Technology Studying Solar Flares At MSU Now Aboard International Space Station
Bozeman, Mont. — Montana State University researchers who are part of the universities space science and engineering lab (SSEL) say technology developed in Bozeman is now aboard the International Space Station as part of an eight-month mission involving scientists from the United States and Russia.
The scientists who arrived at the station on July 14 are scheduled to stay in space until their return to Earth in April 2027.
Bozeman, Mont. — Montana State University researchers who are part of the universities space science and engineering lab (SSEL) say technology developed in Bozeman is now aboard the International Space Station as part of an eight-month mission involving scientists from the United States and Russia.
The international crew was focused on station maintenance, crew replacement, and scientific research while in orbit 250 miles above Earth.
The International Space Station has housed more than 280 astronauts and several scientists since its 1998 launch.
MSU researchers say the university’s EISSFLAIX instrument has been on the station during the mission. EISSFLAIX has been on the space station for 15 months, located on an outer platform.
The technology is used to study X-ray radiation during solar flares, and the returned data helps professors, researchers, and students better understand solar flare acceleration.
"Our success is getting data back that makes sense so we can see like in the case of EISSFLAIX, the solar flares its recording, we can it, we can see that it's in the data, and we can start to analyze it and everything," Tyler Holliday, a senior research engineer at Montana State University, said.
Montana State University Physics professor Charles Kankelborg explained that researchers also want to learn more about solar flares that send material into space and sometimes affect Earth.
"We'd also like to understand the solar flares that launch things into space and sometimes affect our planet that give us the beautiful aurora that we've been seeing," Kankelborg said.
The work MSU is doing in collaboration with the ISS has also drawn interest from students on campus.
MSU senior and mechanical engineering technology major Nicholas Willett has been watching the collaboration closely and says he is eager to see where it goes next.
"MSU has given an incredible opportunity for people to be involved with something that is definitely bigger than ourselves," Willett said.
The scientists who arrived at the station on July 14 are scheduled to stay in space until their return to Earth in April 2027.