SNOE (STEDI 1, Explorer 72)

SNOE (STEDI 1) [NASA]

SNOE (Student Nitric Oxide Explorer) was a small STEDI class Explorer mission designed and built at the University of Colorado Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) to measure nitric oxide density in the terrestrial lower thermosphere (100-200 km altitude) and analyze the energy inputs to that region from the sun and magnetosphere that create it and cause its abundance to vary dramatically. It carries three instruments:

• an ultraviolet spectrometer to measure nitric oxide altitude profiles,
• a two-channel auroral photometer to measure auroral emissions beneath the spacecraft,
• a five-channel solar soft X-ray photometer.

SNOE is one of three satellite projects selected for the Student Explorer Demonstration Initiative program (STEDI). STEDI is funded by NASA and managed by the Universities Space Research Association (USRA).