NASA’s ICON mission launches to the ionosphere at 3:05 AM ET

Need something else to watch after all the results come in? Tonight NASA’s launching a mission to explore Earth’s ionosphere, but this isn’t the average rocket launch. The Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) will take off on a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket — in use since the 90s, and scheduled for use with the giant […]

SpaceX launch last year punched huge, temporary hole in the ionosphere

Enlarge / The Formosat-5 mission launches in August, 2017, from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. (credit: SpaceX) Contrary to popular belief, most of the time when a rocket launches it does not go straight up into outer space. Rather, shortly after launch, most rockets will begin to pitch over into the downrange direction, limiting […]