Cluster meeting in Tromsø Norway

This week I have been in Tromsø Norway at the European Space Agency Cluster meeting. It has been fantastic and I am so glad they invited us to come and give a talk. I have learned so much from how to start planning a potential new spacecraft mission (well the very beginning of an idea about the planning of the mission) to magnetopause dynamics (the location where the solar wind from the sun collides with our magnetic field), to geotail dynamics (the part of our magnetosphere which goes from the night side of the Earth and away from the sun), to how to take a good photo of the aurora ( although a tripod is not mandatory, it sure helps). 

Due to the budget cuts at Most institutions across the US and at NASA, I am one of just a couple of Americans at this conference which is a bit strange as most of the conferences I attend have the majority of the attendees from the United states. I have been very lucky to attend and it has given me a chance to meet scientists from all over Europe. I hope that this will lead to more collaborations with my new friends as they are doing some great and very interesting work. I also hope that I was able to represent BARREL, the US, and US science projects well. 

Today in the afternoon we will have a field trip out to visit EISCAT an incoherent radar. It will be a nice break from talks and hopefully another great opportunity to discuss science and potential projects in an informal setting. We have a few potential leads for collaborations between Cluster and BARREL this coming northern hemisphere winter, but I would love to walk away from here with a solid idea for some collaborations. 

If you live in the auroral region, make sure to check out the nit sky we've. Been able to see some great aurora this week and tonight looks like it is going to be another great night to observe aurora!