# Atmospheric Waves Experiment

**Type:** work
**Status:** Draft
**Confidence:** Medium
**Focus:** space instrumentation, upper atmosphere, atmospheric physics, Space Dynamics Laboratory, NASA
**Era:** 2023–present
**Location:** North Logan and Logan, UT; International Space Station
**Updated:** 2026-06-25
**Pull:** *Utah State's Space Dynamics Laboratory built the first ISS instrument designed to watch gravity waves bridge the gap between terrestrial weather and space weather.*
**Relates:** cites [NASA: AWE Mission Page](nasa-awe-mission-page.md)
**Relates:** cites [NASA: AWE First 3,000 Orbits Data Release](nasa-awe-first-data.md)
**Relates:** cites [USU Today: AWE Data Release](usu-awe-first-3000-orbits.md)
**Relates:** cites [AWE Mission: SDL Captures First Light](awe-mission-sdl-first-light.md)

## Summary

NASA's Atmospheric Waves Experiment (AWE) is an instrument mounted on the International Space Station, built by Utah State University's Space Dynamics Laboratory, that studies how atmospheric gravity waves travel from the lower atmosphere into the upper atmosphere and affect the ionosphere. It uses a four-camera Advanced Mesospheric Temperature Mapper to observe infrared airglow near the mesopause — the boundary region roughly 53 miles above Earth where the mesosphere meets the thermosphere.

The science team is led from USU. Michael Taylor, a USU physicist, originated and led the mission. Ludger Scherliess became principal investigator as AWE moved into operations. AWE launched to the ISS in November 2023, achieved first light shortly after installation, and by March 2025 had released data from its first 3,000 orbits, including more than five million images.

The central scientific question AWE addresses is how storms, mountains, and convection in the lower atmosphere launch gravity waves that travel upward, disturbing the ionosphere and affecting satellite communication, navigation, and tracking. Before AWE, the vertical coupling between tropospheric weather and near-space was much less observed than either the surface atmosphere or deep space.

## Impact

If AWE's dataset materially improves models of upper-atmosphere dynamics or space-weather forecasting, it will represent a clean example of Utah-built space instrumentation moving an entire scientific field. NASA describes AWE as the first mission of its kind to study how atmospheric gravity waves influence the upper atmosphere from the ISS — a measurement vantage point uniquely suited to global coverage.

The broader significance is that terrestrial weather and space weather are typically treated as separate domains with separate agencies, models, and scientific communities. AWE is aimed at the seam between them. Better understanding of vertical coupling could improve GPS accuracy, protect satellite and communication infrastructure, and help predict ionospheric disturbances that affect aviation and national security systems.

## What Was Created

SDL built the AWE science instrument: a four-camera infrared imaging array that observes airglow emissions in the hydroxyl and oxygen layers near the mesopause. The instrument was designed, fabricated, integrated, tested, and delivered for ISS installation. USU also leads mission science operations.

The March 2025 data release — more than five million images from 3,000 orbits — represents a novel observational archive of gravity wave structure, amplitude, and propagation that did not exist before AWE.

## Utah Context

USU and SDL are the scientific and engineering heart of AWE. The science originated at USU, the instrument was built in North Logan, and mission operations are run from Logan. This is a USU-led NASA science mission, not merely a hardware subcontract — an important distinction in a state where SDL's role in NASA missions has historically ranged from full mission leadership to component supply.

AWE sits within a broader SDL atmospheric-sensing lineage that includes SABER/TIMED and SOFIE/AIM — multiple Utah-built instruments making the upper atmosphere measurable over long time baselines.

## Evidence

- [NASA: AWE mission page](https://science.nasa.gov/mission/awe/) — [source record](nasa-awe-mission-page.md)
- [NASA: AWE launching to space station to study atmospheric waves via airglow](https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/heliophysics/awe-launching-to-space-station-to-study-atmospheric-waves-via-airglow/)
- [NASA: AWE first 3,000 orbits data release](https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/heliophysics/nasa-awe-first-data/) — [source record](nasa-awe-first-data.md)
- [USU Today: USU-led AWE releases data from first 3,000 orbits](https://www.usu.edu/today/story/usu-led-nasa-atmospheric-wave-studying-mission-releases-data-from-first-3000-orbits) — [source record](usu-awe-first-3000-orbits.md)
- [AWE mission: SDL captures first light](https://www.awemission.org/media-resources/news/2024-01-05-sdl-captures-first-light-from-awe) — [source record](awe-mission-sdl-first-light.md)

## Open Questions

- Scientific impact on upper-atmosphere modeling and space-weather forecasting will take years to assess; this page should be revisited as peer-reviewed AWE results appear.
- AWE is a NASA mission with national partners; the Utah claim is instrument build, mission operations, and science leadership — not sole mission ownership.
- This entry may be best understood as part of the broader Space Dynamics Laboratory story unless the scientific results become especially influential.