NASA scientist’s talk enthrals students

Bengaluru: Students of Maharani Lakshmi Ammanni College for Women in Malleswaram had an engaging introduction to diverse space science disciplines on Tuesday, when senior NASA scientist Nicola Fox spoke with them as part of an outreach programme.

Nicola, Associate Administrator–NASA Science Mission Directorate, was at the college for ‘Space Talk With NASA Women Scientists’, organised by the US Consulate General, Chennai.

Following the talk, she responded to questions from the students, along with Karen M St. Germain, Director–Earth Science Division, NASA.

Nicola said the upcoming NISAR (NASA Isro Synthetic Aperture Radar) was an exciting mission that could generate significant data for social good — from studies on agriculture to monitoring the Himalayan glaciers. She will meet the NISAR team on Wednesday.

NISAR, a low earth orbit observatory jointly developed by the two space agencies, can map the entire globe in 12 days to closely study changes in the earth’s ecosystems.

She shared insights on some of NASA’s key projects, including PACE, the earth-observing satellite that was launched in February to study the impact of climate change on aquatic food webs, and of aerosols on the warming and cooling of the earth.

The talk also covered Psyche, the spacecraft headed to a metal-rich asteroid; Lucy, the flyby mission to study 11 asteroids; and DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test), a mission to demonstrate ‘asteroid deflection’ or the changing of an asteroid’s motion in space through kinetic impact.

Nicola, who has overseen work to study key space phenomena and improve situational awareness of space, said the space agency also had in its line-up programmes that explored ways to adapt to life in space and to develop sustainable food for space.