• Question: do believe that your project helped the world and the exploration of space. and do any of you have proof that you have found more planets or places in space

    Asked by THE MAN to Aisling, Colin, Laurence, Ned, Niamh on 28 Feb 2016.
    • Photo: Ned Dwyer

      Ned Dwyer answered on 28 Feb 2016:

      Well the work I have done has been very much related to looking at the Earth rather than looking at other planets and places in space. They often say we know less about the deep ocean here on Earth than we do about the moon, so I really enjoy finding out more about our own planet. I hope some of the work I have done has been of help to the world. I thnnk that when we learn something new, that is also useful to all of us. I have published the work I have done in scientific journals, so that means that others can read it, and build on it in their research. Space research in general is always finding out more about space. It seems that the universe is much much bigger than was thought just a few years ago. There are millions of other galaxies out there with lots of planetary systems. We are just a speck within the vastness of this universe.

    • Photo: Colin Shirran

      Colin Shirran answered on 28 Feb 2016:

      I’m still fairly new to the space industry, and space projects tend to take a very long time from start to finish so I haven’t had the chance to have a big impact on something that helped the world. However, I do believe that any work I do in this industry does have an impact, no matter how small, that helps in the exploration of space.

      There is plenty of proof that you can find on the internet of our discovery of all the new planets we’ve discovered in the universe. I personally don’t have any, although I have worked on a planet hunting mission which is in the very early stages of design called PLATO. The good thing is that you can be involved in finding planets too! Check out https://www.planethunters.org/ to get started!

    • Photo: Aisling Shannon

      Aisling Shannon answered on 29 Feb 2016:

      About a dozen years ago, I worked on a spacecraft program called Rapid Eye, in a previous job. Due to the length of the spacecraft programs, this is one of the few that I worked on which is actually up there doing its job. The Rapid Eye constellation of 5 spacecraft provided imagery to assist farmers in what is called precision farming. For example, probably not so much for small farms in Ireland but in Australia or America where the farms can be really really huge, they use satellite imagery to see which parts of the field needs fertilizer/water and then the tractor and spreader can be programmed to only put fertilizer where it is needed (using GPS).
      I also worked for a short time on a spacecraft called GAIA, which launched in 2013 and its mission is to map the stars. It will construct a 3D catalogue of around a billion stars over the course of its 5 year mission, and possibly thousands of planets beyond our Solar System!

    • Photo: Laurence O'Rourke

      Laurence O'Rourke answered on 29 Feb 2016:

      I work on the Rosetta mission which involves flying to and orbiting a comet on its way around the sun. Comets are believed to be the originators of life on Earth and what we are finding with Rosetta certainly helps to confirm that. The landing of Philae on the surface of the comet had over 5 million people around the world watching it live; the joy experienced by these people was amazing and the social networks went crazy that day because of it. It was the first man made object ever to soft land on the surface of comet – it was compared to the moon landing in its ambition and achievements. The fact that so many people around the world has heard of Rosetta & Philae shows it has helped people to realise that mankind is still pushing limits when it comes to space.

      Philae has pictures taken from the surface of a comet – where it landed is surrounded by ice rocks and it is a very cold place in space. So do I have proof of this cold place? Yes, I do – I have photographic proof as well as proof by other instruments which measured the temperature, magnetic fields and even smelled the gases that are in that place.

      That said, I’m working on the PLATO Mission also which is an exoplanet searched (planets around other stars). It is next generation of other satellites in space who have indeed measured proof that planets are existing around other stars.

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