Space Industry Gathers for First Scottish Space Symposium

Scotland's rapidly growing space industry converged at Strathclyde’s Institute for Advanced Studies recently for the first ever Scottish Space Systems Symposium.

The event, supported by the Advanced Space Concepts Laboratory in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Scottish Enterprise, brought together senior figures from the European Space Agency, scientists, engineers, and the business community and identified new opportunities for Scotland within the global Space sector.

The Space industry in the UK already contributes around £6 billion a year to the economy, supporting almost 70,000 jobs directly and indirectly across the country. Over the next 20 years, Space activity in the UK is identified as having the potential to grow into a £40 billion industry creating an additional 100,000 jobs and significantly contributing to the UK’s economic recovery.

Dr James Biggs of the Advanced Space Concepts laboratory, who organized the event, said "The first Scottish Space Systems Symposium has succeeded in identifying key capabilities and unique opportunities for the Scottish space industry and has hopefully initiated future collaborations between industry leaders and Scottish Universities. We hope that this will be the first of many Scottish Space Symposiums in the future."

Pictured: l-r Callum Norrie, European Space Agency, James Biggs, Advanced Space Concepts laboratory, Martin Ditter, European Space Agency, Craig Clarke, CEO of Clydespace Ltd and Ross White, Scottish Enterprise.

Bioengineering Host KTN Event

A group of the UK’s leading paediatric heart surgeons met at a Health Technology Knowledge Transfer Network event hosted by the Department of Bioengineering to discuss key technological and engineering challenges in this critical clinical field.

A number of major challenges and opportunities associated with the future of paediatric heart surgery were highlighted at the meeting which was chaired jointly by Professor Terry Gourlay of Bioengineering and Mr Mark Danton, consultant paediatric heart surgeon at Yorkhill Children’s Hospital, Glasgow.

The meeting, organised through the cardiovascular special interest group of the Health Technology KTN is the first in a series to focus on paediatric and congenital issues, and was attended by clinicians, engineers and scientists from the local clinical community and across the UK with an interest in this field.

Paediatric cardiac surgery is going through considerable changes in the UK, with the number of practicing centres scheduled to fall significantly over the coming years in favour of fewer, more specialized centres.  However, the number of children and babies undergoing heart surgery is increasing and, it was suggested at the meeting, will grow further if technological innovation can help meet the challenges associated with these complex conditions.

Bioengineering  is already engaged in research in this field, through recent Scottish Enterprise funding for ECMO technology development and a joint Bioengineering/Mathematics/Yorkill Children’s Hospital EngD project focused on mathematical modelling of complex congenital circulatory malformations. It was clear from the first meeting that there are real technological research and development opportunities remaining in this field, and the next meeting on the topic is planned for 2011.

Burns Poetry Returns From Out-of-this-world Odyssey

A miniature book of Burns’ poetry has returned to Scotland after a 5.7 million-mile trip and 217 orbits of the Earth.

The tiny book, which is less than one-inch high, was presented to First Minister Alex Salmond by British-born astronaut Nick Patrick at Holyrood in June (pictured).

The book was sent to space with help from 10 pupils taking part in the University’s Scottish Space School, to encourage school pupils to pursue careers in science and engineering.  It was handed to Nick in November on a trip to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Texas, before he took it onboard STS-130 Endeavour in February on a two-week mission to the International Space Station.

The book was originally presented to the Space School by Alan Archibald of the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, who is a distant relative of Burns' wife Jean Armour.  It contains a small fragment of Jean Armour's wedding dress and will be put on display in the new Burns Museum in Alloway when it opens later this year.

The Scottish Space School is supported by NASA astronauts and engineers and is open to all fifth year pupils from secondary schools across the country, and includes a residential week of activities on campus for 120 pupils. Competition for Space School places is fierce, with the top 10 students being selected for a learning journey to the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Mechanical Engineering Researchers Present at ECCM Conference

The Composites and Advanced Materials Research Group from the Department of Mechanical Engineering have just returned from a successful visit to the 14th European Conference on Composite Materials (ECCM-14) in Budapest, Hungary.

ECCM is Europe's leading conference on composite materials and as such ECCM-14 followed the long tradition of the conference series with a wide scope of technical topics in composite material research. Oral papers were presented by Professor Jim Thomason and 3rd year PhD student Liu Yang, and poster presentations were given by 1st year PhD students Fiona Gentles and Susan Reilly. 

All four presentations were well received, generating a high level of interest and initiating many new contacts. Susan’s poster, based on her results from an EPSRC vacation bursary project, was judged 2nd place in the best poster competition from over 200 posters on display at the conference.

EEE PhD Student is 'Sleepless in Seattle'

Paul Murray, a PhD student based in the Centre for Excellence in Signal and Image Processing (CeSIP), has just returned from a three month visit carrying out interdisciplinary collaborative work at the Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) in Seattle. 
 
ISB is internationally renowned for its revolutionary approach using signal processing techniques to analyse biological complexity in order to understand how biological systems function.  Paul jumped at the opportunity when it was offered to him by ISB Group Leader Professor Ilya Shmulevich, who is an expert in signal processing and systems biology, and also a Visiting Professor in the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering.
 
Since much of Paul’s PhD work was focused on analysing digital images of a biological nature, ISB seemed like an ideal place to advance his research.  He was given access to large sets of new data and various microscopes and acquisition devices which allowed him to test and refine techniques which were developed at Strathclyde for estimating noise in biological images.  His work was refined through discussion and feedback from Professor Shmulevich and his PhD supervisor at Strathclyde, Professor Stephen Marshall.
 
The ISB model is a perfect exemplar of what Strathclyde is trying to achieve through cross faculty collaboration.  Paul’s experience at ISB has not only enhanced his current research projects but has allowed him to develop and extend his professional network which will lead to future collaborations.  The visit has also helped to further strengthen links between Strathclyde and ISB, and it is hoped that Paul will be the first of many Strathclyde students to visit the world class research centre.  Furthermore, Paul’s work will lead to internationally collaborative journal papers which will add value to Strathclyde’s preparations for the Research Excellence Framework.

DMEM Innovations On Show

Designs by students from the Department of Design, Manufacture and Engineering Management (DMEM) were on display at the Lighthouse recently. 

The exhibition, entitled 'Strathclyde Innovates', showcased an eclectic mix of designs and investigations, ranging from the useful to the life-changing.  The projects are designed to benefit people from different walks of life and the biggest objects in the exhibition were the result of a request by the student-led charity 'Engineers without Borders' to produce sustainable housing for tropical regions. 

Students designed a modular, honeycomb structure (scale model pictured above) that will allow families to expand their homes, buying extra hexagonal ‘rooms’ when they can afford to do so. Other projects on show were a new form of casing for microspacecraft for the Space sector; an aid for golfers to improve their swings and an aesthetically pleasing store for dustbins, gardening tools and recycling bins.

Emissions Experts Meet at Strathclyde

Scientific experts from around the world recently met at Strathclyde to provide advice to the United Nations Environment Programme on mercury emissions from coal.

The MEC conference was run by The IEA Clean Coal Centre with the support of the David Livingstone Centre for Sustainability, and discussions included the specific problem of mercury emissions from coal combustion from power generation, and how to assist in the UNEP's work towards reducing this threat.

There were over 90 delegates from 20 different countries present, representing experts from academia, power companies, environment agencies, governments and commercial enterprises. 

The UN Environment Programme is currently working on the Global Mercury Treaty, and the first round of negotiations began in Stockholm last month where 180 countries and their lawyers discussed the basis for an Internationally Legally Binding Convention on Mercury Pollution.

Mercury is a global pollutant which is increasing in the atmosphere and does not break down or fade away. It concentrates through the fish food chain to a level which poses a threat to humans, especially children. High doses of mercury cause Mad Hatter's disease or Minemata Disease, which effectively causes severe neurological effects in adults and, in extreme cases, cerebral palsy in children.

Architecture to Host International IAPS Congress

Dr Ombretta Romice from the Department of Architecture and Edward Edgerton from the Department of Psychology at the University of the West of Scotland have been successful in their bid to host the next International Association for People-Environment Studies (IAPS) Congress in 2012.

The bid involved a 2-stage process where theme, innovation for IAPS, organisational capacity of the hosting institutions and a financial case had to be proved.

IAPS is a multidisciplinary and active association gathering researchers and practitioners from around the world, with a shared interest in people’s interaction with their environment. Formed officially 27 years ago, and with intellectual roots dating back to the 1960’s in the architectural psychology movement, IAPS has over 400 members from all over the world.  Ombretta is the current President, having served on the Board since 2004.

The Urban Design Studies Unit (UDSU), headed by Professor Sergio Porta, will be heavily involved in the organisation of the event and would like to extend an invitation to everyone in the Faculty who is interested in attending. The Congress in 2012 will have a different format from previous events, and will encourage working sessions between top level researchers, practitioners and policy makers, so there will be something interesting for everyone.

The Glasgow City Convention Bureau, Strathclyde University Marketing Centre, Strathclyde University Conference Residence and Catering Services and Strathclyde University Learning Services have offered organisational support from the submission of this proposal and their engagement will continue to the successful conclusion of the conference.

For further information please visit http://www.iaps-association.org/

Researcher Proves 25 Year Old Theory of Space Pioneer

In a new paper recently published in the Journal of Guidance, Control and Dynamics, researchers from the Advanced Space Concepts Laboratory at the Department of Mechanical Engineering have shown that late space pioneer, Dr Robert L. Forward, was in fact right 25 years ago on a theory which had previously been criticised.

In his 1984 paper, Dr Forward proposed that the pressure of sunlight on a large solar sail could be used to push the orbit of a geostationary satellite above or below the usual geostationary ring around the Earth. These new, displaced orbits would allow more communication satellites to be stacked north or south of the Earth’s equator, allowing additional satellites to be deployed to meet the growing demand for communications. However, Forward’s idea was later criticised in a 1992 paper which claimed that these displaced orbits were, in fact, impossible.

Graduate student Shahid Baig, working with laboratory director Colin McInnes discovered families of closed orbits which circle the Earth every 24 hours, but are displaced north or south of the Earth’s equator. These so-called ‘non-Keplerian orbits’ do not obey the usual laws of orbital dynamics.  The pressure from sunlight reflecting off the solar sail pushes the satellite above or below geostationary orbit, and also displaces the centre of the orbit behind the Earth, away from the Sun.

Although the displacement distance is smaller than Forward envisaged, the new paper sets the record straight after 25 years.

The work was funded by the National Centre for Physics, Quaid-i-Azam University (Baig) and VISIONSPACE, an Advanced Investigator grant from the European Research Council (McInnes).
Pre-print available at: http://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/18865/

In Brief

Senior Research Fellowship for Mechanical Engineering Professor
The Faculty are delighted to report that Professor Jason Reese of the Department of Mechanical Engineering has been awarded a prestigious and highly competitive Royal Academy of Engineering / Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellowship. This Fellowship, one of only 7 awarded across the UK, provides £47k funding to enable him to take 12 months sabbatical to pursue novel research of potentially high impact, in this case simulating the unusual behaviour of fluid flows in and around engineering devices at the micro and nano scale. The Fellowship will run from August 2010 to July 2011.


Student Success at University Research Day
Jeannette Heiligers, PhD student at the Advanced Space Concepts Laboratory in the Department of Mechanical Engineering won the prize for the best Engineering Poster at the University Research Day on 9 June. Jeannette’s work on non-Keplerian orbits involves generating optimal transfer trajectories to these families of novel orbits. The project is supervised by Dr James Biggs, Dr Matteo Ceriotti and Professor Colin McInnes and is funded by the European Research Council.

Jeannette’s poster can be seen at: http://www.strath.ac.uk/space/newsevents