Meet ICON: NASA's Airglow Explorer

The video explores the ionosphere, a region 60 to 600 miles above Earth, crucial for both natural phenomena like the Aurora and human activities such as radio communication. Despite its importance, the ionosphere is not well understood. To address this, NASA and UC Berkeley developed the Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) to study the ionosphere's variations and its reactions to Earth's weather and space weather. ICON focuses on phenomena like airglow, using advanced technology to track plasma movements. The mission aims to enhance our understanding and prediction of ionospheric conditions, crucial for protecting space assets.

What role does solar radiation play in the ionosphere according to the text?

In what ways can understanding the ionosphere help protect our assets in space?