The Fram2 mission onboard a SpaceX rocket will take four astronauts to a groundbreaking orbital path that allows them to explore higher latitudes, specifically areas above Antarctica and much of northern regions. This marks a first for crewed missions, previously limited to lower inclinations. Jannicke Mikkelsen, part of the crew, is collaborating with space physicist Katie Herlingshaw to enhance scientific observations of auroras during the mission. Together, they aim to utilize crowdsourced observations of auroras to capture rare footage from space, enriching our understanding of these atmospheric phenomena during varying solar activities.
People are pretty much everywhere, and they've all got phones, so they're making, really, the densest observation network ever.
Mikkelsen is hoping to bring more science to the observations and capture unique footage of the displays from the spacecraft's windows.
Before Fram2, crewed missions only reached orbits of up to 65 degrees inclination to the equator, missing vast regions for scientific observations.
Herlingshaw developed a network of skywatchers to track the Fram2 flight and look for auroras along its path in both hemispheres.
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