NASA Launches Orbital Clarity Challenge to Study Space Weather and Atmospheric Drag

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NASA has announced the Orbital Clarity Challenge, the sixth competition in its TechLeap Prize series. The initiative is a joint effort involving NASA's Heliophysics Division, the Flight Opportunities program, and the Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation. The challenge focuses on understanding space weather and its effects on Earth's outer atmosphere, particularly how intense solar activity causes atmospheric heating and expansion. These atmospheric density changes create orbital drag, which affects satellites and spacecraft in low Earth orbit. The competition aims to spur innovative technological solutions to better measure and predict these space weather-driven phenomena.

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