History changed in April 1961 when Russia launched Vostok 1 and its sole occupant Yuri Gagarin became the first human to journey into outer space. He completed only one orbit of the Earth in his 2.3 m diameter space capsule in a flight of only 108 minutes and had to parachute to the ground, after ejecting from the capsule at an altitude of 7 km. But humanity had entered the space age.
While UWA has been actively involved in space research for more than half a century, Vice-Chancellor Professor Amit Chakma says the University’s new International Space Centre (ISC) will pursue this in a more impactful way by “bringing people together who can fire each other’s imaginations”.
Involving a multidisciplinary team with 24 research nodes organised into 12 themes, 150 researchers and 20 PhD students, the centre will combine leading space science, research and teaching capabilities to advance space frontiers and develop innovative technologies needed to enhance and sustain life on Earth and beyond.
ISC Head, Associate Professor Danail Obreschkow says that Australians already rely on space technology to power their everyday lives. “The ISC will maximise the return of existing research and teaching capabilities at UWA and create new partnerships with industry, other space industries and international partners, to address pivotal space challenges of the 21st century,” he said.
Associate Professor Danail Obreschkow, ISC Head
Researchers will collaborate across areas ranging from optical communications, astrophysics, health, agriculture, engineering, information technology and social studies, in a world where humans living and working in the harsh environment of space is already a reality, thanks to the International Space Centre.
Plant protein biochemist Professor Harvey Millar, who along with Professor Ryan Lister, leads the ISC’s Plants in Space research node, puts it like this: “Who isn’t interested in space? Who doesn’t look into the sky and think, that’s pretty amazing, can we go there? Science is about discovery and as scientists this really is a new frontier for us.”
"Who isn’t interested in space? Who doesn’t look into the sky and think, that’s pretty amazing, can we go there? Science is about discovery and as scientists this really is a new frontier for us."
Professor Harvey Millar, Director, ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology.
Associate Professor Obreschkow, an astrophysicist, says harvesting the ‘inspiration’ of space is key to the ISC. “The inspiration of space can benefit our society in unforeseeable ways,” he said. “As Neil deGrasse Tyson so thoughtfully pointed out, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were 13 and 14 when we first set foot on the moon. Did they become astronauts? No, but they had learned that human innovation knows no boundaries. My vision is our scientists apply their knowledge to continue to inspire the Australian public in this spirit.”
Space-ready plants
Plants will be critical to support a long-term presence in deep space says Professor Millar, National Director for the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology at UWA, and an award-winning leader in plant science research.
“Yes, the capability for human space travel is leaping forward but the technology for critical life support systems is lagging far behind,” he explained. “Human beings rely on plants for food, oxygen and psychological wellbeing and it is the same in space.”
The plant scientist, who has a record of growing plants that can adapt to hostile conditions, says food to sustain long-term missions will be one of the biggest challenges as the limits of human endurance are tested.
While NASA has already grown plants on the International Space Station as part of its Vegetable Production System (with astronauts enjoying a fresh meal of leafy greens) large-scale gardening in zero or micro-gravity is tricky, says Professor Millar.
“Imagine all the food you’d need to feed astronauts on a mission to Mars that takes years – the volume and weight makes it too expensive to transport, it’s not going to happen. We need to find a way to provide food without bringing it along,” he said.
“It’s a harsh and odd environment so you need plants that are going to be unbelievably efficient, that are nutritionally balanced to support human life, can make oxygen and remove CO2 faster to support human life; basically we’re talking about the perfect plant.”
Professor Millar says the work being done at UWA on a range of plants that has opened up new opportunities in crop improvement to WA industries is very relevant to what needs to be done in space.
“Even when we’re looking for advances in agriculture on Earth, these new approaches and thinking outside the box and the normal paradigm, could provide solutions in this new frontier,” he said.
Laser-based communications in space
A new optical ground station capable of receiving high-speed data transmissions from space being built at UWA has the potential to support ground-breaking space projects, including a NASA mission to land the first woman and next man on the Moon by 2024.
"The telescope will be the first ‘on-sky’ optical communications ground station in the southern hemisphere and a prime example of fundamental research delivering real-world outcomes."
Dr Sascha Schediwy
A joint initiative of the ISC’s Astrophotonics Group, part of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR), as well as the ARC Centre of Excellence for Engineered Quantum Systems and UK industry partner Goonhilly Earth Station, the centre is being built on the roof of the UWA Physics building.
At its core is a 70 cm diameter robotic telescope donated to ICRAR by local astronomer Colin Eldridge. Astrophotonics Group leader, Dr Sascha Schediwy (winner of Academic of the Year and the Excellence award in the 2021 Australian Space Awards), says the telescope will be the first ‘on-sky’ optical communications ground station in the southern hemisphere and a prime example of fundamental research delivering real-world outcomes.
“Optical communications via laser links is an emerging technology expected to revolutionise data transfer from space, with several advantages over currently-used radio signals, including significantly faster data rates and hack-proof data transfer,” he said.
“Unlike standard optical fibre networks that carry the bulk of the world’s internet traffic, data rates over free-space optical communication laser links are limited by the destructive impact of atmospheric turbulence on the transmitted optical signals.
“Our team will investigate a unique combination of atmospheric turbulence mitigation technologies to correct these and there’ll be many practical returns for society, with the fundamental physics applications realised by this technology extending to precision earth science and resource geophysics.”
Living and thriving in space
While Yuri Gagarin’s voyage around earth proved humans could survive in space, actually living and working in such a remote and dangerous environment is another matter.
The complex question of how societies will function beyond Earth is being studied in the ISC node coordinated by Dr Lies Notebaert and extends across a range of social science disciplines including governance, law, policy, cultural studies, ethics, management, psychology, philosophy and others.
Dr Lies Notebaert, Senior Lecturer, School of Psychological Science.
Dr Laura Fruhen from UWA’s School of Psychological Science is one of the researchers and says while space might be the final frontier, living or working above the planet, away from friends and family in an isolated and challenging environment, raises big and important questions.
“We’re looking at what we know and at how what we’re already studying here on Earth can be applied to those new and emerging environments if we research things in a slightly different way,” Dr Fruhen said. “Not only the physical environment but questions like what does the work cycle look like? Would people have weekends? What do societal structures look like? What are the legal frameworks that we might need?
“There’s already been decades of research and testing by organisations like NASA on the problems of being in confined spaces with a bunch of people for a long time but there’s still so much to discover on developing effective working and living environments that will protect people’s mental health and wellbeing,” she said.