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Fram2 will be the first human space mission to travel around the Earth’s polar regions. Named after the historical ship Fram, which went on groundbreaking expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctica, this mission will pioneer to be the first ever human space mission in polar orbit. Onboard Fram2 are four commercial astronauts, Chun Wang of Malta, Jannicke Mikkelsen of Norway, Rabea Rogge of Germany and Eric Philips of Australia.

UNIS and the Arctic Safety Centre are hosting a large post-excursion with participants from three different continents: Australia, the USA, and Europe.

The ARCTICS ISSI Working Group aims at coordinating the citizen science efforts in space physics and aeronomy at international level. It gathers together experts in auroral processes, ionospheric dynamics, substorm physics, as well as citizen scientists from various parts of the world. We will investigate unexplained optical signatures recorded by citizen scientists by studying events presenting suitable conjunctions with ground-based and satellite observations. We plan to have two one-week meetings in Bern, allowing citizen scientists to participate online as external collaborators, as well as regular online meetings. The expected outputs of this project are: (i) peer-reviewed scientific research papers; (ii) a review article on citizen science in space physics and aeronomy; (iii) a Handbook for Citizen Scientists providing tips and guidelines to maximise the usability of the photographers’ images and showcase other possible forms of involvement; (iv) a living dataset listing events identified by citizen scientists around the world.

The goal of this project is to investigate the causes of newly discovered aurora-like features known as "fragments" using radar, optical measurements, and photographs from citizen scientists. The project seeks to understand the plasma instabilities driving these phenomena and assess their impact on satellite drag, GPS accuracy, and radio signal disruptions.