Award-winning TV space scientist explores Space Park Leicester’s latest innovations
Award-winning scientist, broadcaster and author Dame Maggie Aderin-Pocock discovered the incredible contributions being made to space exploration at Space Park Leicester during an exclusive tour of the iconic venue.
Dr Aderin-Pocock was introduced to professors and businesses who are driving forward the UK’s space industry at Space Park Leicester during a tour of the University of Leicester’s £100 million science and innovation park.
During the visit, she learned about its role in BepiColombo – the most complex mission ever to orbit Mercury – and its involvement in the £10 billion James Webb Space Telescope which is the largest and most powerful telescope ever launched into space.
Dr Aderin-Pocock, whose acclaimed work ranges from making novel scientific instruments such as optical sub-systems for spacecraft to co-hosting the BBC astronomy programme, The Sky at Night, said:
“It’s fantastic that in the UK we have Space Park Leicester, which is a world-leading hub for space research, innovation and enterprise. The work taking place here is incredibly exciting – Space Park Leicester’s experts and industry partners are really pushing the boundaries of space exploration, satellite technology and Earth observation.” – Dame Maggie Aderin Pocock
Professor Emma Bunce OBE, of Space Park Leicester and the University of Leicester’s School of Physics and Astronomy, showed Dr Aderin-Pocock a model of the Mercury Imaging X-ray Spectrometer (MIXS) instrument which was designed and built by a Europe-wide consortium led by Leicester scientists for the BepiColombo mission.
She said: “We were thrilled to talk to Maggie about our involvement in BepiColombo which will be only the third space mission to visit Mercury in the history of space exploration.
“BepiColombo is a joint effort between the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency to study Mercury including its surface composition and geological features such as planet craters. The two spacecraft will also study the planet’s tenuous exosphere and its dynamic magnetosphere.
“The mission’s science will transform our understanding of the Solar System’s smallest planet, including how it formed and how it has survived in its extreme location so close to the Sun.”
Space Park Leicester Deputy Director Professor Nigel Bannister, who is also part of the University of Leicester’s School of Physics and Astronomy, showed Dr Aderin-Pocock a variety of Leicester-related space artifacts on display at Space Park Leicester, including the James Webb Space Telescope Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI).
Professor Bannister said: “Engineers in Leicester have been part of the Webb project for more than 20 years and were involved in the design, manufacture and testing of MIRI.
“MIRI is one of the four primary instruments on the telescope and enables it to carry out extremely sensitive and detailed studies of planets in our solar system, planets around other stars, stars in the process of being formed and galaxies in infrared light.
“We were very proud to share our involvement in the mission with Maggie because the discoveries it is making are changing our understanding of the universe.
“Only last month it was revealed that scientists using the telescope had identified an ancient and faraway galaxy that provides evidence that a transition period that brought the early universe out of its ‘dark ages’ happened sooner that was previously thought.”
Dr Aderin-Pocock, who is also Chancellor of the University of Leicester, was introduced to Space Park Leicester’s newest industry partner Zeeko which is renowned for its cutting-edge machines that produce high-precision optics for the space industry.
She also learned about Space Park Leicester’s electrical and electronics capabilities and explored its Visualisation and Optics Laboratory which is used for testing scientific and industrial virtual reality and augmented reality projects.
Main image: Dr Aderin-Pocock at Space Park Leicester