Neutral Ion Coupling Explorer

The Neutral Ion Coupling Explorer (NICE) is one of six proposed SMEX satellites under consideration by NASA. The goal of the NICE mission is to answer the question: How do neutral dynamics drive ionospheric variability? NICE will approach this goal with three targeted investigations of neutral-ion coupling:

  • How do large-scale atmospheric waves control the ionosphere at low latitudes?
  • What causes the day-to-day variability in the low- latitude ionosphere observed by plasma drift measurements?
  • During magnetic storms, what causes the enhancement of ionospheric plasma at low latitudes?

Read more about Neutral Ion Coupling Explorer:  Mission Definition

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