NASA | Firefly Mission to Study Lightning

Somewhere on Earth, there's always a lightning flash. The globe experiences lightning some 50 times a second, yet the details of what initiates this common occurrence and what effects it has on the atmosphere - lightning may be linked to incredibly powerful and energetic bursts called terrestrial gamma ray flashes, or TGFs -- remains a mystery.

In mid-November, a football-sized mission called Firefly, which is funded by the National Science Foundation, will launch into space to study lightning and these gamma ray flashes from above.

The NSF CubeSat program represents a low cost access to space approach to performing high-quality, highly targeted science on a smaller budget than is typical of more comprehensive satellite projects, which have price tags starting at $100 million. The CubeSat Firefly, by focusing its science goals, will carry out its mission in a much smaller package and at a considerably lower cost.

 

Using gamma radiation in a unique way

Measuring the level of liquid inside a metal vessel or pipe is a huge process challenge for the petrochemical industry. Tracerco's LevelFinderPlus uses a gamma radiation source and segmented detector to accurately determine the liquid level in a vessel and the amount of other material that may have built up within the container. Andrew Hurst explains how the company's physicists addressed the challenge.

 Tracerco has received an IOP Innovation Award 2013 from the Institute of Physics for developing the measurement system.

 

ScienceCasts: ISS "Firestation" to Explore the Tops of Thunderstorms

Sometimes, Earth mimics a supernova, producing a Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flash from the tops of thunderstorms. A new lightning sensor on the International Space Station could solve the mystery of these energetic bursts.

 

Electromagnetic Spectrum: Gamma Rays

Part 8 of the "Tour of the Electromagnetic Spectrum" by NASA.

Other videos from this series

Supernova Shock Waves—Powerhouses of the Galaxy

Yasunobu Uchiyama, a scientist with the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology at SLAC, delivered the Nov. 27 SLAC Public Lecture, "Supernova Shock Waves: Powerhouses of the Galaxy."

Uchiyama's talk highlights the powerful remnants of exploding stars, called supernovae, which are among the universe's most spectacular pyrotechnics displays.

For thousands of years after a supernova explosion, massive orbs of high-energy particles with strong magnetic fields remain confined by the expanding shock wave. These remnants "are among the most beautiful and mysterious objects in the cosmos," notes Uchiyama, a member of the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope Large Area Telescope collaboration who has expertise in supernova remnants.

The Fermi space telescope allows researchers to study supernova remnants in many wavelengths, from visible light to radio waves, X-rays and gamma rays. Uchiyama describes Fermi telescope observations that reveal how supernova remnants act as giant particle accelerators, spewing high-energy cosmic rays. Lecturer: Yasunobu Uchiyama, SLAC