Abstract The ILAN-ES (Imaging of Lightning And Nocturnal Emissions from Space) experiment was conducted by Israeli astronaut Eytan Stibbe in April 2022 as part of the Axiom Space company AX-1 private mission to the International Space Station, in the framework of Rakia, a set of experiments selected for flight by the Ramon Foundation and the Israeli Space Agency. The mission objective was to manually record lightning and transient luminous events from the Cupola window in the ISS, based on preliminary thunderstorm forecasts uploaded to the crew 24–36 h in advance. A Nikon D6 camera with a 50 mm lens was used, in a video mode of 60 frames per second. During the 15-day mission, 82 different targets were uploaded to the ISS of which 20 were imaged by the astronauts, yielding a total harvest of 45 TLEs: sprites, Elves and Blue Corona Discharges. The methodology and execution by the ISS astronauts are described and recommendation for future observations by on-board human-operated instruments on the ISS are given.
Highlights Nocturnal observations of thunderstorms from the ISS require precisely timed windows in the daily astronaut schedule. Real-time storm location is easily corrected by astronauts from the Cupola. Accuracy of timestamp on the camera image is essential for post-flight analysis. Ground observations in conjunction with ISS overpasses are a K-12 science-education asset.
Observing lightning and transient luminous events from the international space station during ILAN-ES: An astronaut's perspective
Acta Astronautica ; 211 ; 592-599
2023-06-27
8 pages
Aufsatz (Zeitschrift)
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
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