But he's confident the two other goals have already been met. The amount of nitric oxide in the Earth's upper atmosphere is extremely variable, Solomon says, although no one is certain why. Nitric oxide serves as a catalyst for the destruction of ozone, which protects the planet from harmful solar radiation. It also controls the temperature of the upper atmosphere, thus the density of it. Density is important because it causes drag on everything from satellites to the space shuttle, ultimately causing all man-made objects to slow enough so they plunge to the ground.
Solar radiation enhances the density of nitric oxide.
An ultraviolet spectrometer aboard SNOE will measure the density of nitric oxide, and two photometers will measure both the energy of electrons zipping through the region and the X-rays from the sun. The interaction of the latter two are believed to cause the variations in nitric oxide. Like many other students, Rodgers played a significant role in the design and construction of the instruments. Not many students get to do something like this. The project ended up taking three years from inception to launch, so some of the students have moved on.