NASA Gets its ICON Satellite Ready for Launch

With a growing reliance on the global positioning system (GPS), satellites and other space-based technologies for use in everyday life on Earth, the importance of understanding the region of space where these technologies operate has also grown. Changes in space weather, such as charged-particle storms in the ionosphere, can distort satellite or GPS signals, affecting communications on many levels. This not only has implications for the military, but also for society, as self-driving cars will rely on GPS-based navigation as will modern agriculture technologies. In order to examine how the weather in space affects these technologies, scientists are looking at the connection of weather on Earth to the ionosphere. More

(Source: Signal Magazine - Jun 5)