Graduate students working with faculty and staff develop instrumentation to study and answer specific questions about physical processes occurring in Earth's upper atmosphere and its nearby space plasma environment. The experimental apparatus is carried to high altitude, as part of a balloon or rocket payload, where the desired measurements can be obtained. Students analyze their own data, as well as data from other sources, such as ground-based network, or spacecraft instruments, in order to answer their research questions.
Our group is an active team member on several satellite programs. This assures a constant flow of new data suitable for many different research projects. The links below are to several recent spacecraft instruments with University of Washington contributions, and to specific rocket and balloon experiments in which our students built instruments.
| WIND |
| POLAR/UVI (Ultraviolet Imager) |
| POLAR Hydra (electrostatic analysers) |
| Cluster |
| Geotail |
| Sounding Rocket Experiments |
| Balloon Experiments |
| Walt Harris | Bob Holzworth | Michael McCarthy | Elden Whipple |
| Michael Kokorowski | Erin Lay | Jeremy Thomas |
| John Chin |