Houston, we have a podcast. Welcome to the official podcast of NASA's Johnson Space Center, episode

334, Atmospheric Waves. I'm Kenapell, and I'll be your host today. On this podcast, we bring in the experts, scientists, engineers, and astronauts, all to let you know what's going on in the world of human spaceflight and more.

So we talk a lot about the experiments that take place inside the International Space Station, but the orbiting lab also serves as a

platform for observing and studying our home planet from its unique vantage point in low-Earth

orbit.

That's both hands- on and automated equipment.

It's all about location, and today we're

going to talk about an experiment that makes use of that location.

The Atmospheric Waves Experiment, or A, that is currently

attached to the exterior of the International Space Station on a two-year observation

mission.

Have you ever seen photos of the Earth and noticed the red, green, purple, or yellow lights that

form around our home planet?

That's where awe comes in.

From its space station perch, this experiment focuses on those

colorful bands of light in Earth's atmosphere called air glow

to determine what combination of forces drive space weather in the upper

atmosphere. Space weather is important because it can have profound impacts not only

affecting technology and astronauts in space but can influence our everyday lives here on the ground such as disrupting

radio and GPS communications.

There's a lot to unpack here and luckily I'm only here for the color commentary.

We are joined by A's ultimate expert Lugar Shirleese. the is making global observations of an important driver of space weather and maybe even sharing an update or two.

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