jsc2021e048047

jsc2021e048047 (2/19/2021) --- Captain Hayden Richards (left) and Cadet Madison Yates (Right) with the flight unit of Falcon Neuro. Lightning and sprites are related forms of electrical discharges in Earth’s atmosphere. Space Test Program-Houston 7-Falcon Neuro (STP-H7-Falcon Neuro) demonstrates using event-based sensors (EBSs) to detect lightning in cloud tops and electrical discharges in the middle atmosphere. EBSs provide the high-speed optical sensing needed to capture such brief phenomena and data rates fast enough for making these observations from space. This technology could improve understanding of atmospheric electrical phenomena. Image courtesy of United States Air Force Academy.