The International Space Station and Denmark, Part 2: Giant lightning, cameras and Earthshine

Abstract

Andreas Mogensen's space missions have led to  breakthroughs in Danish space research which is described in the second part of this article series. With lively descriptions of the Thor experiment's observations of blue jets, red sprites and corona discharges in the stratosphere, the article documents unique results including the demonstration of synchronous activity of blue corona discharges and tropical storms. There is also a focus on technological innovation: a compact neuromorphic camera with better than millisecond time resolution and low data rates was used for the Thor-Davis project. Andreas Mogensens 'Earthshine' project is also described wherein the Earth's reflectivity  can be measured by observing the very weak reflected light from the Moon's dark side. The article shows the interaction between particle physics, atmospheric physics and space technology at the cutting edge of research.