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There is a lot of wildlife in here, and for some reason both Keiki and my voice feature quite often.
tags:
There is a lot of wildlife in here, and for some reason both Keiki and my voice feature quite often.
Four Imperial College physicists were awarded medals by the Institute of Physics recently. You can read about it in full here. Below are the quotes from the prize winners. The emphasis is mine.
Three women. One man. No prizes for guessing which one of these statements came from the dude.
If anyone wants to sit with me and my sardonic expression, quietly being disappointed but not surprised, you're most welcome.
Prof Dougherty, winner of the Richard Glazebrook Medal and Prize, also my Big Boss: "It is a great privilege to be given this award for essentially doing my job, none of which would have been possible without the great people I have worked with over the years."
Prof Sutton, winner of the David Tabor Medal and Prize: "I am delighted to receive the Tabor medal and prize from the IOP. David Tabor was a giant in the physics of surfaces and interfaces and it is a great honour for me to receive this award."
Prof Stevens, winner of the Rosalind Franklin Medal and Prize: "This award recognises the hard work of my fantastic team of postdocs and students and the terrific contributions that they have made to new platforms of designer materials for biomedical applications."
Dr Wade, winner of the Daphne Jackson Medal and Prize: "This isn’t really a prize for me, but a prize for Imperial - I’ve grown up at Imperial, fallen in love with physics at Imperial and realised the importance of sharing my enthusiasm with others at Imperial.
"I have been privileged to be involved with Imperial’s public engagement activities both on and off campus - the incredible festival, the schools workshops and the awesome work of Priya and the White City team - and can safely say they’ve inspired me to keep speaking about science even when I’m outside the lab."
Three women. One man. No prizes for guessing which one of these statements came from the dude.
If anyone wants to sit with me and my sardonic expression, quietly being disappointed but not surprised, you're most welcome.
tags:
Hear ye, hear ye: on the evening of Tuesday 10 October, you can come to Imperial College London and meet some Cassini scientists and engineers. Well, OK, one engineer (that would be me). Imperial are hosting a Fringe event titled “A Space Odyssey” in celebration of the Cassini end of mission, and there are lots of things to see, including me reminiscing about Cassini operations whilst waving around tiny magnetometers, and do, including making your own thin film paper spacecraft. Read all about what's on offer here.
Book yourself a free ticket here.
If you come along, you can see this beauty without all the reflective glare:
Image of the 1/25 scale Cassini model in its newly procured perspex box for display at the Fringe.
In other space news, ESA have conducted a helicopter test on the radar boom that will be on the JUICE spacecraft, to ensure that it will be able to penetrate Ganymede’s ice crust. You can read about, and watch a video of, the tests here. (Synopsis: Big Metal Box and Poles get waved over fields in Germany, serious-faced blokes on the ground don’t seem to find anything funny about this, pfft.)
Book yourself a free ticket here.
If you come along, you can see this beauty without all the reflective glare:
Image of the 1/25 scale Cassini model in its newly procured perspex box for display at the Fringe.
In other space news, ESA have conducted a helicopter test on the radar boom that will be on the JUICE spacecraft, to ensure that it will be able to penetrate Ganymede’s ice crust. You can read about, and watch a video of, the tests here. (Synopsis: Big Metal Box and Poles get waved over fields in Germany, serious-faced blokes on the ground don’t seem to find anything funny about this, pfft.)
The last of the press releases I was waiting for to make Announcements About Space came out yesterday so I can now write my Post of Great Happiness.
And now, I must go and rescue my pumpkin and pecan pies from beneath the noses of bloke and cat, for we are celebrating American Thanksgiving tomorrow.
- The European Space Agency's Cluster mission, studying the Earth's plasma environment and interaction with the heliosphere, has been extended from 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2016. This is the mission's seventh extension - the original mission began at the start of 2001 and was scheduled to last for two years. It is both astonishing and wonderful that all four spacecraft have lasted this long and continue to return such a rich seam of results. The quartet of spacecraft, flying in a tetrahedral formation, have gradually been approaching closer and closer to Earth, exploring different regions of the magnetosphere. It will be years, probably decades, before the potential of the data can be said to have been mined exhaustively.
The instrument I work on (the magnetometer) is fully operational on all four spacecraft. A couple of years ago, I calculated that I'd personally inspected tens of millions of magnetic field vectors. I suspect that number may have since entered the hundreds of millions. - Support for the European instruments aboard the joint NASA-ESA Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn has been approved by ESA's Science Programme Committee. Cassini is scheduled to take its final plunge into Saturn's atmosphere in late 2017. The magnetometer (our instrument) is still going strong.
- Other missions that I don't work on personally, but know people who do, also had two-year extensions approved: INTEGRAL, Mars Express, PROBA-2, SOHO, XMM-Newton, Hinode and HST. So many different types of exciting science!
Also, holy long-lasting spacecraft, Batman. Cluster is far from the most venerable. SOHO was launched in 1995 and went into operation, observing the Sun, in 1996. The Hubble Space Telescope was launched in 1990. 1990. I hadn't the faintest inkling that I would end up becoming a scientist in 1990. /o\ - Finally, the really big one. The JUICE mission to the Jupiter system, which will be the first spacecraft to orbit one of the Galilean moons (Ganymede), has been formally adopted by the agency. This means we are now allowed to leave the design phase, wherein our spacecraft and instruments exist only on paper (lots and LOTS of paper), and enter the implementation phase, wherein we begin to Build Things. I am both proud and excited to be a part of one of the instrument teams.
And now, I must go and rescue my pumpkin and pecan pies from beneath the noses of bloke and cat, for we are celebrating American Thanksgiving tomorrow.
[Image from the Royal Society's Facebook page of me at the exhibit. The comet nucleus model with pockets containing molecular models is in front of me. The lander model is just visible in the middle in the background. I look knackered. This is because when this photo was taken, I had just begun my fourth 4-hour shift on the stand in three days, after handling delivery and supervising setup the previous weekend.]
I'm still recovering from the exhibition despite finishing my last shift on the stand at mid-afternoon on Thursday. The exhibit finished on Sunday at 1800, after which it was packed down and shipped back to the Open University in Milton Keynes.
I learned some things about myself over the course of the organisation, which I felt the need to record.
- I'm not a natural media person. I can come across okay if I make an effort, but I don't enjoy it the way
StarkeyStardust does. She is a natural, relaxed and effective communicator. Granted, she's had more media training than I have, but she also has a talent for it that I don't. She took on nearly all the press obligations during the exhibition. Beforehand, I thought I might have wanted to share the limelight, but as it turns out, I much prefer being a power behind the throne, as it were, rather than sitting on it myself. In Yes Minister terms, I'm probably a bit of a Bernard at the moment, with aspirations to become a Dorothy.
- The more volunteers, the better. We were told we would need at least four people on the stand at all times. I did most of the organisation of the rota which is a much more time-consuming task than most people estimate. I knew from previous experience (I've either helped design or volunteered at the RSSE since 2011) that ideally we would have at least six people on the stand at all times, but I should have recruited harder as there were times when we had only four scheduled and that really is the bare minimum. Especially when someone drops out, as a few people nearly always do. In the end we had 42 volunteers, five of whom had to drop their sessions. Also, I should not have put
The exhibition keeps running for longer every year as well (it used to open on a Monday and close on a Thursday). If I were to do it again, I would ensure I had at least 50 volunteers and that none of them were officially scheduled for more than four sessions. As it was I was worried because we had a few that I never even met because they didn't come to the dry run and they were scheduled at the weekend when I wasn't there. I know now that as long as they confirm they're coming, it isn't a problem. - Do not try to stuff too many things into the exhibit space. I knew this one already which is why we only had two interactives, and was worried about how huge the lander model is. Its footprint is 1.5 metres by 1.5 metres and our space was 4 metres by 2 metres. Funnily enough this wasn't our biggest problem; it was the bases for the backdrop, which we hadn't realised were stupidly bulky, totalled 5 metres in length and were mostly useless. We ended up having to get rid of half of the backdrop in order to fit everything in and make it look decent.
- Small items that are part of the interactives will get nicked no matter how vigilant you think you're being. A few of our molecular models went walkabout, and our "comet without nucleus" magnet and replacement "comet without nucleus" magnet (a London bus fridge magnet with a cartoon drawing stuck to it, see here, were both spirited away.
- Be prepared for people to drop out of the soirees. This, I admit, was something we didn't anticipate. Most people love going to the Royal Society soirees and will angle for an invite. Both people who dropped out of the soirees (one each on Wednesday and Thursday night) did so on very short notice - mid-day on the day of the soiree. We managed to scare up replacements, but I think next time it would be clever to ask a postgrad volunteer who has put in a lot of sessions to be a backup attendee for an "important" guest at each of the soirees. They were the ones who ended up getting the places anyway, and they deserved them.
- Chase up the university press office for publicity. Both Imperial and the OU let us down a bit on that front, I have to admit. We got a bit of coverage, but not really enough before the actual event to build interest.
- Focus on only one social media outlet, or recruit volunteers to generate content. We tried to run a Tumblr and a Twitter just between the two of us before the exhibition. That was a mistake - we just about managed the Twitter account but couldn't keep up the Tumblr. Then, during the Twitter Q&A the week before the exhibition, we gave the Twitter account password to a few more people and suddenly it became way, way easier to maintain. I know this is a basic lesson of social media networking, but I've never really tried to do it myself as my accounts have always been exclusively personal.
And finally... - Don't get pregnant during the run-up to the exhibition. Fighting nausea whilst trying to work an extra two hours every day after your normal work is done and you've put the baby to bed and all you want to do is go to sleep? Yeah, that sucks.
To make myself feel better, here are the things I think we did well.
- Communicate regularly but not overwhelmingly with our volunteers. We tried to put a good deal of useful information into our group e-mails and send them sparingly. Also, we thanked them promptly after the exhibition even though none of us even wanted to think about it on Monday, which I think was good form.
- Pay people to do the stand design properly. Neither of us had the time or the necessary expertise to do it ourselves. It was much better to commission artists to make the comet nucleus model and the mechanical workshop at Imperial to make the Pin the Tail on the Comet interactive.
- Don't reinvent the wheel. For instance, I knew that
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purplecthulhu had helped design the Herschel and Planck stands at previous RSSEs, and so I asked him where to get shirts printed and for permission to reuse their rota spreadsheet. He provided these and many more helpful tips. (He definitely earned his soiree place!) Natalie knew that the backdrop for the Stardust exhibit some years ago had been stored at the OU, so she tracked that down and had the same person who did the design for the posters reuse his template for the Catch A Comet exhibit. - Communicate enthusiastically and effectively with the public about SCIENCE. This is the whole point of the exhibition, and I think we managed it well in the end.
A long and difficult week is ending on a positive note!
The Royal Astronomical Society has awarded the Cassini Magnetometer (MAG) team a Group Achievement Award in geophysics.
From the awards announcement:
From Prof. Dougherty* on the Imperial web site news item:
* That's my boss!
** That's me! \o/
The Royal Astronomical Society has awarded the Cassini Magnetometer (MAG) team a Group Achievement Award in geophysics.
From the awards announcement:
The Magnetometer has been one of the most successful instruments aboard the spacecraft, continuously returning data about the fields in the peri-kronian environment, through the ringed planet’s bow shock and magnetopause and deep inside its magnetosphere. One of the key findings of Cassini – and one of the most unexpected and scientifically challenging – was that the small, icy moon Enceladus is pouring a jet of water into Saturn’s magnetosphere. This finding is a direct result of the efforts of the Magnetometer Team and its Principal Investigator, Professor Michele Dougherty.
From Prof. Dougherty* on the Imperial web site news item:
I am very honoured that the Cassini magnetometer team has been recognised by the RAS in this way. It is been an extremely rich and rewarding experience to work closely with such a fantastic group of scientists and engineers** from the magnetometer team, other Cassini instrument teams and the Cassini Project. I look forward to continuing the very fruitful collaboration we’ve all had in the remaining 4-years of the mission at Saturn.
* That's my boss!
** That's me! \o/
The Cinema-2 and Cinema-3 satellites - also designated KHUSAT-1 and KHUSAT-2, for Kyung Hee University - have successfully launched and are in low Earth orbit!
See here for more detail. Excerpted:
We hope to hear more about the spacecrafts' status, and of course our magnetometers, soon. Now, fingers re-crossed for the successful launch of the SWARM mission tomorrow.
ETA: Article on the Beeb about the deployment here.
See here for more detail. Excerpted:
KHUSAT-1 and 2, also designated CINEMA-2 and 3 respectively, are South Korea’s contribution to the international CubeSat for Ion, Neutral, Electron, Magnetic fields, or CINEMA, programme. Developed by Korea’s Kyung Hee University, the satellites carry magnetometers produced by Imperial College London, in the United Kingdom.
...
Three-unit CubeSats with masses of four kilograms (8.8 lb), the two KHUSATs carry two instruments; the Magnetometer from Imperial College (MAGIC) is used to characterise the Earth’s magnetic field in the satellite’s vicinity, while the Suprathermal Electrons, Ions and Neutrals (STEIN) experiment will detect energetic particles around the spacecraft.
We hope to hear more about the spacecrafts' status, and of course our magnetometers, soon. Now, fingers re-crossed for the successful launch of the SWARM mission tomorrow.
ETA: Article on the Beeb about the deployment here.
(Writing credit shared with flexagain.)
This is the week of satellite launches! The most high profile was NASA's MAVEN launch. MAVEN is now on a 10-month journey to Mars, where it will study the Martian atmosphere and its interaction with the solar wind. However, it’s worth noting that no less than sixty-four (64) small satellites are due to be launched this week.
The ISS should be deploying four (4) of them yesterday and today, using the Japanese Experiment Module’s Small Satellite Orbital Deployer (JEM, J-SSOD), as has been used successfully before.
Twenty eight (28) will be launched on a Minotaur 1 today part of the US’s Educational Launch of Nano-satellites (which CINEMA-1 was part of), and which has 7 P-PODs*.
Thirty two (32) will be launched on the Dnepr on Thursday including CINEMA-2 and 3, mounted on a complicated assortment of launch systems. There are nine ISIPODs (including 6 3U satellites, of which two are CINEMAs!), three X-PODs, two PEPPODs, a few standalone primary and secondary payloads, and Unisat-5, which will deploy a satellite which will itself then deploy another satellite! (a veritable Russian Doll of spacecraft).
Supposedly the Dnepr launch will be shown live on the following South African website. We presume one of the spacecraft is from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, whose website this is: http://live.cput.ac.za/live.html.
Here in the lab, we’re excited about all this not least because we built the tiny magnetoresistive magnetometers, called MAGIC, that are aboard the CINEMA-2 and -3 CubeSat spacecraft. We received data from the MAGIC unit on the CINEMA-1 spacecraft, which brought the new sensor to TRL 9**, and we’re keen to see the feat repeated.
* P-POD stands for Poly-PicoSatellite Orbital Deployer. They are the delivery capsule for CubeSats, since each CubeSat is 10 cm x 10 cm x 10 cm. Each P-POD can hold three single-unit CubeSats. Or, in the case of CubeSats like CINEMA, one three-unit CubeSat (30 cm x 10 cm x 10 cm). The other PODs are similar satellite deployment devices.
** TRL 9 is the highest level of technology readiness: demonstrating that your instrument works in-flight.
flexagain.)This is the week of satellite launches! The most high profile was NASA's MAVEN launch. MAVEN is now on a 10-month journey to Mars, where it will study the Martian atmosphere and its interaction with the solar wind. However, it’s worth noting that no less than sixty-four (64) small satellites are due to be launched this week.
The ISS should be deploying four (4) of them yesterday and today, using the Japanese Experiment Module’s Small Satellite Orbital Deployer (JEM, J-SSOD), as has been used successfully before.
Twenty eight (28) will be launched on a Minotaur 1 today part of the US’s Educational Launch of Nano-satellites (which CINEMA-1 was part of), and which has 7 P-PODs*.
Thirty two (32) will be launched on the Dnepr on Thursday including CINEMA-2 and 3, mounted on a complicated assortment of launch systems. There are nine ISIPODs (including 6 3U satellites, of which two are CINEMAs!), three X-PODs, two PEPPODs, a few standalone primary and secondary payloads, and Unisat-5, which will deploy a satellite which will itself then deploy another satellite! (a veritable Russian Doll of spacecraft).
Supposedly the Dnepr launch will be shown live on the following South African website. We presume one of the spacecraft is from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, whose website this is: http://live.cput.ac.za/live.html.
Here in the lab, we’re excited about all this not least because we built the tiny magnetoresistive magnetometers, called MAGIC, that are aboard the CINEMA-2 and -3 CubeSat spacecraft. We received data from the MAGIC unit on the CINEMA-1 spacecraft, which brought the new sensor to TRL 9**, and we’re keen to see the feat repeated.
* P-POD stands for Poly-PicoSatellite Orbital Deployer. They are the delivery capsule for CubeSats, since each CubeSat is 10 cm x 10 cm x 10 cm. Each P-POD can hold three single-unit CubeSats. Or, in the case of CubeSats like CINEMA, one three-unit CubeSat (30 cm x 10 cm x 10 cm). The other PODs are similar satellite deployment devices.
** TRL 9 is the highest level of technology readiness: demonstrating that your instrument works in-flight.
Last week was my first plunge back into my normal working schedule - two days in London, three working from home. My work colleagues welcomed me back to London by taking me to see Iron Man 3. Do you think they know me? I think they know me. I missed them. ♥
So let me tell you about my favourite line in the entire film, which I'm fairly certain wasn't anyone else's. ( Spoiler )
~*~
Work on the Phase A development of the science payload for the Jupiter mission to JUICE is ramping up. You can find brief definitions of the instruments and their objectives here. The blurb for our instrument, J-MAG:
"A magnetometer to characterise the Jovian magnetic field, its interaction with the internal magnetic field of Ganymede, and to study subsurface oceans of the icy moons. The instrument will use fluxgates (inbound and outbound) sensors mounted on a boom."
~*~
And now for more photos of Baby Chewing On Things. She's teething. Thank goodness she's a good-tempered child because otherwise I think we'd probably be treated to endless screaming right now.
Image of Humuhumu in white button-down shirt and blue trackie bottoms, playing an invisible harmonica.
( +5 )
So let me tell you about my favourite line in the entire film, which I'm fairly certain wasn't anyone else's. ( Spoiler )
Work on the Phase A development of the science payload for the Jupiter mission to JUICE is ramping up. You can find brief definitions of the instruments and their objectives here. The blurb for our instrument, J-MAG:
"A magnetometer to characterise the Jovian magnetic field, its interaction with the internal magnetic field of Ganymede, and to study subsurface oceans of the icy moons. The instrument will use fluxgates (inbound and outbound) sensors mounted on a boom."
And now for more photos of Baby Chewing On Things. She's teething. Thank goodness she's a good-tempered child because otherwise I think we'd probably be treated to endless screaming right now.
Image of Humuhumu in white button-down shirt and blue trackie bottoms, playing an invisible harmonica.
( +5 )
First day at nursery
[Image of Humuhumu in khaki trousers and a stripey jumper, being held by a pretty blonde nursery staff member in a red t-shirt.]
On her first day at nursery, Humuhumu had a fabulous time. She’s quite sociable, plays on her own for long stretches of time and will happily eat most things. The big culinary discovery this week was custard. I think she’s wondering why we’d never given it to her previously. She’s even managed to pick up a new trick over the course of her first three days. She now knows how to throw a toy out of her reach and then wait for us to pick it up. It is even more tedious than I had previously imagined.
On Humuhumu’s first day at nursery, her mummy went to the campus cafe to hide behind dark glasses and a large cappucino and pretend not to be crying. She did manage to do a bit of work and to have a long walk, but she went to pick up Humuhumu fifteen minutes early because she couldn’t stand it any longer.
First day at work
[Image of me with shiny salon hair and dark sunglasses in front of the Floozie in the Jacuzzi, central Birmingham.]
My first day back at work was last Friday. On Thursday, I got my first non-self-inflicted haircut in 18 months, pictured above. On Friday, I got up at 5:30 am to breastfeed Humuhumu and was out the door by 6. I ended up missing the 18:15 on the way back and had to take a later, slower train, so I didn’t get home until 10 pm. However, I had good briefings with colleagues and a tasty pub lunch and I moved my desk to a new office.
Additionally, I took part in the following exchange.
Me, re an ex-colleague: He’s gone to work on software interfaces for a Russian moon lander.
Labmate: In Soviet Russia, moon lands on you!
This is why I missed my work.
Viennese shop windows
I've been going through the photos I took in Vienna and these made a little series.
Image of a little stone angel with her tilted head resting on her hands.
( +3 )
And in conclusion, BABY.
[Image of a shirtless Humuhumu laughing at her daddy, reflected in the mirror of the wardrobe behind her.]
[Image of Humuhumu in khaki trousers and a stripey jumper, being held by a pretty blonde nursery staff member in a red t-shirt.]
On her first day at nursery, Humuhumu had a fabulous time. She’s quite sociable, plays on her own for long stretches of time and will happily eat most things. The big culinary discovery this week was custard. I think she’s wondering why we’d never given it to her previously. She’s even managed to pick up a new trick over the course of her first three days. She now knows how to throw a toy out of her reach and then wait for us to pick it up. It is even more tedious than I had previously imagined.
On Humuhumu’s first day at nursery, her mummy went to the campus cafe to hide behind dark glasses and a large cappucino and pretend not to be crying. She did manage to do a bit of work and to have a long walk, but she went to pick up Humuhumu fifteen minutes early because she couldn’t stand it any longer.
First day at work
[Image of me with shiny salon hair and dark sunglasses in front of the Floozie in the Jacuzzi, central Birmingham.]
My first day back at work was last Friday. On Thursday, I got my first non-self-inflicted haircut in 18 months, pictured above. On Friday, I got up at 5:30 am to breastfeed Humuhumu and was out the door by 6. I ended up missing the 18:15 on the way back and had to take a later, slower train, so I didn’t get home until 10 pm. However, I had good briefings with colleagues and a tasty pub lunch and I moved my desk to a new office.
Additionally, I took part in the following exchange.
Me, re an ex-colleague: He’s gone to work on software interfaces for a Russian moon lander.
Labmate: In Soviet Russia, moon lands on you!
This is why I missed my work.
Viennese shop windows
I've been going through the photos I took in Vienna and these made a little series.
Image of a little stone angel with her tilted head resting on her hands.
( +3 )
And in conclusion, BABY.
[Image of a shirtless Humuhumu laughing at her daddy, reflected in the mirror of the wardrobe behind her.]
.
