Cubesat Launched To Study Lightning
December 5, 2013
SESDA 3 engineers made significant contributions to the mechanical and electronics design and fabrication of the Firefly ‘cubesat’ satellite, which was launched successfully on November 19, 2013 on a Minotaur rocket from NASA Wallops Flight Facility. Firefly will study Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes (TGF): bursts of extremely high energy photons produced by lightning. Although lightning is a familiar phenomenon, the kinds of interactions required to produce intense TGF are not well understood, and are of increasing interest to the atmospheric sciences community and to the public. Despite its small size, Firefly promises a significant scientific payoff in the area of TGF, thanks in part to the ingenuity and hard work of SESDA 3 staff. For more information about Firefly and TGF, see:
http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/nasa-led-firefly-mission-to-study-lightning/#.Up85lI0VxWI
