UPSC Exam Preparation: Topic of the Day – Global Scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD)
NASA’s Global-Scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) instrument was launched to the Ionosphere recently on an Ariane 5 rocket. Global Scale Observations of the Limb and Disk abbreviated as GOLD is an imaging spectrograph. Spectrographs are scientific instruments that have been designed to break the light down into its constituent wavelengths and to measure their intensity. By examining the data from such an instrument, scientists can determine a wide variety of characteristics, including a target’s composition and temperature.
GOLD will be tasked with collecting far ultraviolet light data on the Earth’s atmosphere. The mission will focus its attention on a relatively poorly understood region of the upper atmosphere where the charged particles of the ionosphere mingle with the diffuse neutral gasses that make up the thermosphere. It aims at shedding light on how the uppermost layers of the Earth’s atmosphere can be affected by powerful space and Earth-based weather events.
Earth’s atmosphere is a complex, multi-layered protective shell that envelopes our planet, and safeguards its inhabitants from dangerous space weather emanating from the Sun. This tenuous region of the atmosphere has been known to undergo rapid and remarkable changes in less than an hour. These fluctuations can be driven by the constant interactions between the ionosphere and the thermosphere, in conjunction with the weather emanating from both the Earth and space. The complexity of these interactions makes it very difficult to predict when an atmospheric change in the ionosphere and thermosphere will occur, and this can be a serious problem for the satellites to communicate.
Disruptions in the ionosphere can block or interfere with the signals that are being sent in between the orbital probes and the Earth-based systems, potentially affecting cell-phone communications, and other vital services such as the Global Positioning System (GPS), which is of utmost importance for safely navigating the ships and aeroplanes.
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