The International Space Station as a plasma laboratory

Soon to be flying outside the Columbus laboratory on the International Space Station is the multi-need Langmuir probe, a technology demonstrator that will offer quicker and more detailed measurements of electron structures in the ionospheric plasma.The data from the Langmuir probe will increase our understanding of how plasma in the upper atmosphere distorts signals from satellites as they reach Earth. This will help develop a space weather forecast system that predicts when signals used in global navigation satellite systems are distorted. The objective of this project is to analyze the electron density along the trajectory of the ISS, and how it is controlled by solar influences.