SPACE
An expansion of non-astronomy data analytics followed as part of the University of Portsmouth ’ s response to COVID-19 .
Professor Amara realised there was data dispersed across the University that could be curated into a track and trace system to help prevent the spread of disease . The data related to the location of colleges , students and staff , their movement patterns and so on .
“ There was COVID-19-relevant data everywhere and it reminded me of how astronomy has telescopes that are located everywhere ,” Professor Amara says . “ Curating complicated data is what we do . So , we applied that expertise to provide an immediate response to an immediate crisis .”
There were also applications in understanding COVID-19 dispersal in aerosols that are produced by sneezing and coughing .
“ Scientists can image the aerosols using fluorescent dyes ,” he says . “ The resulting patterns were familiar to us and we found uses for software first designed to find stars in astronomical images .”
They have since unleashed a floodgate of additional applications for ICG data analytics , including in the area of remote sensing , particularly through the work of Professor Richard Teeuw and Dr Andy Lundgren .
For example , there is work underway to map the depth of water around Pacific islands to help model climate change impacts , including from extreme events such as a tsunami .
There are applications in crisis and disaster management as well as in managing coastal and marine resources .
The view of the Universe from Earth
The University of Portsmouth is well aware of just how meaningful the benefits and impacts are from participating globally in the latest space science .
As the Vice-Chancellor at the University , Professor Graham Galbraith , explains : the University has fully committed to engaging with all stages of space missions .
The complete pipeline entails conceiving and modelling a mission right through to construction , launch , data processing , exploiting downstream applications and ensuring training exists to produce the expertise this sector needs .
The Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation ’ s ( ICG ) Dr Laura Nuttall says this commitment allows the ICG to participate in a series of exciting and highly ambitious space missions .
These missions make possible entirely new ways to observe the Universe – from seeing cosmological events as gravitational ripples in spacetime , to peering to the Universe ’ s far horizon and ‘ seeing ’ the dawn of spacetime .
“ Over the next decade we will see all these different facets of inquiry coming together in a wonderful interdisciplinary manner to unravel questions we can ’ t get at with individual missions ,” Dr Nuttall says . “ Together , they allow us to explore the Universe in a way that has never been possible before .”
To make space exploration a more direct and tangible experience for staff and students , the ICG is also looking at opportunities to design and launch its own CubeSats , which are research spacecrafts in the form of nanosatellites , typically about ten centimetres squared .
“ With CubeSats , you have to target research to very specific measurements given their limited size ,” says the director , Professor Adam Amara . “ Yet they make space far more accessible since they can be launched cheaply while allowing for great experiments by a greater variety of users .”
10 ISSUE 04 / 2022