space, called the ionosphere, NASA has developed the ICON mission. To understand what drives variability in the ionosphere requires a careful look at a complicated system that is driven by both terrestrial and space weather.ICON will help determine the physics of our space environment and pave the way for mitigating its effects on our technology, communications systems and society. ||

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