Agnirva Space Premier League - Expedition #31023: Stormy Skies Seen from Space: The Ax-4 Lightning Experiment

The Ax-4 edition of the lightning imaging project continues the mission of watching Earth’s thunderstorms from above. Led by József Bór of HUN-REN and supported by Axiom Space during Expedition 73, this effort fine-tunes our understanding of upper-atmosphere electrical discharges.

Lightning and its related events are not only stunning visual spectacles but also hold clues to Earth’s environmental state. The Ax-4 team used advanced sensors to detect emissions in ultraviolet, visible, and infrared light. These multispectral observations help to determine the energy and structure of transient luminous events like sprites and elves.

This iteration focused on regional storms in Europe and Africa, allowing researchers to investigate geographical patterns and variations in storm behavior. The high-speed imaging also assists in verifying theoretical models about energy transfer in the stratosphere and mesosphere.

For students, this is a perfect example of how one experiment can evolve and expand across multiple missions. It shows how science builds layer upon layer, creating a clearer picture with each pass.

From the heart of a thundercloud to the edge of space, lightning connects us to the cosmos.

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