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What is GOLD?

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The GOLD mission stands for Global Observations of the Limb and Disk

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and it’s a very important mission for us to understand the upper atmosphere of the Earth

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- the thermosphere and ionosphere of the Earth.

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Why is learning about the ionosphere important?

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It’s very important for us to understand the ionized portion of the atmosphere

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- the ionosphere - as well as the upper atmosphere

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because that’s where satellites are, low Earth-orbiting satellites, are orbiting in that region.

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Astronauts are exploring that region,

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as well as the communication and navigation signals travel through that region.

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And so when you have disruptions in the ionosphere and variability in the ionosphere

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that can affect our navigation and communication systems.

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What does NASA hope to achieve with the GOLD and ICON missions?

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NASA hopes to achieve with the GOLD and ICON missions

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a better understanding of, of the near-Earth space

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that’s so important for our global infrastructure.

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What will we learn from the GOLD and ICON missions?

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Ultimately the science that we learn from GOLD and ICON

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will help us be able to predict the near-Earth environment that affects,

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affects our communication and navigation signals and capability.

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But also how space weather affects the upper atmosphere,

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which can translate to effects on the ground

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in terms of our power systems and our navigation systems down below.