INVESTIGATING ATMOSPHERIC BURSTS OF GAMMA-RAY AND OPTICAL EMISSIONS
DURING THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY (MOLNIYA-GAMMA)
Research Area: Earth Remote Sensing
Expeditions(s): 25- 30
Principal Investigator(s): ● Vladimir D. Kuznetsov, PhD, NV Pushkov Institute of Terrestrial
Magnetism, Ionosphere and Radio Wave Propagation of the
Russian Academy of Sciences, Troitsk, Russia
● Alexander V. Gurevich, PN Lebedev Physical Institute,
Moscow, Russia
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
The Investigating Atmospheric Burst of Gamma-Ray and Optical Emissions During
Thunderstorm Activity (Molniya-Gamma) investigation examines high-altitude lightning
discharges, specifically the gamma-ray bursts and optical emissions in the Earth’s atmosphere
and ionosphere related to storm activity.
EARTH BENEFITS
The results of the scientific processing of the gamma-
ray flash data obtained in the Molniya-Gamma space
experiment will be used for the purposes of
fundamental geophysics research, such as analyzing the
atmospheric gamma-ray burst generation mechanisms
and verifying the existing theories of burst generation
and correlation with high-altitude lightning discharges,
as well as on a practical level, for mapping the gamma-
ray emission background levels in the ISS orbit. This is
important both for practical applications and for
initiating and developing future experiments in this
field.
SPACE BENEFITS
Also of significance is that determining the physical nature, properties, rate of occurrence, and
intensity of penetrating radiation could be of interest in terms of flight safety in the
thunderstorm atmosphere.
Gamma sensor monitoring module and
control and data acquisition module from
the Foton-Gamma payload set up on one
of the panels in the ISS RS Service
module. Roscosmos image.