A satellite designed and built by students blasted into orbit last week. The
Student Nitric Oxide Explorer spacecraft is the first of three student missions
sponsored by NASA.
Nitric oxide destroys ozone, but scientists don鈥檛 know enough about what
causes variations in its atmospheric levels. The SNOE satellite, built by
students at the University of Colorado at Boulder for $12 million, will
measure nitric oxide levels and correlate them with the Sun鈥檚 X-ray
emissions and auroral activity in the upper atmosphere.
