Space Weather & Space Plasma Physics
Understanding and predicting the space plasma environment: from Earth to other planets
The LMU group led by PD Dr. Elena Kronberg combines spacecraft observations, machine learning, physics-based models, and space mission development to study space plasmas
Space-weather prediction
Assess how solar activity and solar-wind conditions influence near-Earth space and satellite safety
Plasma energization
Investigate the acceleration of charged particles in the heliosphere
Composition and magnetospheric dynamics
Examine how composition affects plasma properties and magnetospheric dynamics
Magnetosphere-atmosphere coupling
Explore how magnetospheric dynamics affect the ionosphere and the thermosphere and vice versa
Featured recent visualizations
Research in motion
Preview model outputs from current group projects, spanning mission support, global plasma modeling, and magnetosphere-atmosphere coupling
Latest News
Space plasma physics updates and group milestones
11 June 2026
Plasma Observatory recommended for ESA mission selection
ESA has proposed to its Science Program Committee that Plasma Observatory be selected as the next medium-class science mission. The formal decision is expected at the Committee's next meeting in November 2026.
19 May 2026
SMILE successfully launched to explore Earth’s space environment
On 19 May 2026, the ESA-CAS SMILE mission (Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer) successfully launched aboard a Vega-C rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. The mission will provide the first global observations of how the solar wind interacts with Earth’s magnetosphere and drives space-weather activity.
4 September 2024
Cluster mission: Salsa's last dance
ESA's Cluster satellite Salsa re-entered Earth's atmosphere over the South Pacific on 8 September 2024, closing the first chapter in the controlled end of the four-spacecraft Cluster mission after 24 years of magnetospheric observations.