The Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM) is an observatory on the International Space Station (ISS) that measures lightning and bursts of gamma-rays from thunderstorm clouds. The overarching goal is to understand the role of electrified storms in atmospheric dynamics. ASIM is a mission of the European Space Agency ESA’s SciSpace Programme for scientific utilization of the ISS and non-ISS space exploration platforms and space environment analogues. It is funded by the Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science who supported ASIM from the Danish Globalization Fund for Climate Initiatives (2009–2012) via a special contribution to ESA, and by national and ESA funds from, Denmark, Spain, Norway, Italy, Poland and Belgium. The ASIM consortium is formed by Terma A/S, Technical University of Denmark, University of Bergen, University of Valencia, Polish Academy of Sciences Space Research Center, and OHB Italia. The Technical University of Denmark is leading the scientific advisory board to ESA and Terma A/S is the prime contractor under ESA for the payload development. Initial phases started in 2004 to 2009, and development started in 2010. ASIM was launched April 2nd, 2018, with CRS-14 Falcon-9/Dragon by SpaceX. The budget of ASIM is 35-40 MEUR. ASIM science data center (ASDC) is processing and distributing the ASIM data.
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