National Astronomy Week 2020

What does the study of Space bring to our own understanding of Earth? Join an expert panel in a session to discuss the differences between the two neighbours and explore with climate scientists what space exploration and satellite technology do to help us understand and protect our own home world. Panel includes Nick Attree (University of Stirling) Rachel Tilling (NASA Cryospheric Sciences) and and Mark Fox-Powell (Open University). 

** This event has run. You can view a recording on our YouTube Channel by clicking here.

About the Speakers:

Nick is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Stirling, working on thermal modelling in support of NASA's InSight mission to Mars. InSight is designed to measure subsurface temperatures up to 5m deep to determine the geothermal heat flow, as well as measure Mars-quakes! The group at Stirling is interested in the physical and mechanical properties of the upper regolith layers, past climate change, and how these affect the heat flow measurements. Nick previously worked at the Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille in France, using modelling and data from ESA's Rosetta spacecraft to explore the physical and mechanical properties of comet 67P, and completed his PhD at Queen Mary University of London on NASA's Cassini mission.

Dr Tilling is a Research Scientist at the Cryospheric Sciences Laboratory at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. She uses satellites to monitor changes in the ice cover of Earth's Polar regions. Her work has also included expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic to take ground measurement for satellite validation. 

Mark Fox-Powell is a Research Fellow with the AstrobiologyOU group at the Open University. He studies brines, which can resist freezing at sub-zero temperatures and are thought to exist across the solar system, including on Mars and in the icy shells of ocean worlds such as Europa (a moon of Jupiter). Mark is interested in processes involving ice and brine on other planetary bodies, such as “cryovolcanism”, and the potential for brines to provide habitats for extraterrestrial life. His work involves lab experiments, geochemical modelling and occasionally fieldwork to Arctic and sub-Arctic locations.

Hosts: Alastair Bruce (Dynamic Earth) & Shaaron Leverment (Science Centres)