Directly measuring the space environment
LASP’s in-situ instruments measure conditions in the spacecraft environment that it has direct contact with, including plasma streaming from the Sun, as well as the magnetic and electrical fields within the solar wind.
Our legacy includes the Digital Field Board (DFB) aboard NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, which is making in-situ measurements of electric and magnetic fields, radio emissions, and shock waves coursing through the Sun’s atmospheric plasma. The instrument also serves as a giant dust detector, registering voltage signatures when specks of space dust hit anywhere on the spacecraft’s exposed surface.