SURAE CHINN, LOGAN, UTAH (GOOD4UTAH) --When it comes to space exploration, the Space Dynamics Lab at Utah State University plays a big role.
The newest addition to NASA's fleet of satellites is supposed to improve our understanding of weather tracking and GPS communication.
Scientists know very little about the upper atmosphere, 60 miles above ground where atmosphere ends and space begins. But ICON or Ionospheric Connection Explorer hopes to change that. The payload will be part of NASA's mission into space.
It took engineers tens of thousand of man hours to build the real thing, with the final integration and testing done right here in Logan.
ICON that will hopefully unravel the mystery of this so called 'no mans land.'
Dr. Jed Hancock, Director of Civil Space Division of SDL 'this will tell scientist how weather on earth affects weather in space. This is important because a lot of the systems that we rely on every day life like GPS rely on atmosphere and the ionosphere."
The U.C. Berkeley-led team is in charge of the NASA funded mission along with engineers and scientists across the globe.