Team

Based in the world's northernmost town Longyearbyen, Svalbard, a northern lights researcher and future astronaut joined forces for an out of this world project.

📷  Susan Schuppli

Dr Katie Herlingshaw

Katie moved to Svalbard in 2016 and she is the project leader on a Young Research Talents grant that focuses on strange aurora-like features. She is lead scientist on SolarMaX.

📷 Jannicke Mikkelsen

Astronaut Jannicke Mikkelsen

Jannicke is a Norwegian award-winning Film Director & Cinematographer specialised in movie productions using next-gen technology. She will be an astronaut on FRAM2.

FRAM2 Crew

Chun Wang met Rabea Rogge, Eric Philips, and Jannicke Mikkelsen in the world's northernmost town. Together, they will become the first humans to view Svalbard from space as part of the Fram2 mission, the first crewed spaceflight in polar orbit. United by their passion for polar and scientific exploration, the crew will conduct various research projects during their time in space. One key focus for the crew will be the SolarMaX project, where they will work to expand our knowledge of mysterious types of northern lights and unlock new scientific discoveries.

📷  SpaceX

Fram2 crew, left to right: Rabea Rogge (mission specialist), Eric Philips (vehicle pilot), Jannicke Mikkelsen (vehicle commander), and Chun Wang (mission commander).


Where is Svalbard?

📷 Norwegian Centre for Space Weather 

Svalbard is an archipelago located midway between northern Norway and the North Pole. On the main island of Spitsbergen lies Longyearbyen (LYR), the world’s northernmost town, known for its remote location, polar climate, wildlife, and natural beauty. 

At a latitude of 78°, the town experiences months of darkness during the polar night and continuous daylight during the midnight sun. The aurora encircles the poles in bands known as the auroral oval. During Svalbard's polar night, you can see the northern lights at any time of day, even during an 8 a.m. walk to work! While the dayside aurora statistically sits over Svalbard, the nightside of the auroral oval can move further south, especially during periods of high auroral activity (high Kp numbers).

The University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS)

The University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS) is the world's northernmost higher education institution, located in Longyearbyen, Svalbard. Established in 1993, UNIS focuses on Arctic studies and offers courses and research programs in areas of Arctic biology, geology, geophysics, technology, and safety. It collaborates with Norwegian and international universities, providing unique opportunities for research-based learning and fieldwork in the Arctic environment.

The UNIS Space Physics group, part of the Arctic Geophysics department, manages significant space physics infrastructure on Svalbard, including the  Kjell Henriksen Observatory  and the Svalbard SuperDARN Radar. They are actively involved in organizing the SolarMaX campaign and will operate their instruments to collect data during the mission. Additionally, they will host observation nights to teach the public how to photograph the aurora and address questions about the project's scientific objectives.

Observatories on Svalbard

The Kjell Henriksen Observatory

The world's largest auroral observatory

The EISCAT Svalbard Radar

A high-power radar for ionospheric studies

Auroral Research Coordination: Towards Internationalised Citizen Science (ARCTICS) 

ARCTICS meeting June 2024 📷 Emma Bruus

Left to right: Emma Bruus, Dave Knudsen, Mathieu Barthelemy, Eero Karvinen, Maxime Grandin, Neethal Thomas, Vincent Ledvina, Rowen Dayton-Oxland, Katie Herlingshaw, Bea Gallardo-Lacourt, Donna Lach, Lena Mielke, Eric Donovan, Noora Partamies.

The ARCTICS Working Group brings together experts and citizen scientists to investigate unexplained optical events using data from ground-based and space-based observations and coordinates global citizen science efforts in space physics. They are supported by the International Space Science Institute.

This initiative promotes collaboration between researchers and citizen scientists to advance understanding in space physics. The group has a lot of people involved from all around the world (lots more than shown in the photo) and together they produced a Handbook and Field Guide, which can be used to learn about auroral photography, collaboration between scientists and citizen scientists, and hot to identify different auroral features within photos.