Many of us grow up fascinated by space and the universe. The question of whether intelligent life exists out there is an ongoing preoccupation among scientists and citizens alike.
But space exploration goes far beyond the search for extraterrestrial life; There are many different areas that students and researchers investigate, from space weather and space law to astronaut health and satellite communications.
Academics at Northumbria University in Newcastle, which is developing NESST, a new £50 million North East Space Skills and Technology Centre, are working on a range of projects that could transform our understanding of space.
Many people’s only experience with space weather is seeing the stunning phenomenon of the aurora borealis, more commonly known as the northern lights. “The northern lights are part of the space weather,” says Clare Watt, professor of space plasma physics. “The aurora lights up when there is a significant storm or disturbance in space.”
Space weather forecasts can help experts predict when and where the northern lights will be particularly bright; so that tourists traveling to Iceland or northern Norway, for example, do not miss this opportunity. Of course, the northern lights, which have recently been visible in the UK and many parts of Europe, have caused great excitement.
What is less well known is that space weather, such as solar flares or storms, can have a huge impact on our technological infrastructure and even our health and well-being. It could damage satellites or increase radiation harmful to aircrews and astronauts. Watt, one of Northumbria’s leading researchers in this field, has worked closely with organizations such as the Met Office to study the impact of space weather on Earth.
“Before I started studying space, I thought there was nothing out there,” Watt says. “But the small amount of material there is so energetic that it poses a danger to satellites and anything related to electronics. “So space weather involves analyzing conditions in space to be able to predict them and provide information to satellite operators.”
Because of our reliance on satellites for banking, navigation, entertainment and more, the possibility of a storm in space crashing our communications systems is a real cause for concern. By conducting research to create better weather forecasts in space, the team can help satellite operators make more accurate predictions about where and when to move satellites, thus preventing damage to them and other communications systems.
As well as improving space weather forecasts, Northumbria researchers are also looking at new ways to allow satellites to transmit data. UK Space Agency funding is supporting the development of a new system that allows satellites to communicate with each other via lasers rather than radio frequencies. This will allow them to transmit data much faster and much more securely. Northumbria researchers are trying to launch the UK’s first university-led multi-satellite space mission to test their system next year and hope to make it commercially available soon.
Another area followed by experts at Northumbria University is research into technologies that can improve astronaut health. “We are directly involved in supporting astronauts,” says Nick Caplan, professor of aerospace medicine and rehabilitation at Northumbria University. “The most important thing that happens to them in space is that in the absence of gravity, they don’t have to use the muscles in their legs to stand and move like they do on Earth,” he says. “This means they lose muscle and bone minerals, which can affect them long after they return to Earth. So the question that interests us is: How do astronauts exercise in space to prevent these changes?”
The team is developing exercise devices, including a variable gravity suspension system. And after winning the 2023 People in Space Challenge, he is now researching blood flow restriction training for potential use in astronauts during spaceflight. Using expert technique, the team is working on ways to restrict blood flow to exercising muscles to increase exercise effectiveness to maintain astronauts’ strength while in space.
More importantly, Caplan says, the team’s research could also be used to improve the lives of people on Earth. “For example, in astronauts, postural muscles tend to become dysfunctional, similar to what we see in people with lower back pain,” he says. “So if we can find something that works for astronauts, it might also work for people with back pain on Earth.”
Another research area of the university is space law, which regulates what can be sent into space. “You can’t just launch anything,” says Caroline Harper, head of space science at the UK Space Agency. “There are regulations flexible enough to support emerging technologies and new markets while prioritizing security. We need to protect the area for future generations and the UK is a leading voice on this issue; “We want to encourage positive behavior, such as satellites that automatically deorbit when their missions are over.”
The University participates in evaluating whether additional accommodations are necessary. “There are laws that the space industry must comply with, but we need to ask whether these laws still apply when the ways we use space are changing so dramatically,” Watt says. “We have a team here at Northumbria Law School looking at how space is governed to determine whether space regulations need vital updates.”
Northumbria University is working in partnership with the UK Space Agency and Lockheed Martin UK Space on the new NESST centre, which will bring together industry and academia to collaborate on technological advances and space exploration. It is expected to support the creation of more than 350 jobs and aims to help train the next generation of space scientists.
All this research into space has broad relevance. “We’re trying to learn more about the universe, starting with our own solar system and our closest neighbor, the Moon, and all the other planets in our solar system,” says Harper. “We are always innovating… What you end up with is a technology that you can turn into a multitude of applications on Earth.”
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