Pegasus ICON Solar Array Deployment Test

Technicians extend the solar array on NASA's Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) during a deployment test inside Building 1555 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Aug. 10, 2019. ICON will launch on a Pegasus XL rocket, attached beneath the company's L-1011 Stargazer aircraft, from the Skid Strip at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Launch is scheduled for Oct. 10. ICON will study the frontier of space - the dynamic zone high in Earth's atmosphere where terrestrial weather from below meets space weather above. The explorer will help determine the physics of Earth's space environment and pave the way for mitigating its effects on our technology and communications systems.

Technicians extend the solar array on NASA's Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) during a deployment test inside Building 1555 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Aug. 10, 2019. ICON will launch on a Pegasus XL rocket, attached beneath the company's L-1011 Stargazer aircraft, from the Skid Strip at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Launch is scheduled for Oct. 10. ICON will study the frontier of space - the dynamic zone high in Earth's atmosphere where terrestrial weather from below meets space weather above. The explorer will help determine the physics of Earth's space environment and pave the way for mitigating its effects on our technology and communications systems.

Photographer NASA/Randy Beaudoin
ICONIonospheric Connection ExplorerNASALSPLaunch Services ProgramKSCKennedy Space CenterGSFCGoddard Space Flight CenterNorthrop GrummanPegasus XLLEOStar-2UC BerkeleyVAFBVandenberg Air Force BaseMIHGTIMichelson Interferometer for Global High resolution imaging of tNRLU S Naval Research LaboratoryEUVExtreme Ultraviolet spectrometerICPInstrument Control PackageIVMIon Velocity MeterUT DallasUniversity of Texas at DallasFUVFar Ultraviolet spectrometersolar arrays