Science aboard the space station and shuttles
NASA’s International Space Station offers a unique platform for conducting scientific research above Earth’s atmosphere, which can distort measurements of the Sun’s radiation and other forms of electromagnetic radiation. These are crucial for understanding how the Sun’s energy varies over time, and how our planet responds to these changes.
LASP is a leader in the development of instruments that are stable and accurate enough to deploy on the International Space Station. These include TSIS-1, which measures the Sun’s output of light energy at all wavelengths, from the ultraviolet to near-infrared. The resulting spectrum is now the international standard for Earth Science research and is being incorporated into powerful models to improve predictions of future climate change.
Our institute has also developed several experiments that were performed aboard the space shuttles.
