Glow in the atmosphere will allow NASA to improve space weather forecasting.

The cosmic weather, first discovered by deflecting the arrows of a compass at the beginning of the 18th century, represents

a serious problem in the modern world. It is the result of the interaction of solar winds with the Earth’s magnetic field. This can cause magnetic storms that threaten astronauts' health and distort navigation systems, disrupt radio communications, turn off satellites and, if they are serious enough, damage ground electronics and destroy electrical networks.

To understand the mechanisms of spaceweather, special devices - AWE - will be located on the outer side of the ISS and used to monitor lanes of light. This is the name of the air glow that appears in the atmosphere of the Earth. Scientists suspect that space weather is caused not only by solar ultraviolet radiation and solar winds acting on the magnetic field, but also by the interaction between them and the atmosphere.

According to NASA, watching the light trails, AWEprovide data on how the waves in the lower atmosphere, caused by changes in air density in the upper atmosphere, affect space weather. Thus, it will be possible not only to create more perfect models, but also to find ways to predict adverse space weather and mitigate its consequences.