Recent Stories
- Unborn babies 'practise' facial expressions in the womb
- Lancaster leads the way in cyber security bursary scheme
- Physicists gain insight into the UK's biggest killer
- Engineering students make finals of national start-up business competition
- Social media plagued by privacy problems, say researchers
- Lancaster Environment Centre conducts roadside pollution research for BBC
- Lancaster set to receive funding boost to stimulate UK's economy
- Billion-year-old water could hold clues to life on Earth and Mars
- How do we find out about cyber criminals?
- First, carbon footprints... now you can calculate your 'nitrogen footprint'
UK Space Research Goes Online
Story supplied by LU Press Office
The Earth bathes in the solar wind (credit: NASA)
Members of the public will get the chance to question the world's leading space scientists with the launch this month of an interactive website set up by Lancaster University.
The site is the idea of Dr Jim Wild of the Department of Communication Systems at InfoLab21 who wants to showcase the UK's record of world class space research.
The www.sunearthplan.net website is aimed at people interested in finding out more about research into the solar system. Anyone will be able to post questions on the website for scientists to answer.
Dr Wild said: "Whether using satellites to study the heart of the sun or the sizzling radiation found in Saturn's magnetic field or ground-based cameras and radars to probe the northern lights high over the arctic circle, UK scientists are at the forefront of solar, solar-terrestrial and solar planetary science. The www.sunearthplan.net website will showcase this exciting science and provide a forum for visitors to question the scientists directly."
The launch is timed to coincide with the launch of the UN's International Heliophysical Year, when scientists and engineers from all 191 member states take part in an international campaign to promote the space and earth sciences.
Dr Wild said: "The UK has an enviable record in space research and a significant number of UK scientists work on programmes operated by NASA, the European Space Agency and the Chinese National Space Administration. Lancaster University has a strong record of being a part of this and I wanted to showcase what we do here in the UK.
"It's important because space research leads to developments which affect us all like nuclear fusion from understanding the power source of the Sun. There are even plans to send astronauts back to the moon and to Mars but we need to understand much more about space if we are to do that successfully."
The website project is funded by the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council. Other organisations contributing to the website include the British Antarctic Survey, Imperial College and University College, London, and the universities of Leicester, Bath, Southampton, Sheffield and Aberystwyth.
Wed 21 February 2007
Associated Links
- Space Plasma Environment And Radio Science (SPEARS) Group - combining research of the Earth's space environment, through observations of high-latitude phenomena, with innovative design and operation of ground-based space research facilities
- Sun Earth Plan - celebrating Britain's pivotal role in space science
Latest News
Unborn babies 'practise' facial expressions in the womb
Researchers from Durham and Lancaster Universities suggest that a foetus's ability to show a "pain" facial expression is a developmental process which could potentially give doctors another index of the health of a foetus.
Story supplied by LU Press Office
Mon 17 June 2013
Lancaster leads the way in cyber security bursary scheme
Lancaster is one of four UK universities selected to take part in an 'industry first' sponsorship initiative encouraging students to take up Masters-level cyber security degrees.
Story supplied by LU Press Office
Mon 10 June 2013
Physicists gain insight into the UK's biggest killer
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the UK, accounting for a third of all fatalities through illnesses such as stroke and heart disease.
Story supplied by LU Press Office
Wed 29 May 2013
Engineering students make finals of national start-up business competition
Engineering students Scott Nash, Daniel Richardson and Aaron Aboshio have won the northern heat of the Youth Entrepreneurs Scheme 'Engineering YES' competition for their spin-out renewable energy company Atlantis.
Thu 23 May 2013