» WELL, GOOD AFTERNOON. I'M MIGUEL GARCIA-GARIBAY. I AM DEAN OF UCLA DIVISION OF PHYSICAL SCIENCES, AND I AM DELIGHTED TO WELCOME YOU TO THE FIRST EVER EVENT PRESENTED BY THE UCLA SPACE INSTITUTE. I ALSO WANT TO REMIND YOU THAT TODAY IS EARTH DAY, AN INVITATION TO REFLECT ON OUR HOME IN THE UNIVERSE AND WHAT CAN WE DO TO MAKE SURE THAT IT REMAINS AS BEAUTIFUL AS IT IS TODAY? YOU GET A PICTURE OF ME. FOR OUR PROGRAM TODAY, WE HAVE TWO SESSIONS WITH EXCITING LECTURES IN EACH.
YOU PROBABLY HAVE THAT ALREADY IN YOUR iPHONE. YOU WILL HEAR FROM OUR FACULTY, SOME OF THE MOST AMAZING WORK THAT GOES ON AT UCLA. EACH SECTION WILL BE FOLLOWED BY A PANEL DISCUSSION TO EXPLORE OPPORTUNITIES TO CONTRIBUTE, BOTH FROM A CORPORATE AND AN ENTREPRENEURIAL POINT OF VIEW, FROM A PHILANTHROPIC PERSPECTIVE, AND FROM JUST A CURIOSITY POINT OF VIEW, JUST WANT TO LEARN ABOUT SPACE SCIENCE AND EXPLORATION. ALL OF US INVOLVED IN THE CREATION OF THE UCLA SPACE INSTITUTE WERE EXTREMELY PLEASED TO SEE THE REMARKABLE RESPONSE AND INTEREST IN THIS EVENT. TWO WEEKS AGO WE SENT OUT INVITATIONS TO OUR FACULTY AND STUDENTS, OUR ALUMNI LIST, OUR DONORS, ENTREPRENEURS, AND VENTURE CAPITALISTS, COLLEAGUES IN THE LOCAL AEROSPACE INDUSTRY, A FEW MEMBERS OF GOVERNMENT, AND FRIENDS OF UCLA. WE ENVISIONED THE EVENT TO BE HYBRID WITH DISTANT AND IN PERSON COMPONENTS.
WE HAD ALREADY SELECTED A VENUE IN THE LUS KIN CENTER THAT CAN HOUSE ABOUT MAYBE 250 PARTICIPANTS, BUT GUESS WHAT HAPPENED? TWO HOURS AFTER WE HAD SENT OUT THE INVITATIONS, THE CAPACITY OF OUR IN PERSON EVENT WAS INSTANTLY SATURATED. SO WE DECIDED TO LOOK FOR A MUCH BIGGER AND HISTORIC VENUE, WHERE YOU WILL BE MUCH MORE COMFORTABLE, AND THAT IS HOW WE ARE HERE IN ICONIC ROYCE HALL. NOW, THE MOST RECENT NUMBERS INDICATED 745 RSVP s, BOTH IN PERSON AND ONLINE, SO WE KNOW THAT THERE'S MANY, MANY MORE FRIENDS OF UCLA TUNING ONLINE AND JOINING US THERE.
NOW, OUR PRIMARY MESSAGE FOR YOU TODAY IS WE LOVE TO KNOW OF YOUR INTEREST IN SPACE SCIENCE AND EXP LORATION, AND WE WOULD LIKE YOU TO BE A PART OF THE UCLA SPACE INSTITUTE, SO WE WOULD LIKE TO INVITE YOU TO REMAIN CONNECTED WITH US. NOW, WHILE WE WILL NOT HAVE A QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSION TODAY, WE INVITE YOU TO SEND US COMMENTS, SUGGESTIONS, AND IDEAS TO THE ADDRESS ON THE SCREEN. INFO@SPACE.UCLA.EDU. SO YOU MAY BE WONDERING, WHY DO WE WANT TO CREATE A SPACE INSTITUTE NOW? THERE ARE A LIST OF REASONS. LOOKS LIKE I LOST MY SLIDES FOR A SECOND. ALL RIGHT.
THERE IT IS. SO AS YOU CAN SEE ON THE SCREEN, WE HAVE THE KNOW HOW AND THE INTELLECTUAL INFRASTRUCTURE TO DO TRANSFORMATIVE RESEARCH IN SPACE SCIENCE AND EXPLORATION. THAT WOULD BE NUMBER 1. NUMBER 2, AND THIS IS ONE REALLY TO KEEP IN MIND, WE FORESEE THE NEED FOR A TALENTED WORKFORCE THAT CAN BE ENGAGED IN THE NASCENT ERA OF COMMERCIAL SPACE SCIENCE AND EXPLORATION. AND THERE IS MUCH MORE THAT WE WANT TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT. SO WE DO KNOW THAT SPACE EXPLORATION REQUIRES THE ABSOLUTE BEST IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, AND WE ALSO KNOW THAT THE SPUTNIK HISTORY IN THE COLD WAR ERA RESULTED IN CONSIDERABLE INVESTMENTS THAT HELPED CREATE A QUALIFIED WORKFORCE WHICH LED TO MANY TECHNOLOGICAL SUCCESSES AND LED TO THE APOLLO SUCCESS AND LUNAR LANDINGS. A SECOND YEAR OF SPACE EXPLORATION BASED PRIMARILY IN GOVERNMENT INVESTMENT LED TO PLANETARY PROBES, THE DEVELOPMENT OF SPACE STATIONS, THE SPACE SHUTTLE PROGRAM, AND THE SCIENCE ON THE CHARACTERISTICS OF SPACE.
NOW WE ARE LIVING IN THE NASCENT ERA OF COMMERCIAL EXPLORATION. WITH REALISTIC ASPIRATIONS OF MASS COLONIZATION. TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES HAVE MADE IT POSSIBLE TO GO TO SPACE EVER FARTHER AND MORE CHEAPLY SO THAT SCIENTISTS WILL BE ABLE TO ASK A NEW SET OF QUESTIONS THAT WILL ENCOURAGE ENGINEERS TO SOLVE NEW PRACTICAL PROBLEMS. AS YOU CAN SEE ON THE SCREEN, THE NUMBER OF COMPANIES CREATED BETWEEN 2009 AND 2019 AND THE CORRESPONDING EQUITY INVESTMENT HAS SKY ROCKETED. THE PROJECTIONS FOR THE SPACE ECONOMY ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE SLIDE SHOW REMARKABLE GROWTH FROM A CURRENT ESTIMATE OF A FEW HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS TODAY ALL THE WAY UP TO A FEW TRILLION BY 2040. AND MOST OF THIS IS HAPPENING
HERE, RIGHT? IT IS CLEAR THAT SPACE EXPLORATION WILL BE EVEN MORE CRITICAL TO THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ECONOMY. OVER THE NEXT FEW SLIDES, WE WILL ANSWER THE QUESTION WHY UCLA, WHY IS UCLA THE REAL PLACE FOR THE NEW SPACE INSTITUTE? PRIMARILY BECAUSE OUR FACULTY OF SPACE SCIENCES COVERS ALL AREA OF SPACE AND THE UNIVERSE. THIS MIRRORS THE HANDOUT THAT MANY OF YOU RECEIVED WHEN YOU CAME IN THAT SHOWS WORK FROM OUR FACULTY AND STUDENTS THAT SHOW STUDIES O F THE SUN INDICATED ON THE LEFT FROM THE USE OF SPACE TELESCOPES TO STUDY THE FARTHEREST PART OF OUR SOLAR SYSTEM AS WELL AS PLANETS ORBITING STARS IN FAR AWAY GALAXY. IF WE TAKE A PEEK AT THE TOP LEFT CORNER, WE CAN SEE A NUMBER OF OUR ALUMNI HAVE BEEN SPACE EXPLORERS, PLAYING PIVOTAL ROLES IN SPACE MISSIONS. AND UCLA'S WORK ON THE GAS GIANTS, THE ICY PLANETS, AND THE HYPERBELT AND BEYOND. SO IF OUR PRINT IN SPACE IS SO
EXTENSIVE, YOU MAY BE ASKING, WELL, WHY DO WE WANT TO DO MORE? BECAUSE UCLA IS UNSTOPPABLE, RIGHT? WE ARE THE NUMBER 1 PUBLIC UNIVERSITY IN THE UNITED STATES FIVE YEARS IN A ROW. WE'RE ONE OF THE MOST DIVERSE UNIVERSITIES IN THE UNITED STATES, ATTRACTING THE BEST TALENT FROM COMMUNITY COLLEGES, FIRST GENERATION STUDENTS, URM STUDENTS, AND STUDENTS FROM UNDERSERVED COMMUNITIES. WE HAVE A LONGSTANDING TRADITION IN LEADING SPACE SCIENCE PROGRAMS IN THE WORLD, FLYING INSTRUMENTS ON EVERY MAJOR NASA MISSI ON SINCE THE 1950 s. WE COVER EVERY ASPECT OF SPACE SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, INSTRUMENT AND MISSION DESIGN, PROPULSION, PLASMA PHYSICS. WE HAVE A VALUED METEORITE
COLLECTION, AND WE HAVE SPACE-ORIENTED ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROGRAMS. AS I SAID BEFORE, UCLA IS LOCATED IN THE HEART OF THE US SPACE INDUSTRY. IN FACT, AEROSPACE IS ONE OF THE LARGEST EMPLOYMENT SECTORS IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. AND THE TIMING, RIGHT? THE RENAISSANCE OF SPACE ENABLED BY COMMERCIAL SPACE EXPLORATION AND THE GROWTH OF THE SPACE ECONOMY ARE HERE. AND WE HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO SUPPORT THE SCIENCE, EXPLORATION, AND TALENT THAT IS NEEDED RIGHT NOW. WE ALSO HAVE POWERFUL TOOLS AND VALUABLE ASSETS, AS YOU CAN SEE THERE. WE HAVE SOME AMAZING FACULTY,
AS ILLUSTRATED BY PROFESSOR ANDREA GHEZ, WHO EARNED THE 2020 NOBEL PRIZE IN PHYSICS FOR HER DISCOVERY OF A SUPER MASSIVE BLACK HOLE AT THE CENTER OF OUR GALAXY. WE HAVE EXTREMELY TALENTED AND MOTIVATED STUDENTS. WE HAVE ENGAGED ALUMNI, LIKE ASTRONAUT ANA LEE FISHER, WHO WAS A SCIENCE SPECIALIST ON THE SPACE SHUTTLE DISCOVERY, AND SHE REMAINS FULLY ENGAGED WITH US. AND WE HAVE INCREDIBLY COMMUNITY SUPPORT FROM ALL OF YOU. WE KNOW THAT UCLA INSPIRES. OUR ALUMNI HAVE PLAYED KEY ROLES AS ASTRONAUTS, SCIENTISTS, ENGINEERS, LEADERS, ADMINISTRATORS.
EVERY SINGLE ROLE THAT CAN BE NEEDED THROUGH THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF SPACE EXPLORATION. SOME OF YOU MAY KNOW THAT JESSICA WATKINS ON THE BOTTOM LEFT, SHE IS SCHEDULED TO LIFT OFF ON BOARD NASA'S NEXT MISSION TO THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION ON APRIL 26, JUST FOUR DAYS FROM NOW. WE WISH HER GREAT SUCCESS. AND UCLA IS AN IDEAL PLACE TO HAVE BIG DREAMS, AND WITH YOUR HELP, WE CAN DO IT ALL.
OUR VISION IS TO CREATE A WORLD LEADING INSTITUTE, FOCUS ON CUTTING EDGE SCIENCE, AND WITH FACILITIES FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATION. WE WANT TO CONVENE THOUGHT LEADERS AND INNOVATORS REPRESENTING ALL AREAS OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY NEEDED TO MAKE RAPID PROGRESS IN MULTIPLE IDEAS OF SPACE SCIENCE AND EXPLORATION. WE WANT TO ATTRACT A CORE OF FACULTY AND INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED PROFESSIONAL RESEARCHERS, POST DOCS, AND STUDENTS REPRESENTING THE BRIGHTEST AND MOST DIVERSE TALENT EXPANDING FROM INNER CITY LOS ANGELES TO THE REST OF THE WORLD. WE WANT TO HELP ENABLE THE
DREAMS AND AMBITIONS OF STUDENTS AT ALL LEVELS, INCLUDING UNDERGRADUATE, GRADUATE STUDENTS, SUMMER STUDENTS, AND EVEN HIGH SCHOOL VISITORS. WE WILL HOST A PROFESSIONAL MASTERS PROGRAM TO RAPIDLY EQUIP PROFESSIONALS WITH THE MOST USEFUL AND MARKETABLE SET OF SKILLS FOR THE SPACE INDUSTRY, INCLUDING SPACE SCIENCE, ENGINEERING, PROJECT MANAGEMENT, AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP. WE STRIVE TO SERVE AS A CONNECTION POINT FOR THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA SPACE SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND ENTREPRENEURIAL COMMUNITIES, OFFERING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT, WORK ON SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS THAT MEET INDUSTRY NEEDS, AND TOGETHER SEED NOVEL VENTURES FOCUSED ON SPACE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY. SO HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE INVOLVED? OUR PRIMARY MISSION IS THE CREATION OF KNOWLEDGE, HIGHER EDUCATION, AND THE PREPARATION OF A HIGHLY QUALIFIED WORKFORCE, BUT WE DO HAVE OPPORTUNITIES TO CREATE NEW TECHNOLOGIES AND PRODUCTS, MATCHED WITH ENTREPRENEURS IN THE CREATION OF WEALTH, AND WE WANT TO SHARE THE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY WITH EVERYONE IN OUR COMMUNITY. WE HOPE THAT YOU WILL SEND US YOUR FEEDBACK USING THE ADDRESS ON THE SCREEN. YOU CAN SEE THAT AGAIN, INFO@SPACE.UCLA.EDU, AND WE
WOULD REALLY LOVE IT FOR YOU TO BE CONNECTED. NOW WE WILL GO TO THE -- NOW WE WILL GET A TASTE OF THE AMAZING RESEARCH GOING ON IN OU R CAMPUS. WE WILL BEGIN WITH PROFESSOR MARCO VELLI FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF PLANETARY AND SPACE SCIENCES, WHO WILL JOIN US DISTANTLY TODAY, AND WILL TELL US ABOUT A NEW ERA OF SOLAR PHYSICS RESEARCH. MARCO, I HOPE THAT YOU ARE NOW CONNECTED. OR WILL BE.
» HELLO, EVERYONE. WELCOME. MY NAME IS MARCO VELLI, AND I AM GOING TO TELL YOU ABOUT A NEW ERA IN HELIOPHYSICS EXPLORATION. CAN YOU SEE MY SLIDES YET? HELLO. CAN YOU HEAR ME? » YES, MARCO, WE CAN SEE YOUR SLIDES. » PERFECT. SO LET ME GET STARTED. SO I'D LIKE TO TRY TO TELL YOU
A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE EXPLORATION OF OUR LOCAL SPACE, A SCIENCE WHICH IS NOW KNOWN AS HELIOPHYSICS, AND HOW UCLA HAS CONTRIBUTED AND WILL CONTINUE TO CONTRIBUTE ON THIS TOPIC. SO LET ME START WITH THE SUN, AS SEEN BY OTHERS. AS DOUGLAS ADAMS SAID FAR OUT IN THE UNCHARTED BACK WATERS OF THE UNFASHIONABLE END OF THE WESTERN SPIRAL ARM OF THE GALAXY LIES A SMALL UNREGARDED YELLOW SUN.
AND INDEED THIS IS THE CASE. THE SUN HAS A CONSTANT OUTPUT AT THE EARTH. IT'S 1 1/2, A LITTLE BIT LESS THAN 1 1/2 KILOWATTS PER SQUARE METER, AND IT'S RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL THE ENERGY THAT WE USE AND FOR ALL ACTIVITY THAT HUMANS AND OTHER ANIMALS AND SPECIES DO ON THE EARTH. THIS DOESN'T CHANGE AT ALL AND IS KNOWN AS THE SOLAR CONSTANT. HOWEVER, OUR SUN IS NOT AS SIMPLE OR TRIVIAL AS THAT MIGHT SEEM, AND THE FIRST INDICATION OF THIS, KNOWN FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS, WE HAVE SOLAR ECLIPSES. BEFORE WE GET INTO THAT, LET ME TELL YOU JUST A LITTLE BIT ABOUT MYSELF. I JOINED UCLA IN 2014 AND HAVE
BEEN WORKING ON TRYING TO GET NEW MISSIONS TO EXPLORE THE REASONS AND THE ORIGINS OF THE NEW SPHERE ITSELF. BEFORE JOINING UCLA, I WAS AT JPL, WHERE I WORKED ON SOLAR MISSIONS FOR ABOUT TEN YEARS. BEFORE THAT, I WAS TEACHING PLASMA ASTROPHYSICS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORENCE IN ITALY. IN FACT, ONE OF THE REASONS I AM NOW IN THE UNITED STATES IS BECAUSE OF THE IDEA OF TRYING TO SEND A PROBE CLOSE ENOUGH TO THE SUN TO UNDERSTAND THE IMAGE THAT YOU SEE ON THE RIGHT. SO WHY DID I SAY THERE'S SOMETHING NOT SIMPLE? YOU SEE THAT THE SHAPE OF THE OUTER AS MOSS FEER AS SEEN DURING THE TOTAL ECLIPSE, IS NOT CIRCULAR AT ALL. IT'S KIND OF A TRIANGULAR SPACE. IF YOU LOOK WITH THE BINOCULARS
AS I WAS DOING WITH THE NAKED EYE, YOU GET A STRUCTURE LIKE THIS ONE. YOU SEE AN INCREDIBLE AMOUNT GOING ON IN THE OUTER ATMOSPHERE OF THE SUN, AND IT WAS ONLY IN THE LAST CENTURY, LATE '30 s, THAT IT WAS UNDERSTOOD THAT THE GAS THAT YOU'RE LOOKING AT WAS AT A TEMPERATURE ABOVE A MILLION DEGREES. THAT MEANS THAT AT THAT TEMPERATURE NO ATOMS CAN REMAIN NEUTRAL. IT MEANS THE EELECTRONS ARE STRIPPED OFF, AND IT'S WHAT'S CALLED AN IONIZED GAS, AND THE IMPORTANT PART OF THAT IS THEY FEEL MAGNETIC FIELDS VERY STRONGLY. IN PARTICULAR, THIS IS CALLED A MAGNETIZED PLASMA. AND ALTHOUGH THE IMAGE YOU'RE
SEEING HERE IS SERENE AND CALM, I CAN ASSURE YOU THAT WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THAT CORONA IS INSTEAD INCREDIBLY DYNAMIC. THE MAGNETIZED PLASMA BEHAVES IN WAYS THAT ARE COMPLETELY UNPREDICTABLE, AND I WILL BE TALKING MORE ABOUT THAT IN A BIT. SO WHAT HAPPENS TO THAT MILLION DEGREE PLASMA? WELL, THUS THE STORY TAKES US WAY BACK TO THE BEGINNING OF THE SPACE AGE. AS YOU ALL KNOW, IN 1957 SPUTNIK WAS LAUNCHED. THAT'S 65 YEARS AGO, AND THE SOVIETS GOT A HEADSTART IN THE SPACE RACE. I'LL SKIP OVER EXPLORER ONE AND
THE BIRTH OF NASA THAT HAPPENED IN 1958 BECAUSE OTHERS WILL MAYBE DISCUSS THAT, BUT SOON AFTER THAT, US NASA WAS FORMED, AND A MISSION WAS SENT TO EXPLORE THE REGIONS OF SPACE BETWEEN EARTH AND VENUS, AND MARINER 2 WAS THE FIRST PROBE TO MEASURE, EVEN THOUGH THE SOVIETS HAD TRIED TO ATTEMPT TO CRASH ONTO THE MOON AND MISSED AND SO HAD GLIMPSED THE EXISTENCE OF AN OUTFLOW FROM THE SUN CALLED THE SOLAR WIND, IT WAS ONLY MARINER 2 THAT SHOWED THERE WAS A CONTINUOUS OUTFLOW AS YOU SEE HIGHLIGHTED HERE ON THE SCREEN, WITH SPEEDS BETWEEN 400 AND 800, 600, 800 KILOMETERS PER SECOND BETWEEN VENUS AND EARTH. AND THAT DISCOVERY FOLLOWED ON GENE PARKER'S PREDICTION THAT A SOLAR WIND HAD TO EXIST BECAUSE OF THE CORONA, BUT THOSE WERE THE SAME YEARS IN WHICH SPACE PHYSICS REALLY STARTED AT UCLA, AND I'VE CHOSEN TO HIGHLIGHT ONE INSTANCE OF THAT HERE. PAUL COLEMAN DEVELOPED THE SPACE PROGRAM AT UCLA, IN WHAT WAS THEN CALLED THE DEPARTMENT OF PLANETARY AND SPACE SCIENCE, AND HE HAD THE INTUITION BY USING THE MARINER 2 DATA, SO UNDERSTAND THAT NOT ONLY WAS THERE A SOLAR OUTFLOW FROM THE SUN AT HIGH SPEEDS, HIGHLY SUPERSONIC, BUT ALSO IT WAS INCREDIBLY TURBULENT. SO THIS IS JUST A PAPER FROM 1967.
SO THE CORONA, HOT CORONA LEADS TO THE SOLAR WIND, AND THAT MAGNETIZED OUTFLOW, WHICH IS A PLASMA, CREATES A CAVITY IN THE INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM AND BLOWS A HUGE BUBBLE, AND ALL OF OUR PLANETS ARE SITTING IN THAT BUBBLE, AND WE'VE BEEN FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO ACTUALLY CROSS ITS OUTER EDGE WITH THE VOYAGER 1 AND VOYAGER 2 SPACECRAFT. SO WE NOW KNOW IT EXTENDS OVER 100 TIMES THE DISTANCE OF THE EARTH TO THE SUN, AND IT'S VERY IMPORTANT FOR LIFE. SO OUR DULL LITTLE STAR WITH ITS MAGNETIC FIELD AND SOLAR WIND ACTUALLY PROTECTS US FROM THE COSMIC RAYS THAT COME FROM THE INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM AND SCATTERS THESE ENERGETIC PARTICLES AWAY. IT REFLECTS THEM AND DEFLECTS THEM AWAY F ROM US, AND IT'S VERY IMPORTANT THAT THIS HA PPENS FOR THE EXISTENCE OF LIFE ON EARTH. ON THE OTHER HAND, SOLAR MAGNETIC ACTIVITY AFFECTS OUR HUMAN ENDEAVORS IN SPACE AND EVERYTHING AROUND US. IT'S IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT THE SOLAR CORONA AND ALL THE ACTIVITY YOU'RE GOING TO SEE IS MADE UP OF ONLY A FEW THOUSANDTHS OF A PERCENT OF THE SOLAR WIND ENERGY.
SO WHY IS IT INTERESTING? WHY DO WE NEED TO GO THERE? AND THE REASON HAS TO DO WITH THE SUN AND MAGNETIC FIELDS. I'M JUST SHOWING YOU A VERY QUICK IMAGE OF WHAT THE SUN LOOKS LIKE AS A BALL. IT'S A SPHERE. WE KNOW THAT THERE'S FUSION AT THE CENTER.
THEN THERE'S A WHOLE REGION CALLED THE RADIATIVE ZONE. THEN CONVECTION STARTS, AND CONVECTION TOGETHER WITH THE C HANGE IN THE ROTATION RATE AS YOU MOVE IN TOWARDS THE SUN, DOES SOMETHING NEW, WHICH IS IT CREATES A MAGNETIC DYNAMO, AND THE DYNAMO INTRODUCES MAGNETIC EFFECTS. AND AS I TOLD YOU, THESE HIGH ENERGY PARTICLES THAT ARE IONIZED INTERACT TO FORM A PLASMA, AND ONCE THAT HAPPENS, THE MAGNETIC FIELD CAN FOCUS ENERGY AND DO INCREDIBLE THINGS. VERY QUICKLY, IF YOU WANT TO GET A FEEL OF WHAT A PLASMA IS AND PARTICLES THAT ARE SITTING IN A PLASMA OF THE HOT CORONA AND TRYING TO MOVE, YOU SHOULD SAY THE WORDS INEXTRICABLY INTERTWINED TEN TIMES VERY QUICKLY. THAT WILL GIVE YOU A FEEL OF WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A PARTICLE IN A MAGNETIC FIELD.
SO WHAT HAPPENS? WHAT HAPPENS IS THAT THE MAGNETIC FIELD NOW IN THE CORONA, WHERE THERE IS SUPPOSED TO BE THE END OF THE STAR, WHERE YOU LOOK AT THE SUN SPHERE, THE CORONA ACTUALLY FOCUSES ENERGY AND PRODUCES HUGE EVENTS CALLED SOLAR FLARES. THESE ARE THE LARGEST ENERGETIC EVENTS IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM, UP TO 10 TO THE 25 JOULES, OR 100 TIMES THE ENERGY CONSUMPTION IN 2020. THAT ENERGY IS EMITTED IN A FLARE IN TENS OF MINUTES, 20 MINUTES. AND YOU CAN SEE THERE'S AN ERUPTION M ATERIAL COMING OUT AS WELL. NOW, THE DYNAMO IN THE SUN
ACTUALLY CHANGES THE OUTER CORONA, ITS APPEARANCE, WITH TIME, AND DEPENDING ON WHETHER THERE ARE MANY SUN SPOTS OR NOT. SO WHEN THERE ARE MANY SUN SPOTS, YOU SEE A VERY ACTIVE CORONA ON THE LEFT. WHEN THERE ARE VERY FEW SUN SPOTS, YOU SEE THIS APPARENTLY SIMPLE CORONA ON THE RIGHT, BUT YOU STILL ALWAYS HAVE ENERGETIC EVENTS. THAT'S WHAT HEATS THE CORONA. WE DON'T KNOW EXACTLY HOW. HOW IS IT THE MAGNETIC FIEL D FOCUSES THE ENERGY TO PROVIDED THIS 2 MILLION DEGREE PLASMA? AND THIS IS A VIEW NOW OF THE SOLAR WIND AS OBSERVED BY ULYSSES, AND IT SHOWS WHAT THE SOLAR WIND LOOKS LIKE AS THE MAGNETIC ACTIVITY CYCLE PROCEEDS, AND SOLAR MINIMUM, ESSENTIALLY FROM THE POLES OF THE SUN HAVE A SOLAR OUTFLOW. IT'S TURBULENT. THAT'S WHY YOU SEE THE LITTLE
WIGGLES IN THE LINE HERE. FROM THE SOUTH POLE, SAME THING. BUT AT THE EQUATOR, THE MAGNETIC FIELD ACTS AS A CAGE. THINK OF A DIPOLE, CLOSED MAGNETIC FIELD LINES. PLASMA CANNOT CROSS CLOSED MAGNETIC FIELD LINES. THAT'S WHAT PROTECTS US ON THE
EARTH, FOR EXAMPLE, FROM THE SOLAR WIND. AT SOLAR MAXIMUM, THE ENERGY IS ALL OVER THE PLACE. THAT'S THE MAXIMUM SUNSPOT NUMBER. AND THEN SOLAR MINIMUM AGAIN, THE MAGNETIC FIELD IS INVERTED. THAT'S HOW DYNAMO WORKS. EVERY 11 YEARS THE SUN'S
MAGNETIC FIELD REVERSES. NOW, I WAS TALKING ABOUT SOLAR FLARES, AND SOLAR FLARES PRODUCE VERY, VERY HIGH ENERGY PARTICLES. THIS IS AN IMAGE OF SOLAR WIND AND THE BURSTY OUTFLOWS TAKEN AT THE L 1 POINT FROM THE SPACECRAFT. YOU ARE GOING TO SEE HERE IS
ENERGETIC PROTONS HITTING THE VECTOR AND POTENTIALLY DESTROYING THE SPACECRAFT. THIS PARTICULAR EVENT WAS NOT SUFFICIENTLY ENERGETIC, BUT THERE HAVE BEEN EVENTS -- THERE WAS ONE IN THE 19th CENTURY AND ONE IN THE '80 s THAT HAD MUCH MO RE DAMAGING POTENTIAL. INTERESTINGLY, WE CAN'T PREDICT WHEN THESE ENERGETIC PARTICLES WILL ARRIVE. TO GIVE YOU A VERY QUICK ANALOGY, SOMETIMES WHEN YOU'RE DISTRACTED AND YOU TAKE A S PRAY CAN AND YOU PUSH A BUTTON AND EXPECT THE SPRAY TO GO SOMEWHERE, IT CRACKS, AND THE SPRAY GOES EVERYWHERE. THE SAME THING HAPPENS ON THE SUN. SOMETIMES IT LOOKS LIKE YOU CAN PREDICT WHERE THE PARTICLES ARE GOING TO GO, AND SOMETIMES THEY GO ALL OVER THE PLACE. AND WE REALLY HAVE NO
UNDERSTANDING OF HOW THE MAGNETIC FIELD, WHICH ALLOWS PARTICLES TO MOV E ALONG IT BUT NOT ACROSS IT, TO C HANGE THE ENERGETIC PARTICLES THAT CAN DESTROY OUR SPACECRAFT. SO FOR BASICALLY AROUND 20 YEARS, I'VE BEEN WORKING ON GETTING TWO OF THESE PROBES TO GO AND OBSERVE THE SUN, TO UNDERSTAND WHAT DRIVES SOLAR MAGNETIC ACTIVITY, WHAT HEATS T HE CORONA, AND HOW SOLAR ENERGETIC PARTICLES ARE ACCELERATED. ONE OF THESE IS CALLED THE PARKER SOLAR PROBE, AND IT WAS PUT UP IN 1958 RIGHT AFTER NASA WAS BORN, TRYING TO UNDERSTAND WHAT'S GOING ON WITH THE MAGNETIC EVENTS IN THE SUN IS ONE OF THE TOP PRIORITIES. BASICALLY SIX YEARS LATER, IT BECAME A REALITY.
AND IN HONOR OF GENE PARKER, WHO PASSED AWAY JUST ABOUT A WEEK AGO, THE PROBE WAS RENAMED PARKER SOLAR PROBE. PARKER SOLAR PROBE GOES CLOSE TO THE SUN, AS WE WILL SEE. SOLAR ORBITER HAS TELESCOPES AND GOES INSIDE THE ORBIT OF MERCURY TO LOOK AT THE SUN CLOSE BY.
THESE QUESTIONS ARE QUESTIONS THAT PSP AND THE SOLAR ORBITER WANT TO ANSWER. WHY DO WE WANT TO GO INTO THE SOLAR CORONA? WE'RE SITTING OUT HE RE WHERE THE WIND IS COMING AT SUPERSONIC SPEED. IT'S LIKE BEING IN THE EXHAUST OF A SUPERSONIC ENGINE. BY OBSERVING THE EXHAUST, YOU CAN'T UNDERSTAND HOW IT'S MADE.
FOR A MAGNETIZED PLASMA, THERE ARE TWO SUPERSONIC SPEEDS, ONE WHERE YOU BECOME FASTER THAN ALL THE MAGNETIC WAVES, AND ONE WHERE YOU BECOME FASTER THAN THE SOUND WAVES. PARKER SOLAR PROBE WILL GO INSIDE THE FIRST. BUT IT'S NOT OVER YET. IF WE REALLY WANT TO UNDERSTAND, WE HAVE TO CLOSER TO THE SUN AND UNDERSTAND THE REASON THE PARTICLES ARE ACCELERATED AND TRANSPORTED.
STILL WE HAVE INFORMATION COMING FROM THE PARKER SOLAR PROBE MISSION. THIS IS PARKER. PARKER USES MULTIPLE VENUS GRAVITY ASSISTS TO WIND ITS WAY. BY ENCOUNTERING VENUS, VENUS SLOWS IT DOWN AND BRINGS IT CLOSER TO THE SUN. INTERESTINGLY, WHEN WE ARE FAR AWAY FROM THE SUN, WE NOTICE THAT THE SUN ROTATES, AND AS SEEN FROM THE EARTH, THE SUN ROTATES FROM A N EAST TO WEST DIRECTION.
PARKER, ON THE OTHER HAND, WILL MOVE SO FAST THROUGH THE SOLAR CORONA AND PRODUCE THE TRAJECTORY YOU SEE ON THE RIGHT. IN TWO PARTICULAR INSTANCES, IT WILL BE SITTING IN THE SAME PLACE ON THE SUN FOR TWO PERIODS OF TIME. WE'LL UNDERSTAND WHAT THE WIND IS LIKE BY LOOKING AT A PARTICULAR REGION OF THE SUN OVER A LONG PERIOD OF TIME. JUST TO GIVE YOU A FLAVOR OF THE FIRST DISCOVERIES WE'VE DONE, WE ARE NOW HALFWAY THROUGH OUR MISSION. AS YOU CAN SEE, WE ARE DOWN TO 13 SOLAR RADII FROM THE SURFACE OF THE SUN, AND WE HAVE OBSERVED NEW THINGS. AS I TOLD YOU, THE CORONA TENDS
TO BLEND INTO THE SOLAR WIND FAR AWAY SO YOU LOSE STRUCTURE. BUT BY OBSERVING THE MAGNETIC FIELD CLOSE IN, WE'VE SEEN THE MAGNETIC FIELD IS HIGHLY TURBULENT AND HIGHLY FLUCTUATED, AND YOU CAN SEE THESE PATCHES LIKE FISH BONES THAT COME THROUGH. THESE PATCHES OF MAGNETIC FIELD THAT ARE HIGHLY TURBULENT ARE LIKE FAST VELOCITY JETS THAT BLEND TO FORM THE SOLAR WIND. WHEN YOU LOOK AT HOW THE WIND IS MADE, IT'S LIKE A HUGE WAVE, A HIGHLY TURBULENT WAVE, AND I JUST ILLUSTRATED THE KIND OF WAVE WE'RE THINKING ABOUT HERE BY SHOWING YOU THIS FAMOUS PAINTING.
YOU CAN CALL THESE MAGNETIC SWITCHBACK PATCHES THAT BEND THE MAGNETIC FIELD BACKWARDS TOWARDS THE SUN. SO WE NOW DISCOVERED AN INGREDIENT WE DON'T REALLY SEE FAR AWAY FROM THE SUN THAT CLEARLY HAS A ROLE IN ACCELERATING THE SOLAR WIND. SO HELIOPHYSICS AND THE SPACE INSTITUTE. GOING FORWARD REQUIRES OBSERVATIONS CLOSE TO THE SUN, AND I'M JUST SHOWING HERE WHAT THE SUN LOOKS LIKE AND WITH THE DIMENSION OF THE EARTH OVERPLOTTED, WE SEE SUN SPOTS, AND WE SEE WHAT ARE CALLED FILAMENTS HERE. FILAMENTS ARE THE SOURCE OF
CORONAL MASS. WITH MANY SATELLITE, WE NEED TO OBSERVE TO UNDERSTAND THE DYNAMO, THE SOLAR POLES, AND THIS TAKES A LONG TIME, BUT IT NEEDS TO BE DONE. IT NEEDS TO BE DONE FROM MANY POINTS OF VIEW. BUT MORE THAN THAT AT UCLA WE HAVE A LABORATORY PLASMA PHYSICS ENVIRONMENT. WE HAVE AN ENGINEERING PLASMA
PHYSICS ENVIRONMENT. WE HAVE PEOPLE THAT CAN CONTRIBUTE TO THE MODELING, THE COMPUTATION, THE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, WHICH IS REQUIRED TO UNDERSTAND HOW MAGNETIZED PLASMA BEHAVE ONCE THEY ARE EXCITED, AS OUR SUN DOES IN ITS TURBULENT CONVECTION ZONE. SO THAT IS WHY, I THINK, THE SPACE INSTITUTE IS AN IDEAL PLACE, AND UCLA IS IMPORTANT THAT WE HAVE CONTRIBUTIONS FROM ALL THE VARIOUS INSTITUTES THAT ARE PRESENT. A REMINDER THAT THE PHYSICS OF OUR DULL SUN, AS YOU CAN SEE ANYTHING BUT DULL, IS REALLY FUNDAMENTAL FOR OUR WHOLE ENTIRE UNIVERSE.
MANY OF THE PHENOMENA THAT I'VE JUST DISCUSSED HAPPEN ON DIFFERENT SCALES IN DIFFERENT ENERGIES, BUT THEY PROVIDE THE BASIC MAP OF THE BEHAVIOR OF PLASMAS IN THE UNIVERSE. PLASMAS OCCUPY MORE THAN 90 PERCENT OF THE UNIVERSE. ALL THE HIGH ENERGY PHENOMENA THAT YOU SEE FROM GAMMA RAY BURSTS ARE PRODUCED BY ANALOGOUS THINGS TO THINGS HAPPENING ON THE SUN. THE SUN IS THE ONLY LABORATORY WE CAN VISIT UP CLOSE, AGAIN, COMING FROM A G2 SUBDWARF. SO THANK YOU VERY MUCH. » THANK YOU VERY MUCH, MARCO.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SHARING SOME OF THE RESEARCH FOR PRODUCING OUR VERY OWN STAR. MARCO, PLEASE STAY CONNECTED SO YOU CAN JOIN OUR PANELIST DISCUSSION. IT'S MY PLEASURE TO ADDRESS OUR NEXT SPEAKER, JACOB BORTNIK. HE WILL TELL US ABOUT HARNETTING THE POWER OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TO ADDRESS KEY SOCIETAL QUESTIONS IN SPACE. JACOB?
» THERE'S A BIGGER VERSION OF ME. GOOD AFTERNOON, EVERYONE. HAPPY EARTH DAY. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR COMING. IT'S SUCH A PLEASURE TO SEE
THIS EVENT MATERIALIZE, AND I'LL TAKE THIS OCCASION TO ALSO THANK OUR DEAN, DEAN MIGUEL GARCIA-GARIBAY, THE DEVELOPMENT TEAM, ALL THE SPEAKERS. IT'S SUCH A THRILL TO BE HERE. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. I'M GOING TO SPEND THE NEXT FEW MINUTES TELLING YOU ABOUT THE EARTH'S NEAR SPACE ENVIRONMENT, AND IN PARTICULAR THE EFFECT THE SPACE ENVIRONMENT HAS ON HUMANS. THIS IS WHAT'S REFERRED TO AS SPACE WEATHER. I'LL ALSO GIVE YOU A FLAVOR HOW MACHINE LEARNING OR ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IS KIND OF A KEY ENABLING TECHNOLOGY THAT ALLOWS US TO MAKE UNPRECEDENTED PROGRESS FOR UNDERSTANDING AND PREDICTIVE POWER.
TO START WITH THIS IMAGE TAKEN FROM THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION ON JANUARY 20, 2016. THE ISS WAS FLYING OVER THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST, AND WHAT YOU SEE HERE IS A FAIRLY COMMON, TYPICAL IMAGE. ANYBODY KNOW WHAT THIS IS? IT'S THE AURORA BOREALIS, THAT'S RIGHT. IT'S MAJESTIC IN GREENS, REDS, PURPLES, BLUES. IT'S OBSERVED FAIRLY OFTEN AS THE ISS TRAVERSES THE NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN POLAR REGIONS OF THE EARTH, AND IT'S ACTUALLY VISIBLE ON MANY OTHER MAGNETIZED PLANETS, PROBABLY PLANETS OUTSIDE OF OUR SOLAR SYSTEM, WE SURMISE.
IT'S ALSO A STARK REMINDER THAT WE ARE ALL TOGETHER HERE TRAVELING THROUGH SPACE ON SPACESHIP EARTH, AND SOMETIMES A SPACE ENVIRONMENT COMES KNOCKING AT OUR DOOR AS A REMINDER THAT WE'RE ACTUALLY PART OF A BIGGER SYSTEM. WHERE DOES THIS MAJESTIC DISPLAY COME FROM. AS PROFESSOR VELLI SAID A FEW MOMENTS AGO, THE SUN IS ANYTHING BUT MONOTONOUS. IF YOU LOOK AT WAVELENGTHS
THAT ARE A LITTLE BIT SHORTER THAN VISIBLE LIGHT, YOU SEE WHAT GOES ON UNDER THE HOOD. THE SUN HAS THESE MAJESTIC CORONAL LOOPS, LOOPS OF MAGNETIC FIELD TRAPS ENERGETIC PLASMA IN IT. OCCASIONALLY YOU GET THESE ENERGETIC ERUPTIONS, CLOUDS OF PLASMA THAT ARE HURLED TO ALL CORNERS OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM AND OCCASIONALLY IMPINGE UPON THE EARTH. AS YOU CAN SEE HERE, THE MAGNETIC FIELD OF THE EARTH IS COMPRESSED ON THE DAY SIDE, STRETCHED ON THE NIGHT SIDE, AND THE ENERGY IS DEPOSITED INTO THE NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN POLAR R EGIONS AS THE AURORA. IT'S A MAJESTIC DISPLAY. THAT IS NOT ALL THAT HAPPENS. IN FACT, HERE ON THE LEFT-HAND SIDE, I'M SHOWING THE TOPIC OF RESEARCH OF MYSELF AND MY GROUP, AND WHAT YOU'RE SEEING IS IT'S AN ILLUSTRATION OF TRAPPED HIGH ENERGY ELECTRONS AND PRONOT TO PROTONS. THIS IS WHAT'S CALLED THE
RADIATION BELTS OF THE EARTH. IT'S THE MAJOR DISCOVERY OF THE SPACE AGE DISCOVERED BY EXPLORER 1 IN 1958 AND STILL ACTIVELY RESEARCHED TO THIS DAY. THE ENERGY OF THESE PARTICLES IS LIKE 1 MEGA ELECTRON VOLT, AND IT'S SIMILAR TO WHAT OUR CYLINDERS ON EARTH CAN DO, BUT NATURE HAS CREATED THIS KIND OF SYSTEM SINCE TIME IMMEMORIAL.
IT'S THIS INTRICATE PLAY BETWEEN LOW AND HIGH ENERGY PARTICLES. WHAT I'M SHOWING ON THE RIGHT HERE ARE ACTUALLY PLASMA WAVES. LET'S SEE IF THIS WILL PLAY. SOUNDS LIKE WHISTLING, DOESN'T IT? THESE ARE, IN FACT, RADIOWAVES OBSERVED ON A SATELLITE QUITE RECENTLY, QUITE A FEW YEARS AGO, AND SAVED AS AUDIO FILES. THESE ARE CALLED WHISTLER WAVES.
THEY TEND TO SPIN UP AND ACCELERATE ELECTRONS TO HIGH ENERGIES. THE WAY THEY DO THIS IS BEAUTIFUL, AND IT'S THE TOPIC OF ONGOING RESEARCH. IT'S PLASMA PHY SICS, BUT WHAT I WANT TO GET TO IS THE EFFECT OF THE SPACE ENVIRONMENT ON HUMANS AND HUMAN TECHNOLOGICAL SYSTEMS, THE SO-CALLED SPACE WEATHER. THIS DIAGRAM SHOWS IN PICTORIAL FORM JUST A FEW DIFFERENT TYPES OF SPACE WEATHER EFFECTS. SO WHEN WE HAVE GEOMAGNETIC STORMS, THESE CORONAL MASS INJECTIONS WHICH IMPINGE ON THE EARTH, WE GET MEGA CURRENTS GENERATED IN THE UPPER ATMOSPHERE OF THE EARTH. THESE CAN PRODUCE MASSIVE CURRENTS IN UNDERSEA CABLES INTO THE ELECTRICAL POWER GRID.
IN FACT, THESE CAN FRY TRANSFORMERS AND CAUSE BILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF DAMAGE THAT WOULD TAKE DECADES TO RECOVER FROM. SIGNALS CAN ALSO BE JAMMED OR BLOCKED OR DISRUPTED FROM GPS. SO IF YOU'RE FLYING BY WIRE OR DRIVING BY WIRE, YOU CAN LOSE LOCK AND ACTUALLY BE QUITE DISORIENTED FOR QUITE SOME TIME. THERE'S ALSO A DANGER TO ASTRONAUTS. SATELLITES COULD BE IN DANGER.
BUT WHAT I REALLY WANTED TO STOP AND FOCUS ON FOR A LITTLE BIT IS THIS EFFECT RIGHT HERE CALLED ATMOSPHERIC DRAG. THE REASON I WANT TO STOP AND FOCUS ON THIS IS IT'S QUITE AN INTERESTING EFFECT. BUT SATELLITES THAT ARE LAUNCHED, ESPECIALLY INTO LOW EARTH ORBIT, EXPERIENCE -- THEY EXPERIENCE THE AIR BASICALLY AS RESISTANCE. SO DURING A GEO MAGNETIC STOR M, THE UPPER ATMOSPHERE CAN BECOME HEATED AND LIFTED UP AND OFFER A LOT MORE DRAG TO THE SATELLITES THAN WHAT THEY WERE EXPECTING. WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT? AS MIGUEL, OR DEAN GARCIA-GARIBAY SUGGESTED JUST A MOMENT AGO, WE ARE ACTUALLY IN THE NASCENT COMMERCIAL SPACE AGE. FOR REFERENCE, RIGHT NOW WE HAVE SOMETHING LIKE 4,500 ACTIVE SATELLITES WITHIN ORBIT, BUT NOT WITH WITHIN THE DECADE, THIS NUMBER IS EXPECTED TO RISE TO 57,000 SATELLITES.
THAT'S MORE THAN A FACTOR OF TEN. I'VE SEEN RECENT REPORTS THAT TAKE THIS NUMBER TO WELL OVER 100,000 SATELLITES. THERE'S A MASSIVE, MASSIVE EXPANSION INTO THE SPACE ENVIRONMENT. AND WHY IS SPACE WEATHER IMPORTANT FOR THIS? THE REASON IS SHOWN IN THE FIGURE ON THE RIGHT-HAND SIDE.
SOME OF YOU MIGHT RECOGNIZE THIS. THIS IS A RECENT LAUNCH OF SOME STARLINK SATELLITES. STARLINK IS THE FLEET THAT SPACEX IS BUSY PUTTING INTO ORBIT RIGHT NOW. ABOUT 12,000 SATELLITES ONCE IT'S COMPLETED. THIS HAPPENED ON FEBRUARY 7, 2022. 49 SATELLITES WERE LAUNCHED,
PLACED INTO A 200 KILOMETER INITIAL ORBIT, AND WITHIN A VERY SHORT SPAN OF TIME, A SMALL GEOMAGNETIC STORM OCCURRED, HEATED THE ATMOSPHERE, LIFTED IT UP, AND SUDDENLY THE SATELLITES WERE MOVING THROUGH MOLASSES. THEY TRIED ALL KINDS OF EVASIVE MANEUVERS THAT DIDN'T WORK, AND WITHIN A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME, 40 OF THE 49 SATELLITES CAME HURDLING BACK DOWN TO EARTH IN A SPECTACULAR DISPLAY OF LIGHT. THIS IS GOING TO BECOME EVER M ORE COMMON AS WE EXPAND INTO THE SPACE ENVIRONMENT, AND WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND THE ENVIRONMENT IN A MUCH DEEPER WAY.
THIS IS THE PART WHERE I TELL YOU A LITTLE BIT ABOUT ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. THIS IS THE EXPERIMENT I'M SHOWING ON THE RIGHT-HAND SIDE HERE. WHAT I'M SHOWING IS AN EXPERIMENT WE DID IN MY GROUP JUST A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO. THIS IS THE EARTH DISPLAYED IN THE MIDDLE HERE. THE DAY SIDE IS AT THE TOP. THE NIGHT SIDE IS AT THE BOTTOM.
WHAT WE DID IS TRAINED A NEURAL NETWORK TO LEARN FROM SATELLITE DATA, UNDERSTAND WHAT IT'S DOING, AND TRY TO REPRODUCE IT ACROSS THE ENTIRE DOMAIN. SO WE'RE TAKING DISPARATE LITTLE BITS OF DATA OBSERVED AT DIFFERENT TIMES IN DIFFERENT PLACES UNDER DIFFERENT CONDITIONS, AND WE'RE LEARNING THE PATTERN OF WHAT'S GOING ON HERE, AND INDEED IT DID. WHAT YOU SEE HERE IS THE DYNAMICS OF THE NEAR SPACE ENVIRONMENT. THIS IS PLASMA DENSITY THAT IS DISPLAYED HERE. THE NEURAL NETWORK, SIMPLE AS IT WAS, HAS LEARNED THE FUNDAMENTAL DYNAMICS OF HOW THESE SYSTEMS BEHAVE, ENCODED DEEP INSIDE ITS FREE PARAMETER SYSTEM. WE DUPLICATED THIS EXPERIMENT
FOR DIFFERENT PARAMETERS, PLASMA WAVES, ENERGETIC PARTICLES, AND THERE'S GREAT PROMISE. THERE'S GREAT PR OMISE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RECONSTRUCTION, AS I'M SHOWING HERE. THERE'S PROMISE IN FORECAST, WHICH BECOMES IMPORTANT FOR SOMETHING LIKE THE STARLINK DISASTER THAT I SHOWED JUST PREVIOUSLY. THERE'S ALSO NEW AND NOVEL APPLICATIONS OF BLENDING THESE DATA DRIVEN MODELS WITH PHYSICAL LAWS. SO TELL YOUR MACHINE LEARNING MODEL NOT ONLY TO REPRODUCE WHAT IT'S SEEING IN THE DATA, BUT TO OBEY SOME OF THE LAWS THAT WE KNOW. THIS IS KIND OF A VERY INNOVATIVE USE OF MACHINE LEARNING.
AND FINALLY, SOMETHING THAT WE'RE EXPERIMENTING WITH, A PRETTY NEW TECHNOLOGY IS IMAGINE THROWING DATA INTO YOUR ALGORITHM AND ASKING IT TO WRITE DOWN THE EQUATIONS THAT WOULD HAVE GENERATED TH AT DATA. QUITE AN INCREDIBLE AND YET QUITE FEASIBLE TECHNOLOGY THAT IS TAKING FORM RIGHT NOW. SO THOSE ARE JUST SOME OF THE IDEAS OF APPLYING MACHINE LEARNING OR ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TO SPACE WEATHER OR PHYSICAL SYSTEMS AS A WHOLE. AND NOW I ASK YOU TO STEP BACK AND IMAGINE THE WORLD AS IT WOULD BE IN 10, 20, 50 YEARS FROM NOW. WHAT ARE THE TECHNOLOGIES THAT ARE BUSY EMERGING RIGHT NOW THAT ARE GOING TO TRANSFORM OUR WORLD IN THE DECADES TO COME? THINK ABOUT THAT FOR A MINUTE. I ARGUE THAT A MASSIVE FOR A
INTO SPACE SEEMS ALMOST INEVITABLE. I THINK WHAT WE'RE LOOKING AT IS THE BEGINNINGS OF THE COMMERCIAL SPACE AGE, UNPRECEDENTED MONITORING OF THE ENVIRONMENT, TERABYTES OF DATA THAT ARE FED INTO SOPHISTICATED ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE CODES THAT ARE GOING TO BE ENABLED BY REVOLUTIONS IN QUANTUM COMPUTING, LIKE MODELS THAT ARE SIGNIFICANTLY LARGER THAN WE COULD EVER IMAGINE RIGHT NOW. AND TO WHAT END? THE END GOAL IS AN UNPRECEDENTED UNDERSTANDING OF THE ENVIRONMENT WE LIVE IN.
OUR OCEANS, OUR ATMOSPHERES, OUR LAND, OUR SPACE ENVIRONMENT, SOMETHING THAT WE CANNOT EVEN IMAGINE RIGHT NOW, UNDERSTANDING MODELING, FORECASTING, ENHANCING SECURITY OF ALL OF US LIVING ON THE EARTH, MONITORING OUR PRECIOUS RESOURCES, ALLOWING EQUITABLE ACCESS TO COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION FOR PEOPLE ALL AROUND THE GLOBE. I THINK THIS IS THE FUTURE, AND I THINK IT'S STARTING NOW. SO I INVITE YOU ALL ON THIS FASCINATING AND EXCITING JOURNEY, AND THANK YOU VERY MUCH. THANK YOU FOR COMING. [ APPLAUSE ] » T HANK YOU, JACOB, FOR SHARING WITH US HOW ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE CAN MAKE SPACE SCIENCE AND EXPLORATION EVEN MORE INTERESTING AND MORE POWERFUL.
OUR NEXT SPEAKER IS DR. ARTUR DAVOYAN. HE WILL TALK TO US ABOUT BREAKTHROUGH SPACE EXPLORATION WITH SOLAR SAILS. » THANK YOU FOR THE INTRODUCTION. HELLO EVERYONE. IT'S A PLEASURE TO BE HERE. THANK YOU TO PREVIOUS SPEAKERS FOR THEIR FANTASTIC TALKS. ANYWAY, WHAT I WANT TO DO TODAY
IS SWITCH GEARS AND THINK IN TERMS OF WHAT JACOB SAID, WHERE WE WILL BE 10, 20, 50 YEARS FROM NOW, LOOK A LITTLE BIT INTO THE FUTURE. FIRST WE'LL TAKE A LOOK AT WHERE WE ARE AND THEN SEE HOW CAN WE PROGRESS THERE, AND WHAT KIND OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES DO WE NEED THERE? WE HEARD FROM MARCO AND JACOB, WHO HAVE ABSOLUTELY AMAZING DISCUSSION IN TERMS OF WHERE THINGS ARE IN TERMS OF SPACE PHYSICS AND SPACE SCIENCE, BUT LET'S SEE WHAT WE NEED TO DO TO GET FURTHER, RIGHT? SO WHAT YOU SEE HERE IS A SOLAR SYSTEM, A SNAPSHOT OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM, AND THE ARROWS SHOW THE NUMBER OF MISSIONS WE HAVE SENT SO FAR TO OTHER PLANETS. JUPITER HAS BEEN VISITED NINE TIMES, SATURN FOUR TIMES, PLANETS BEYOND SATURN ONCE. AND OF COUR SE GETTING FAR AWAY
IS VERY DIFFICULT. WE ALL KNOW THAT. IT'S VERY COSTLY. IT TAKES A LONG TIME, AND IT'S VERY HARD. BUT IT TURNS OUT GETTING CLOSE TO THE SUN IS ALSO VERY DIFFICULT. WE HAVE ONLY TWO MISSIONS THAT HAVE WENT CLOSE TO THE SUN AND ONE OF THEM MARCO HAS MENTIONED, THE PARKER SOLAR PROBE THAT IS GOING. SO SPACE EXPLORATION, AND THAT'S STAGES AS OF TODAY FOR 60 YEARS IN TERMS OF SPACE EXPLORATION IS NOT REALLY SCALEABLE.
IT TAKES A LONG TIME TO GET THERE. IT'S VERY EXPENSIVE, AND IT'S VERY DIFFICULT. SO HOW CAN WE CHANGE IT? IS THERE A WAY TO CHANGE IT? LET'S TAKE A LOOK. FIRST OF ALL, WHY DO WE NEED THAT? I THINK WE HEARD VERY GREAT INTRO AND DISCUSSION FROM MARCO .
FOR ME, THE GENERAL QUESTION, IN TERMS OF WHY DO WE WANT TO DO ALL THAT, IS ANSWERING SOME OF THE FUNDAMENTAL QUESTIONS. WHAT IS OUR PLACE AS PEOPLE IN THE UNIVERSE? ARE WE ALONE? IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE? TO DO THAT, REALLY WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND THE ROLE THE SUN IS PLAYING IN TERMS OF CREATING THIS REALLY NICE GENTLE ENVIRONMENT FOR LIFE TO BE HERE ON THIS PLANET, WHAT IS OUTSIDE OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM, HOW DOES THE SOLAR SYSTEM INTERACT WITH THE INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM, AND THERE HAVE BEEN ONLY TWO PROBES THAT HAVE LEFT THERE. SO WE REALLY NEED TO EXPAND THE SPACE EXPLORATION. GOING TO OUTER PLANETS, AND I THINK YOU HEARD THIS GREAT NEWS, JUST RECENT ONES, THAT URANUS NOW IS THE TARGET PLANET FOR US TO GET AND VISIT. THE QUESTION IS HOW LONG IS IT GOING TO TAKE US? IT'S GOING TO TAKE US MORE THAN 13 YEARS OF TRAVEL, SO REALLY NOT SCALEABLE, IT'S A ONCE IN A LIFETIME EVENT. AT THE SAME TIME, THE MOONS OF JUPITER, SATURN, AND BEYOND, THEY MIGHT CONTAIN SIGNATURES OF LIFE. CAN WE GET THERE MORE
FREQUENTLY AND MORE OFTEN SO WE CAN SEE THESE SIGNATURES AND MEASURE THEM AND TRY TO UNDERSTAND ARE WE ALONE ON THE PLANET? GET THESE ANSWERS. HERE'S THE STATE OF THE ART IN 60 YEARS OF SPACE EXPLORATION. THE STATE OF THE ART IS THE VOYAGER 1 THAT WAS LAUNCHED IN 1977. IT TRAVELS AT 70 KILOMETERS PER SECOND, AND IT'S THE FURTHEST SPACECRAFT THAT WE HAVE EVER SENT. IT'S RIGHT NOW AFTER 45 YEARS OF TRAVEL AT AROUND 150 ASTRONOMICAL UNITS AWAY FROM US. THIS IS THE DISTANCE FROM EARTH
TO SUN. SO THAT'S THE STATE OF THE ART. THAT'S THE FURTHEST AND FASTEST SPACECRAFT THAT WE HAVE EVER BUILT. ON THE OTHER HAND, GETTING TOO CLOSE TO THE SUN, AS I MENTIONED, IS ALSO DIFFICULT. THIS IS THE STATE OF THE ART, WHICH IS THE PARKER SOLAR PROBE. RIGHT NOW MULTIPLE VENUS FLY-BYS, SEVEN, EIGHT. YOU CAN IMAGINE HOW DIFFICULT IT IS BECAUSE WE NEED TO HAVE ALL OF THIS.
IT'S VERY DIFFICULT PLANNING AND VERY COSTLY AND EXPENSIVE IN TERMS OF MISSION DEVELOPMENT AND SO ON. AT THE SAME TIME, IT'S VERY LIMITED. ALTHOUGH THE HUGE CAPACITY, THE ABILITY IT BRINGS TO US, IT'S VERY LIMITED IN MATERIALS OF WHAT IT CAN DO. IT CAN'T GO TO THE SOLAR POLES, AND YOU JUST HEARD FRO M MARCO THAT WE REALLY WANT TO GET THERE. WE REALLY WANT TO GET THERE NOT JUST WITH ONE SPACECRAFT, BUT WITH MANY SPACECRAFT, TRY TO SEE HOW THE PLASMA AND THE MAGNETIC FIELD FROM ALL OF THESE DI FFERENT VANTAGE POINTS. SO THESE ARE THE STATE OF THE ART, AND THEY ARE LIMITED. THE QUESTION IS WHY ARE THEY
LIMITED? BECAUSE OF THE PROPULSION THEY USE. ALL OF THE SPACECRAFT, THEY HAVE THE SAME COMMON CORE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE OF PROPULSION THAT WE LEVERAGE AND WE USE. THEY TAKE THE FUEL WITH THEM, AND THEN THEY EXPAND THE FUEL, AND THAT CREATES THE THRUST THAT WE'RE USING. THERE'S CERTAIN LIMITATIONS, CERTAIN THINGS YOU CAN DO WITH IT. THERE'S ONLY THAT MUCH OF FUEL THAT YOU CAN CARRY TO THROW IT AWAY. WE THINK IN A DIFFERENT WAY. WE THINK, IF WE GET RID OF THE
FUEL AND USE SOMETHING ELSE IN TERMS OF PROPULSION, THEN WE WOULD BE ABLE TO GET SOMEWHERE FURTHER AWAY. WHAT YOU SEE HERE IS A SOLAR SAIL. IT DOESN'T CARRY ANY FUEL WITH IT. IT'S ACTUALLY VERY THIN FILM OF MATERIAL THAT IS VERY LARGE, AND I THINK YOU REMEMBER JUST RECENTLY THERE WAS A LAUNCH OF JWC SPACE TELESCOPE THAT HAS A SHIELD, A SUNSHIELD, THIN MATERIAL THAT IS GOING OUT THERE.
SO SOLAR SAILS ARE MADE OF SIMILAR MATERIALS. THEN OUR RADIATION PRESSURE IS SOLAR RADIATION IS KIND OF PUSHING IT, CREATES A TINY LITTLE BIT OF FORCE, AND THIS FORCE PROPELS THE SPACECRAFT. THE FORCE IS VERY SMALL, BUT OVER TIME YOU CAN KIND OF GET WHERE YOU WANT IN TERMS OF THE MISSION. THERE HAVE BEEN SEVERAL TECHNOLOGY DEMONSTRATION MISSIONS AND SCIENCE MISSIONS WITH SOLAR SAILS THAT HAVEN'T FLOWN, STARTING FROM 2011, THE KAROS MISSION IS THE FIRST INTERPLANETARY MISSION.
ONE THAT IS VERY INTERESTING ONE IS THE NEA SCOUT. IT'S ACTUALLY ON THE LAUNCH PAD RIGHT NOW WITH THE MISSION LAUNCHED ON APRIL 26. SO IT'S GOING TO BE THE FIRST SOLAR SAIL BASED MISSION. IT'S GOING TO GO AND SPLOID THE ASTEROID. SO SOLAR SAILS, THEY'RE OUT THERE, BUT THEY'RE NOT VIEWED AS CONVENTIONAL TECHNOLOGY BECAUSE WE NEED TO BUILD THESE GOSSAMER STRUCTURES, THEY DON'T HAVE MUCH THRUST, AND THEY'RE NOT VERY USEFUL.
THE WAY WE THINK IN TERMS OF SOLAR SAILS IS ACTUALLY TO MAXIMIZE THE OUTPUT THAT WE CAN GET OUT OF IT, WHICH MEANS THAT LET'S TAKE THE SOLAR SAIL AND BRING IT VERY CLOSE TO THE SUN WHERE THE RADIATION PRESSURE IS THE HIGHEST, IS THE LARGEST, AND BY DOING THAT, WE WILL BE ABLE TO SLING SHOT TO VERY FURTHER AWAY DISTANCES IN A VERY FAST AMOUNT OF TIME. SO HERE IT'S A CONCEPT OF THE MISSION. WHAT WE'RE SEEING IS WE START FROM EARTH WITH THE RIDE SHARE, WHICH MEANS WE DON'T REALLY NEED TO LAUNCH ANY ROCKETS ANYWHERE STARTING FROM THE EARTH ORBIT. WE SPIRAL IN TOWARD THE SUN, AND ONCE WE DIVE IN TOWARD THE SUN, THEN WE CAN GET TO DIFFERENT DESTINATIONS.
IN FACT, THE CLOSER WE GET TO THE SUN, IN FACT, I SHOW YOU THIS. IDEALLY WE WANT TO GO FROM TWO TO FIVE SOLAR RADII FROM THE SUN. THE CLOSER WE GET TO THE SUN, WE CAN GET 50 TO 60 ASTRONOMICAL UNITS PER YEAR. REMEMBER THE VOYAGER? 40 YEARS, 13 ASTRONOMICAL UNITS. SO WE CAN SURPASS THE VOYAGER IN TWO TO THREE YEARS.
WE CAN GET OUTER SPACE REALLY SCALEABLY IN THE SENSE OF GETTING THERE VERY FAST, IN A THE A MATTER OF MONTHS, AS I MENTIONED, AND WE CAN GET CLOSE TO THE SUN AND LAUNCH MANY PROBES IN THE SOLAR REGION, WHICH MARCO WAS MENTIONING. NOW YOU CAN IMAGINE THAT GETTING THAT CLOSE TO THE SUN POSES LOTS OF ENGINEERING CHALLENGES. OF COURSE IT'S EASY TO IMAGINE, INCLUDING THE SOLAR ENVIRONMENT. IT DOESN'T SHOW VERY WELL, BUT INCLUDING THE SOLAR ENVIRONMENT, THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE SPACECRAFT HAS TO BE LIGHTWEIGHT. WE NEED TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO NAVIGATE AND COMMUNICATE WITH IT CLOSE TO THE SUN. SO THERE ARE MANY, MANY, MANY
MISSION CHALLENGES. THAT'S WHERE UCLA IS GREAT BECAUSE IT ALLOWS US TO SOLVE SOME OF THESE CHALLENGES. SO THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE THAT WE SEE IS THE SUN ITSELF, RIGHT? SO THE ENVIRONMENT THAT THIS CREATES, THAT IT'S GOING TO BURN OUT ALL THE MATERIALS WE BRING IN THERE. THE SOLAR 35R PARKER PROBE TO GET TO 9 SOLAR RADII IS EQUIPPED WITH THIS HEAVY HEAT SHIELD. WE DON'T HAVE THE LUXURY TO BRING THIS MATERIAL WITH YOU. IN MY GROUP, FOR EXAMPLE, WE'RE LOOKING AT NEW MATERIALS. AHERE ARE SNAPSHOTS OF NEW
MATERIALS. I DON'T HAVE TIME TO GO INTO DETAIL. AND WE'RE LOOKING AT CONTROLS AND LIGHTWEIGHT ARCHITECTURES THAT CAN ALLOW US NEW WAYS OF BUILDING THE SPACECRAFT, NEW WAYS OF CREATING THE SPACECRAFT. THIS SAMPLE IS ACTUALLY RIGHT NOW ON THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION UNDERGOING SOME TESTS, ENVIRONMENTAL TESTS. WE ARE REALLY THINKING OF LAUNCHING THIS. SO WHAT IS OUR VISION? OUR VISION IS THAT BY BUILDING LIGHTWEIGHT SPACECRAFT AND UTILIZING THE MANUFACTURING OF SCALES, THE ECONOMY OF SCALES, WE WILL BE ABLE TO HAVE VERY CHEAP SPACECRAFT, ABOUT 10 TO $20 MILLION PERMISSION, MANY OF THEM SENDING INTO DIFFERENT DESTINATIONS, AND ESSENTIALLY USING THE SUN AS A LAUNCH PAD BY GETTING TO DIFFERENT PLACES ACROSS THE SOLAR SYSTEM, LIKE SCALEABLY REALLY TRANSFORMING THE WAY THAT SPACE IS EXPLORED TODAY. NOT A SINGLE MISSION, ONCE IN
A DECADE, LIFETIME KIND OF THING, BUT REALLY GETTING REGULARLY TO URANUS, NEPTUNE, AND SO ON. OF COURSE, THIS WOULD BE NOT POSSIBLE WITH A GREAT TEAM OF STUDENTS AND DIVERSE TEAM OF STUDENTS, AND OUR PARTNERS AND COLLABORATORS. WITH THIS, I'D LIKE TO THANK YOU. [ APPLAUSE ] » THANK YOU, ARTUR. I THINK IT'S A FASCINATING
THING THAT 500 YEARS AGO EUROPEAN EXPLORERS USED SAILS TO EXPLORE THE REST OF THE WORLD, AND SAILS ARE LIKELY TO PLAY A REALLY KEY ROLE IN SPACE EXPLORATION YET AGAIN. SO OUR NEXT SPEAKER IS PROFESSOR VASSILIS ANGELOPOULOS FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF EARTH, PLANETARY, AND SPACE SCIENCES. HE WILL TELL US ABOUT EXPLORATION WITH CUBESAT CONSTELLATIONS. VASSILIS, PLEASE. » THANK YOU VERY MUCH, MIGUEL. IT'S SUCH A TREAT TO BE HERE. LAST TIME I WAS HERE FACING AN AUDIENCE WAS WHEN I GOT MY Ph.D. IN 1993 . FROM CHARLIE , WHO BASICALLY PUT THE HOOD OVER ME.
GREAT TO SEE EVERYBODY AS WELL AFTER THE PANDEMIC IN THREE DIMENSIONS. AND THAT'S A MUCH YOUNGER VERSION OF ME. [LAUGHTER] I'D LIKE TO TALK TO YOU TODAY ABOUT SPACE EXPLORATION AND EDUCATION USING MICROSATELLITES.
I'D LIKE TO GET BACK TO THE QUESTION OF WHY ARE WE DOING THIS? AND THE REASON IS THAT HUMANS ARE BORN EXPLORERS. WE'RE CONSTANTLY LOOKING TO EXPAND OUR HORIZONS DRIVEN BY CURIOSITY AND IN AWE OF THE WORLD'S BEAUTY. WE STRIVE TO STUDY AND VISIT PLACES FAR BEYOND OUR PLACE , OUR HOME ON EARTH.
AS CARL SAGAN PUT IT SO ELEGANTLY, WE ARE READY AT LAST TO SET SAIL FOR THE STARS. THIS IS WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO DISCUSS TODAY. JUST 150 YEARS AGO, JEWELS JULES VERNE SET OUR EYES TO THE MOON. AND 100 YEARS LATER, WE WERE ON THE MOON VEHICLES. HOWEVER, OUR SENSORS CAN BE DANGEROUS TO HUMANS.
SOLAR ERUPTIONS, LIKE THE ONE I'M SHOWING YOU HERE, TRACK THEIR ORIGIN IN THE PHOTOSPHERE IN VARIOUS WAVELENGTHS. THEY KEEP AN EYE ON EARTH-SPACE ENVIRONMENT AND PRODUCE POWERFUL AURORAS, BUT THEY'RE INDICATIVE OF SOLAR RADIATION RIGHT OUTSIDE OUR NEIGHBORHOOD. AND IF STRONG ENOUGH, A ONCE IN A CENTURY EVENT CAN WREAK HAVOC WITH OUR ASTRONAUTS, SPACE INFRASTRUCTURE, AND GLOBAL POWER DISTRIBUTION NETWORKS ON THE GROUND, CAUSING TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN ECONOMIC LOSSES. SO ACKNOWLEDGING LOSSES BY SPACE WEATHER IS AN ACTIVE AREA OF RESEARCH TODAY.
AT UCLA, A BILLION DOLLAR PROGRAM WHICH MARCO LEADS, AND WE SENSE WHICH IS A QUARTER BILLION DOLLAR FLEET OF FIVE EARTH AND LUNAR SATELLITES WHICH STRIFE TO UNDERSTAND HOW THE SOLAR ATMOSPHERE ERUPTS AND ACCELERATES TO MILLION MILES AN HOUR AND HOW THAT ENERGY IS RELEASED. BUT SPACE IS ALSO OUR FINAL FRONTIER. WHICH WE AS INSPIRE TO EXPLORE FURTHER AND AND WITH THAT KNOWLEDGE BETTER APPRECIATE OUR OWN PLACE IN THE COSM SO. SO SEND OUR EYES AND EARS LIKE UCLA SENSOR ABOARD NASA FLAGSHIP SPACE BRAFG SPACE RADIATION TO DISTANT WORLDS BILLIONS OF MILES AWAY.
GALLILEO WAS ONE OF THEM AND STUDIED JUPITER AND MOONS. COMING TO IN 2024 TO EXPLORE WHETHER THE OCEAN SH NEAT THE CRUST OF JUPITER'S MOON HARBOR'S LIFE OF THE KIND THAT WAS FIND NEAR HYDRO THERMAL VENTS OF EARTH'S OCEANS. MAGAZINE BUT THEY BOTH MULTI BILLION DOLLARS PROJECTS STUDIED THREE DECADES BEFORE THEIR SCIENCE AND PARKER SOLAR PROBE PROPOSED IN 1958 AS YOU HEARD FROM MARCO EARLIER. AND HERE YOU SEE WHY ON THE LEFT. GALILEO WEIGHS TWO AND A HALF TONS THERMAL SIMULATE ARE THREE STORIES TALL AT JPL TO TEST COSTING $500,000 A DAY JUST IN LIQUID NITROGEN TO RUN. LARGE, EXTENSIVE SATELLITES COMPLEX STRUCTURE AND MANAGEMENT AND A LOT OF PATIENCE. WOULDN'T IT BE NICE TOP CHEAPER FASTER AND BETTER
MISSIONS IN THE FUTURE DEVELOPED IN A FEW YEARS? CONSISTENT WITH THE TIME SCALE OF THE STUDENT'S TENURE. AS MUCH AS WE LIKE OUR STUDENTS AND WANT THEM TO WORK ON THESE PROJECTS WE DON'T WANT THEM TO STAY AROUND FOR DECADES. I'M HAPPY TO SHARE THIS TUCH IS HERE. CAPABLE SATELLITES LIKE THIS ONE I'M HOLDING IN MY HANDS. THESE ARE SIZE OF A LOAF OF BREAD CALLED CUBE SATS AND NOW POSSIBLE AT 1,000 TIMES LOWER COST SIZE AND COMPLEXIT Y. THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF ONE BEING TESTED AT UCLA INSIDE ITS THERMAL TEST COPPER BOX SHROUDED WITH A THERMAL BLANKET AND THEN PLACED IN OUR THERMAL VACUUM SIMULATOR ON THE RIGHT AT FULL THERMAL CYCLE OPERATIONS THIS FACILITY NITROGEN COST ARE LESS THAN $100 A DAY. AS TURNS OUT FOR
RADIATION PROTECTION TOO SMALLER IS BETTER. AS YOU CAN EASILY PROTECT HIGHLY INTEGRATED AND CAPABLE POWERFUL ELECTRONICS IN A SMALL VAULT WITHIN THE CUBESAT. ONCE THOUGHT OF AS MERE ENGINEERING EXERCISES AND NOT TAKEN SERIOUSLY, NOW CUBESATS CAN COMPLEXITY OR EVEN COMPETE IN SCIENCE WITH MUCH LARGER MISSIONS WITH FLAGSHIP MISSIONS, FOR EXAMPLE, USING CONSTELLATIONS OF THEM WE CAN BETTER UNDERSTAND SYSTEMWIDE SPACE WEATHER CONNECTIONS MUCH LIKE WE USE HUNDREDS OR THOUSANDS OF WEATHER STATIONS TO STUDY AND MONITOR WEATHER AT EARTH. UCLA HAS BEEN AS A FOREFRONT OF THE CUBESAT REVOLUTION IT'S ON CUBESAT WAS LAUNCHED IN 2018 AND HAS ALREADY HAD NUMEROUS DISCOVERIES IN SPACE WEATHER AND ALSO ENABLED CAPABILITIES FOR FUTURE SPACE EXPLORATION AT UCLA. IT'S NEXT ITERATION WILL
HAVE PROPULSION ABLE TO REACH OUR MOON, INTERPLANETARY SPACE, AS STEROIDS, OTHER PLANETS AND THEIR MOONS. CUBESATS ARE REVOLUTION ARY AND ALLOW CUTTING EDGE DESIGNS SCIENCE, AND WITHIN THE CAPABILITIES OF REGENT DESIGNATE OR RESEARCH UNIVERSITIES SUCH AS UC AND DEMOCRATIZE SPACE. SECOND, THEY ALLOW US TO EDUCATE THE SPACE WORKFORCE OF THE FUTURE TRANSCENDING EDUCATIONAL MODELS OF THE PAST. HUNDREDS OF UNDERGRADUATES HAVE PARTICIPATED IN THE DESIGN, BUILD AND OPERATIONS MOST ARE NOW IN THE SPACE INDUSTRY. THEY COME FROM DIVERSE DISCIPLINES AND WERE IMMERSED IN CHALLENGING PEER PRESSURE WORLD EXPERIENCE. ABOVE AND BEYOND TEXTBOOKS, LECTURES AND HOMEWORK THEY DEVELOPED PRECISELY THE SKILLS THE SPACE INDUSTRY WANTS TO SEE IN OUR GRADUATES PROBLEM SOLVING ABILITIES USING CRITICAL INDEPENDENT THINKING.
WE NOW LIVE VERY EXCITING TIMES IN SPACE SCIENCE AND EDUCATION, SPACE MISSIONS WITH STUDENT INVOLVEMENT CAN NOW BE INTEGRATED IN RESEARCH ASK CURRICULUM OF NOT JUST GRADUATES BUT ALSO UNDERGRADUATES EMBRACING SUCH MICRO SATELLITES IN THE SPACE INSTITUTE PROVIDES UNLIMITED OPPORTUNITIES FOR SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY, INNOVATION, WITH STUDENT PARTICIPATION. SUCH PROGRAMS CONTRIBUTE IN A COMPELLING WAY TOWARDS ATTRACTING, EDUCATING AND RETAINING NATIONAL WORKFORCE IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY WHICH IN THE PUBLIC UNIVERSITY LIKE OURS LOOKS LIKE AS DIVERSE AS THE STATE ITSELF. I WELCOME YOU TO JOIN US IN THIS EXCITING JOURNEY OF SPACE EXPLORATION AND EDUCATION IN THE YEARS AHEAD. THANK YOU. [ APPLAUSE ] . NEW SPEAKER: THANK YOU, VASSILIS, THAT'S A REAL EXAMPLE HOW UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS CAN ACTUALLY CONTRIBUTE ON REALLY IMPORTANT GROUND BREAKING RESEARCH. NOW WE'RE GOING TO HAVE OUR FIRST PANEL DISCUSSION SO I'D LIKE TO WELCOME OUR PANELISTS PANELISTS. I WILL -- I WILL BE
INTRODUCING OUR PANELISTS AS WE GO ALONG. VASSILIS IS JUST ABOUT JOINING US. THANK YOU, VASSILIS. SO OUR FIRST PANEL WILL FOCUS ON HOW DO T HESE INNOVATIONS THAT COME FROM RESEARCH CARRIED OUT AT UCLA INSTITUTE CAN BE TRANSLATED INTO TECHNOLOGY AND BUSINESS. WE WOULD LIKE TO EXPLORE THE INTERACTIONS THAT WILL ARISE BETWEEN ENTREPRENEURS AND THE UCLA SPACE INSTITUTE, AS WELL AS THE SYNERGY THAT MAY EXIST BETWEEN UCLA SPACE INSTITUTE AND SPACE INDUSTRY. WE KEEP IN MIND THE PRIMARY PRODUCT OF OUR RESEARCH UNIVERSITY IS THE CREATION OF KNOWLEDGE AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF A HIGHLY QUALIFIED TALENTED AND DIVERSE WORKFORCE THAT IN THIS CASE CAN SUPPORT THE SPACE ECONOMY. IN ADDITION TO THE SPEAKERS THAT YOU MET EARLIER WE WILL BE JOINED BY OTHERS. JEFF SHINEROCK IS THE ASSISTANT DEAN
AND FACULTY DIRECTOR OF THE APPLIED MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS AT THE UCLA SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT PRIOR TO UCLA, PRIOR TO COMING TO UCLA ANDERSON HE SERVED AS EXECUTIVE POSITIONS AT ORIGINATE INCORPORATED AND PACKARD BELL AND COMPANIES A CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER OF -- IN ADDITION, HE SERVED AS SPECIAL ADVISOR TO NASA ON VEJ CHANCELLOR STAR PROGRAMS AND IS ALSO AN ADVISOR ON HOW TO COMMERCIALIZE SPACE WE ARE IN INCREDIBLY GRATEFUL TO JEFF BECAUSE HE HAS ALSO SERVED AS ADVISOR TO THE SPACE INSTITUTE AND ALSO HAVE DINA LOZOFSKY SENIOR DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT FOR PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND ENGINEERING AND MED TECH IN UCLA TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT GROUP. DINA HAS DEEP EXPERIENCE IN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT AND LEVERAGING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY TO STRUCTURE STRATEGIC ALLIANCES FOR BOTH COMPANIES, UNIVERSITIES, FACILITATING UNIVERSITY COLLABORATION WITH INDUSTRY AND FOSTERING STARTUP FORMATION AND LICENSING. HOLDS A BS IN AEROSPACE ENGINEERING FROM MIT AND AN MBA FROM THE US MARSHAL SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AND -- SO TO GET OUR PANEL GOES I WILL ASK EACH OUR EXPERTS TO GIVE ONE BRIEF PARAGRAPH ANSWER, MAYBE JUST ONE SENTENCE TO THE QUESTION, WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE MOST EXCITING THING ABOUT THE NASCENT AGE OF COMMERCIAL SPACE EXPLORATION? I WILL START WITH MARCO. NEW SPEAKER: I THINK ONE OR TWO OF THE THINGS THAT ARE COMMERCIAL SPACE BRINGS IS THE POSSIBILITY TO EXPERIMENT ON THE FASTER TIME SCALE WITH MODERN TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION. ONE OF THE THINGS THAT HASN'T COME OUT EXACTLY FROM SOME OF THE PREVIOUS TALKS, I THINK, IS THAT A LOT OF THE INSTRUMENTATION WE SEND INTO SPACE IS OLD. IT HAS TO
BE OLD BECAUSE IT REQUIRES ALL, TO PASS ALL THE POSSIBLE TESTS THE BIG AGENCIES REQUIRE IN ORDER FOR THE MISSIONS NOT TO FAIL SO TO SPEAK. AND SO WITH RESPECT TO THE EXPLORATION IN THE SIXTIES, THE INSTRUMENTATION NOW HAS A WEIGHT OF TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT THAT'S HUGE AND I THINK THE COMPETITION FROM COMMERCIAL SPACE CAN PROVIDE, FOR EXAMPLE, THE FASTER ADOPTION OF PROPER INTEGRATED CIRCUITS EVEN COMPUTATIONS THAT CAN BE DONE IN SPACE DIRECTLY IN ORDER TO HELP DIMINISH THE AMOUNT OF INFORMATION THAT NEEDS TO GET SENT BACK BECAUSE, OF COURSE, THE OTHER PROBLEM IS JUST GETTING ALL THE BITS BACK DOWN FROM SPACE FROM MULTIPLE SPACECRAFT OBSERVATIONS. IMAGINE, FOR EXAMPLE, THE SUN, THE IMAGES SOME OF THESE BEAUTIFUL IMAGES COME FROM THE SIMILAR DYNAMICS OBSERVATORY ORBITING EARTH AND THIS SENDS DOWN TERABYTES OF DATA EVERY DAY. IMAGINE WANTING TO GET
INFORMATION ABOUT THE SUN FROM SPACECRAFT SENT ALL OVER THE SOLAR SYSTEM. THERE'S NO WAY WE CAN AFFORD THIS KIND OF THING. NEW SPEAKER: THANK YOU. NEW SPEAKER: SORRY. NEW SPEAKER: THANK YOU. I THINK THAT'S QUITE INSIGHTFUL. LET'S ASK VASSILIS. NEW SPEAKER: CAN YOU H EAR ME OKAY? NEW SPEAKER: YEAH. SO I TOTALLY CONCUR WITH MARCO BUT
WITH A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENTLY IN THAT NASA IS AN ORGANIZATION, SPACE EXPLORATION IN GENERAL, IS VERY TIMID IN MAKING ANY CHANGE. IT IS VERY REQUIRES HERITAGE AND -- THE SPACE INDUSTRY ENABLED SO MANY OPPORTUNITIES THAT CAN BRING INNOVATION, NEW WAYS OF THINKING AND MEASURING THINGS LAUNCH OPPORTUNITIES TO GO FURTHER AND FASTER, THAT WILL ABSOLUTELY REVOLUTION IZE SPACE SCIENCE. NEW SPEAKER: THANK YOU. JACOB. NEW SPEAKER: YEAH, WHAT I FIND EXCITING AND INTERESTING IS THINGS WE DON'T EVEN KNOW THAT WE DON'T KNOW. FOR EXAMPLE, THINK ABOUT 50 YEARS AGO WHEN PERSON COMPUTERS WERE JUST STARTING TO COME OUT AND THE INTERNET JUST A MATH FOUNDATIONS WERE JUST BEGINNING TO BE FORMULATED HERE AT UCLA. COULD WE HAVE PREDICTED AMAZON OR THAT WE WOULD BE DOING THE WORLD OF ZOOM OVER THE NEXT PANDEMIC ? THINK ABOUT WHAT WE DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN IN 50 YEARS' TIME ONCE WE'RE ENABLE BY THIS MASSIVE TECHNOLOGICAL SHIFT. NEW SPEAKER: THANK YOU.
ARTUR. NEW SPEAKER: I GUESS IT'S THE -- SO IN LAST 60 YEARS ONLY BIG PLAYERS LIKE CHINA, RUSSIA, U.S. THAT COULD HAVE ACCESS TO SPACE WITH LARGE SPACECRAFT BUT NOW SITTING IN A THIRD WORLD COUNTRY COULD LAUNCH SOMETHING AND EXPLORE AND STUDENTS CAN BUILD SOMETHING AND IN THE UNIVERSITY ENVIRONMENTS . AND ALSO THE
INTERNET CONNECTIVITY THAT'S BROUGHT THESE REGIONS THAT IS REALLY AMAZING AND IT DOES CHANGE THE WAY PEOPLE INTERACT. I THINK THIS INSPIRES ME. NEW SPEAKER: THANK YOU, ARTUR DINA? I AGREE WITH A LOT OF WHAT'S BEEN SAID BEFORE, AND JUST WANTED TO ADD MY OWN LITTLE FLAVOR TO IT. IN THE SAME WAY THAT IT'S THE BIG PLAYERS AND SMALL PLAYERS NOW FROM A COUNTRY PERSPECTIVE, IT'S ALSO FROM A COMPANY PERSPECTIVE. THIS INDUSTRY HAS BEEN DOMINATED BY VERY LARGE
ESTABLISHED COMPANIES FOR SO LONG AND THE INDUSTRY DYNAMICS CHANGED OVER THE LAST TIME TO TEN YEARS. NOW, ANYONE CAN START A COMPANY GO TO AN INVESTOR AND SAY I WANT TO WORK ON SPACE SCIENCE OR SPACE EXPLORATION AND THEY WILL GET LAUGHED AT. THEY MIGHT HAVE NOT GET FUNDING BUT AT LEAST HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY AND THERE'S A LOT MORE FUNDING OUT THERE FOR SPACE EXPLORATION FOR STARTUPS. NEW SPEAKER: THANK YOU. JEFF. NEW SPEAKER: I'LL LOOK AT IT DIFFERENT. I DON'T KNOW IF YOU
ALL KNOW IN JUST LA COUNTY WE HAVE 50,000 PEOPLE EMPLOYED IN THE AEROSPACE INDUSTRY WHEN YOU ADD GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES, OVER A HUNDRED THOUSAND. WHAT DINA SAYS IS VERY IMPORTANT. YOUNGER COMPANIES, THERE IS A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF FUNDING GOING INTO THIS AREA. THE BIG THING THAT WE'RE GOING TO LACK IS WHERE ALL THESE FOLKS WHO ARE SPEAKING TODAY COME IN, THERE'S A MASSIVE SHORTAGE OF TALENT. WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH QUALITY ENGINEERS AND OR, AND/OR BUSINESS PEOPLE TO TAKE ALL THE TECHNOLOGY THAT IS COMING OUT OF SCHOOLS LIKE UCLA AND MAKE THESE INTO COMMERCIAL VENS CHANCELLORS WHAT'S HAPPENING IT ALL THE BIG AEROSPACE COMPANIES ARE FIGHTING AND TRYING TO LITERALLY BUY OR STEAL THE BEST TALENT FROM EACH OTH ER. SO UCLA BECOMES EXTREMELY CRITICAL WITH PROGRAMS SUCH AS YOU'RE HEARING HEARD SO FAR AND ALSO THIS AFTERNOON IN A LITTLE LATER YOU'RE GOING TO HEAR ABOUT SOME REALLY EXCITING TECHNOLOGIES THAT ARE GOING TO CHANGE THE WORLD. SO THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT. UCLA IS IN
THE CENTER OF IT. GO BRUINS. . NEW SPEAKER: I COULDN'T AGREE MORE WITH THAT, JEFF. LET ME STAY WITH YOU FOR THE NEXT QUESTION. SO I THINK YOU ARE THE RIGHT PERSON TO ASK THIS QUESTION. SO WHAT DO YOU THINK
IS THE CLIMATE LIKE FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP WITH RESPECT TO OPPORTUNITIES IN SPACE SCIENCE AND EXPLORATION WITH BIG INCREASING IN COMPANIES AND -- NEW SPEAKER: WELL, THIS IS WHERE DINA AND I AND THE ENGINEERING SCHOOL WILL ALL COME TOGETHER. JUST SO YOU KNOW, WE HAVE AT UCLA ANDERSON IS VERY ENTREPRENEURIAL IN THE AUDIENCE HERE IS PROFESSOR GEORGE ABE, I REPLACED BRIAN NEWTON WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE HERE BECAUSE HE CAME DOWN WITH COVID YESTERDAY. SO I'M YOUR SUBSTITUTE. WHAT'S HAPPENING IS WE WANT TO WORK CLOSER WITH THE ENGINEERING SCHOOL AND WITH OTHER DEPARTMENTS ACROSS THE CAMPUS. SO WHAT I SEE HAPPENING AND HOW WE 'RE GOING TO GET INTO COMMERCIALIZATION WE'RE ALREADY DOING IT, WE HAVE THE UCLA ANDERSON BIODESIGN WITH THE MEDICAL SCHOOL, THE MEDICAL RESEARCHERS LICENSE THE TECHNOLOGY. WE'RE IN OUR THIRD YEAR WE'VE LAS VEGAS LAUNCHED
COMPANIES. WHERE ANDERSON COMES IN IS THE STUDENTS ARE GETTING THEIR MASTERS THESIS AND WORKING ON THESE TECHNOLOGIES AND BRINGING THEM FORWARD. WHAT YOU MAY NOT KNOW IS IN OCTOBER WE'RE GOING TO DO THIS COPY IT WITH THE ENGINEERING SCHOOL FOR THE INSTITUTE OF CARBON MANAGEMENT AND LAUNCH COMPANI
2022-04-26