Written by Amber Turner-Brightman
For this interview we met with Lauren and Kye, President and Vice President of Space Society. We discussed their lifelong passion for space, making the universe accessible to everyone, and the exciting Poseidon Project.
What is Space Society?
Lauren: We aim to provide a welcoming space for people of all courses to connect over the interest of space. Anyone of any experience can join.
Kye: It doesn’t matter how much knowledge you have about space. It’s for everyone who has an interest or a curiosity towards the subject. It’s also a place where you can learn and share your interest with everyone else.
What kind of events and activities do you run?
Kye: We aim to be more of a learning society, with events such as going to observatories; we have a few team members who have astrophotography equipment so we can do some of that; stargazing; some people from the ICG [the university’s Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation] have offered us their services so we can run lectures and discussions. We also want to have a lot of fun over the year as well, so we’ve got ideas for a couple of nights out, a pub quiz, build your own rocket, and a few other interesting things along the way.
The Orion Nebula. Photography by Lauren and Nikki Young.
What lectures do you have planned?
Kye: Nothing’s concrete just yet, but what we want to do first is understand our members, see what levels they’re at, and we can go from there- see if we need beginners’ lectures, and then build it up across the year to lectures about black holes, the theory of wormholes, space entities like the butterfly nebula, just teach everything we can provide.
Lauren: We actually have backing from the ICG because they were the ones who encouraged the society, so we’re going to have many internal lectures, as well as external lectures. We’re in contact with a few organisations who will be able to host, so I think it’s looking really positive.
Do new members need any equipment?
Kye: No, just bring yourselves and your curiosity. That’s all you need.
You mentioned astrophotography equipment- do you have much equipment already?
Kye: So you don’t really need a lot of equipment. We’ve been offered a space in the university’s TechnoPole building, where they have a smart screen and projectors, so we can do presentations or watch documentaries. Lauren as well as Thierry, our social media coordinator, both have astrophotography telescopes.
Lauren: I have a manual one which is just awesome. I’ve got too many telescopes- one is manual and the other is slightly smaller and is computerised, so you type in what you want to see, and it will take you there. It is so cool.
Kye: What we want to do over the year when using the telescopes, is go for the days when the planets are aligned with each other. With these telescopes you can see Jupiter, you can see Venus, you can see Mars… You can see all these planets, and you might be able to see them in one night.
Jupiter and its four largest moons. Photography by Lauren Young
Is it challenging to stargaze in a city with so much light pollution?
Lauren: I think it’s definitely a challenge. It was one of the first things I noticed when moving from a rural area, but I think that’s kind of what excites me most. When I was talking to students, a lot of them come from cities and haven’t been able to see the night sky in its magical state. So, if we’re able to take students out to a dark sky area, get them to see what the night sky can actually look like without light pollution, then I’ve certainly done my part and shared my passion for space.
Kye: Being in the location which we are, there is a lot of light pollution, but we do have Portsdown Hill. If you’ve been up there at night, you’ll know you can see a lot of stars and the light pollution isn’t as bad. If you go a little bit further afield, that’s when you can start seeing the night sky for all of its beauty.
When did your passion for space begin?
Lauren: I come from a space-loving family, so I’ve always had an eye for the stars. I think one of my earliest, fondest memories is trying to carry a telescope which was pretty much twice the size of me and being able to see Jupiter for the first time, being able to see the individual swarms… It was just so cool. It wasn’t until I did A-Levels that I started getting involved in astrophysics and astrophotography. I’ve been able to take photos of Jupiter and Saturn ever since then, so for me it’s always been in the background of my life.
Kye: I personally haven’t had the opportunity to use telescopes, but my passion started back in primary school I believe, when they were teaching us about the planets and how they’re positioned. That was the starting point for me. I’d go on to read articles and watch YouTube videos about all we’ve discovered about space, which is very minute compared to what the universe has to offer. After school I didn’t quite believe in myself or believe that I could do something like this, so I went into Aerospace Engineering to see if I could get close to it at least. I then decided that it was my passion and that it was what I wanted to do. So here I am!
Do you have a favourite space hobby?
Lauren: It’s got to be astrophotography. I can remember the first photo we took of the Milky Way not through a telescope, just through a DSLR camera, and it just looked amazing. I managed to go down to Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station in Cornwall with my mum, and we were able to take a photo of the antenna and the Milky Way in front of it. It’s one of my favourite photos that I’ve ever taken, I think.
Kye: The thing I’ve always liked doing is learning- just learning about space. At the moment, myself and Lauren are part of a team who are creating a satellite with the university and the European Space Agency. I’m leading the project and we’re close to finalising what our goals are and our research, and from December onwards, we get to build the satellite and send it into space.
The Milky Way. Photography by Lauren and Nikki Young.
Could you tell us more about the project?
Kye: We’re called the Poseidon Project. Back in June, my friend Csilla received an email asking if we would be interested in making a CubeSat satellite, which is just a very small satellite. What we aim to do with it is monitor the population of phytoplankton and its decrease. It’s been noted for many years now that the population is decreasing quite rapidly due to the rise in CO2 emissions, which is is a huge concern considering phytoplankton are responsible for roughly 50 to 80% of the Earth’s oxygen. Like plants, they have chlorophyl cells which convert CO2 into oxygen through the use of sunlight. What we want to do is fit the satellite with a hyperspectral camera to not only monitor the population across Europe, but also figure out what type of phytoplankton they are, to be able to provide data to researchers who may be able to save our little friends.
Lauren: It’s awesome to be on the team.
Kye: It’s my passion project- we’ve put a lot of time into this.
If you are successful, do you have any plans for future research?
Kye: CubeSats don’t live a very long life, only about two years, so we want to prove that the equipment we’re using to monitor phytoplankton actually works. It’s sort of our test project, if you like. If the CubeSat is successful, we want to propose a bigger satellite with better equipment, and have it operate for a longer period of time, so we can help researchers for decades.
Could you expand the project past Europe?
Kye: We did want to study the world, but the camera isn’t quite developed enough to be able to do that. Being able to just study Europe is just amazing, being offered this opportunity is just fantastic.
Poseidon Project Group Photo. From left to right:
Jason Amos, Daniel Folowosele, Harry Holden, Kye Wilson, Csilla Patakfalvi, and Rhea Gorringe
What is the most interesting thing you’ve learned about space?
Lauren: For me, it’s that the first shark fossils are older than Saturn’s rings by 350 million years.
Kye: There’s nothing that I haven’t found interesting, but I think what intrigues me the most is that for everything we’ve learned about space, which is so vast, we actually only know about 5% of the universe. There’s so much more to discover. I even read an article recently by one of our lecturers, whose theory on quasars is actually world-renowned, and it’s a new discovery. It’s amazing.
Why would you encourage someone to join Space Soc?
Kye: Like we said, everyone has a curiosity about space. It’s one of those wonders throughout your life which you always question. Why is Mars red, or why is the Earth round? Those are such simple questions but there’s so much behind them. We want to make a safe place for anyone who has a curiosity. It doesn’t matter what level you’re at; you could know every single planet in the known universe, or you could’ve just had a thought about what the sun is. We just want it to be a safe place for people to come along, share their interest and create friendships.
Lauren: I think learning about space is so crucial to appreciating how important life really is, and how incredibly lucky we are to be here. We are one tiny planet, in one tiny corner of the Milky Way, in an unimaginably large universe. It really changes your outlook on life, learning about our place in the universe- how we can use it, and what we can do to make this tiny, tiny part of the universe really important. It’s just amazing. As Kye was saying, Space Society aims to unite people through the interest of space, and anyone on any course can come.
Kye: Yeah, you don’t have to do Astrophysics or Cosmology to join. think everyone is interested in space. But we do also know that when you start learning about it, it can be quite daunting, and that’s what scares people. What we want to provide is support, to help you not feel so worried about how small we are. There’s so much beauty out there that just wants to be found, and we want to share that.
Lauren: We want to break down those initial barriers for everyone.
About the Authors: Amber Turner-Brightman (they/them)
Hi, I'm Amber, EIC! I'm an MA Journalism student with an undergraduate degree in Politics and International Relations. I'm particularly interested in current affairs and societal trends.
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