Orbital ICON - Manual

Heliophysics
ICON
Studying the Earth-Sun Connection in the Ionosphere
LEO
Mission Description
Under a contract from the University of California Berkeley/Space Sciences Laboratory (UCB/SSL)
Orbital will design, manufacture, integrate and test the Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) satellite.
ICON will study the interface between the upper reaches of the Earth’s atmosphere and outer space
in response to recent scientific discovery that the ionosphere, positioned at the edge of space where
the Sun ionizes the air to create charged particles, is significantly influenced by storms in Earth’s lower
atmosphere. ICON will also help NASA better understand how atmospheric winds control ionospheric
variability.
The mission will improve the forecasts of extreme space weather by probing the variability of Earth’s
ionosphere with in-situ and remote-sensing instruments. Fluctuations in the ionosphere can disrupt
satellite and radio communications from low- and geostationary-orbit communications spacecraft,
creating a direct impact on the nation’s economy.
Spacecraft
The ICON mission will employ Orbital’s LEOStar ™ -2 platform which is a flexible, high-performance
spacecraft for space and Earth science, remote sensing and other applications. LEOStar-2 series
spacecraft have supported multiple missions for commercial and government customers over the past
15 years. ICON will be the ninth LEOStar-2-based spacecraft built by Orbital.
FACTS AT A GLANCE
Mission:
Probing the variability of Earth’s
ionosphere with in-situ and remote-
sensing instruments
Customer:
University of California at Berkeley
CAD drawing of ICON instruments