Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM) is a project led by the European Space Agency to place cameras and

X-ray An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 picometers to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30&nb ...

/ γ-ray detectors on the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ( ...

to observe the

upper atmosphere Upper atmosphere is a collective term that refers to various layers of the atmosphere of the Earth above the troposphere and corresponding regions of the atmospheres of other planets, and includes: * The mesosphere, which on Earth lies between th ...

in order to study sprites, jets and elves and

terrestrial gamma-ray flash A terrestrial gamma-ray flash (TGF), also known as dark lightning, is a burst of gamma rays produced in Earth's atmosphere. TGFs have been recorded to last 0.2 to 3.5 milliseconds, and have energies of up to 20 million electronvolts. It is spec ...

es in connection with

thunderstorm A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorms are some ...

s. It is hoped that measurements of these phenomena from space will contribute to the understanding of Earth's upper atmosphere. The ASIM components, originally planned to be completed in 2014, were launched on 2 April 2018 and mounted on the ''Columbus'' External Payload Facility on 13 April 2018. Danish tech company

Terma A/S Terma A/S is a Danish weapon and aerospace manufacturer for both civilian and military applications, and is owned by the Danish company Thrige Holding A/S. It is Denmark's largest company within the aerospace and weapon industry, employing appro ...

is running the technical part of the project for ESA and

DTU Space The National Space Institute at the Technical University of Denmark, also known as DTU Space ( da, Institut for Rumforskning og Rumteknologi), is a Danish sector research institute and a part of the Technical University of Denmark. It has a sta ...

(''National Space Institute'') from the

Technical University of Denmark The Technical University of Denmark ( da, Danmarks Tekniske Universitet), often simply referred to as DTU, is a polytechnic university and school of engineering. It was founded in 1829 at the initiative of Hans Christian Ørsted as Denmark's fir ...

provides the scientific leadership of the project. Mission operations will be performed by the Belgian User Support and Operations Centre (B.USOC) in

Uccle Uccle () or Ukkel () is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. In common with all of Brussels' municipalities, it is legally bilingual (French–Dutch). It is generally considered an affluent area of the city an ...

, Belgium. Some results from the measurements were published in July 2019.

Instruments

The ASIM payload has a mass of and consists of sub-systems CEPA and DHPU, and two scientific instruments called MXGS and MMIA: * The ''Columbus'' External Payload Adapter (CEPA) and Data Handling and Power Unit (DHPU) form the structural and electrical connections, respectively, to the ''Columbus'' module. * The Modular X and Gamma Ray Instrument (MXGS) is a pair of

(TGF) detectors. The low-energy detector is sensitive from 15

keV Kev can refer to: Given name * Kev Adams, French comedian, actor, screenwriter and film producer born Kevin Smadja in 1991 * Kevin Kev Carmody (born 1946), Indigenous Australian singer-songwriter * Kev Coghlan (born 1988), Scottish Grand Prix moto ...

to 400 keV, and the high-energy detector is sensitive from 200 keV to 40 MeV. * The Modular Multi-Imaging Assembly (MMIA) is an optical imaging system capable of observing 12 frames per second continuously in the 777.4 nm and 337 nm bands at 5 nm wide intervals.

References

External links

ASIM.dk

ASIM webpage
at the European Space Agency's Human Spaceflight Research portal
ASIM webpage
by

ASIM webpage
at NASA's Space Station Research & Technology portal Spacecraft instruments International Space Station experiments Satellite meteorology 2018 in spaceflight Piggyback mission {{Europe-spacecraft-stub

Instruments

See also

References

External links