A KEY LOSS PROCESS IN HYDROGEN DOMINATED IONOSPHERES IS THE CHARGE EXCHANGE BETWEEN PROTONS (H+) AND VIBRATIONALLY EXCITED MOLECULAR HYDROGEN (H2*). CURRENTLY H2* POPULATIONS ARE UNCONSTRAINED OBSERVATIONALLY AND MODERN IONOSPHERIC MODELS OF JUPITER AND SATURN TYPICALLY ESTIMATE THEM USING PARAMETERIZATIONS BASED ON DECADES OLD STEADY-STATE CALCULATIONS. PAST STUDIES HAVE ASSUMED A FRACTION OF H2 IN THE 4TH OR HIGHER VIBRATIONAL STATE (I.E. [H2*]/[H2]) BETWEEN ~10-2 TO ~10-6 DEPENDING ON THE OBSERVATIONS THATWERE BEING MODELED HIGHLIGHTING A LARGE DEGREE OF UNCERTAINTY AND/OR VARIABILITY. MOREOVER H2* POPULATIONS ARE EXPECTED TO BE VARY STRONGLY WITH TIME AND LATITUDE AND TO BE TIGHTLY COUPLED TO THE IONOSPHERIC DENSITIES; HOWEVER NO PREVIOUS STUDIES FEATURE TIME-DEPENDENT SELF-CONSISTENT H2* POPULATIONS. AIDED BY RECENT ADVANCES IN LABORATORY MEASUREMENTS AND THEORY WE PROPOSE TODEVELOP THE FIRST SELF-CONSISTENT TIME-DEPENDENT CALCULATIONS OF H2* FOR OUTER PLANET ATMOSPHERES AND TO INTEGRATE THEM INTO DETAILED MODELS OF THE IONOSPHERES OF JUPITER AND SATURN. BASED ON THOSE RESULTS AN UPDATED PARAMETERIZATION OF H2* WILL BE DEVELOPED ANDPUBLISHED FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE OUTER PLANET AERONOMY COMMUNITY. IN ADDITION TO PROVIDING A MORE COMPLETE UNDERSTANDING OF JOVIAN AND SATURNIAN IONOSPHERIC OBSERVATIONS ACCURATE PREDICTIONS OF ION AND ELECTRON DENSITIES HAVE A NUMBER OF BROADER IMPACTS.FOR EXAMPLE THE EXCHANGE OF ENERGY AND MOMENTUM BETWEEN THE MAGNETOSPHERE AND ATMOSPHERE IS MODULATED BY IONOSPHERICCONDUCTANCES. ACCURATE CALCULATION OF CONDUCTANCE REQUIRES ACCURATE ION AND ELECTRON DENSITIES AND THEREFORE ACCURATE H2* DENSITIES. AT THE SAME TIME AURORAL PRECIPITATION REPRESENTS A LARGE SOURCE OF H2* THAT MUST BE ACCOUNTED FOR SELF-CONSISTENTLY. BEYOND THE AURORAL IONOSPHERE ALL GIANT PLANETS IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM HAVE EXOSPHERIC TEMPERATURES THAT ARE OBSERVED TO BE MUCH LARGER THAN MODELS CAN ACCOUNT FOR USING THE SUN AS THE PRIMARY ENERGY SOURCE. A POSSIBLE SOLUTION OF THIS DISCREPANCY TERMED AN ENERGY CRISIS RELIES ON DYNAMICALLY DISTRIBUTING ENERGY FROM THE POLAR TO THE EQUATORIAL ATMOSPHERE A PROCESS THAT IS MODERATED BY ION-NEUTRAL DRAG EFFECTS. THEREFORE WITHOUT ADEQUATELY ACCOUNTING FOR GLOBAL POPULATIONS OF H2* ION-NEUTRAL DRAG EFFECTS WILL BE MISTREATED TO SOME DEGREE AND THE RESULTING GLOBAL DYNAMICS WILL BE INACCURATE.