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The mission, known as the Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk, or GOLD, involves imaging Earth's upper atmosphere from a geostationary orbit some 22,000 miles above the planet.
The mission is expected to have a direct impact on the understanding of space weather like geomagnetic storms that alter the temperature and composition of Earth's atmosphere, which can disrupt communication and navigation satellites, affecting everything from automobile GPS and cell phone coverage to television programming.
The GOLD mission is part of NASA's new Heliospheric Explorer Program designed to provide space observations to study Earth's ionosphere and thermosphere. The mission is slated for launch in 2017.
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