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The first virtual NAM

The first virtual NAM Abstract Sue Bowler picks out highlights of a different but somehow familiar National Astronomy Meeting, online from the University of Bath in July Open in new tabDownload slide Open in new tabDownload slide The 2021 National Astronomy Meeting had all the features we have come to expect: a packed programme of research sessions sparking coffee-time discussions, plenty of posters, wide-ranging plenary lectures and lunches and workshops focusing on community concerns. There was even a tour of Stonehenge at sunrise. What was not part of NAM 2021 was any in-person meeting: Covid-19 precautions led to the meeting being entirely virtual for the first time. While no-one was packing their bags and heading for the University of Bath (this year's hosts), the meeting was nonetheless an event, with more than 900 people registered. The meeting was held on several linked sites: Hopin, Gathertown and Slack, in addition to the meeting website. Hopin hosted the talks and exhibit hall, Gathertown facilitated informal mixing and the always-popular poster session – as well as offering the opportunity to represent yourself as a cartoon avatar of your choice – and Slack was buzzing with chat and shared information. Significant behind-the-scenes effort by the University of Bath hosts made the meeting happen at all and played a huge part in its success. The virtual presentation made attendance possible for people who would not consider travelling to attend in person; recorded plenary talks were available to watch or watch again at a convenient time, wherever in the world you live. Virtual presentations also make it possible for speakers to address the meeting from across the world, and the NAM benefited from some spectacular speakers at plenary sessions. One of them, Stephon Alexander, a theoretical physicist at Brown University, Rhode Island, USA, gave a fascinating talk on “The jazz of physics: the link between music and the structure of the universe”, echoing the activities of another astronomer and musician, William Herschel. In a nod to the origins of the Royal Astronomical Society 200 years ago, the NAM 2021 team had arranged a concert of music written by our first president, William Herschel; you can read Martin Barstow's review of this enjoyable event from the Herschel Museum of Astronomy in Bath on page 5.12. There was also a virtual exhibition of words, images, drawings and videos, called Writing Skyscapes, addressing how people see and experience the night sky. Research perspectives Parallel sessions at NAM generally have a strong research focus and offer snapshots of work in progress on themes suggested by the astronomical, solar physics and magnetosphere, ionosphere and solar–terrestrial physics communities. These specialist sessions also offer the opportunity to consider some of the wider issues affecting our work. This year, for example, there were sessions on astronomy outreach and education, including the RAS Bicentenary projects, RAS 200. There was also the opportunity to discuss the issues being considered by the new IAU–RAS partnership focused on Culturally Sensitive Astronomy Sites: Beyond Land Acknowledgements. This comes out of an RAS initiative to develop ethical guidelines specific to astronomy and geophysics and share them with the community by developing training and raising awareness. The wide-ranging science programme had a strong data-science component alongside solar physics, extragalactic astronomy, survey science and more. The focus on data science made the announcement that the RAS is launching a new journal devoted to this growing field very timely (see news pages). Awards: Celebrating achievement Open in new tabDownload slide Open in new tabDownload slide Open in new tabDownload slide Open in new tabDownload slide The RAS hosted an online celebration of the 2021 medal and award winners, as pioneered in 2020, introduced by RAS president Emma Bunce. The recipients responded, including this year's Gold Medallists Prof. Jocelyn Bell Burnell and Prof. Thorne Lay. No limits There was plenty of food for thought alongside the science at NAM 2021. Working lunches included community meetings for UK Solar Physics and the Magnetosphere, Ionosphere and Solar–Terrestrial physics group, sessions on publishing, careers, diversity, new telescopes and, for the first time, sustainability. The virtual presentation meant no limit on numbers attending these sessions; they were busy and debate was lively, both in the sessions and on Slack. The RAS was also pleased to present the annual Presidential Address, in which current president Prof. Emma Bunce spoke about “The future exploration of Jupiter and Ganymede”. After the enjoyable lecture and the lively question-and-answer session that followed, the president and Prof. Carole Mundell of the University of Bath shared a “fireside chat” – complete with virtual fire – addressing some of the wider issues affecting the astronomy community (see box “Bunce and Mundell”). NAM is also the place where we celebrate the achievements of those receiving RAS medals and awards; at the online awards ceremony we heard from all the winners, finishing with a toast. And we heard a really engaging public lecture on “Current and future Mars missions” by Andrew Coates (University College London), part of the Minerva series of public engagement events organized by the University of Bath – another big hit. Bunce and Mundell: A hearth to hearth chat Open in new tabDownload slide Open in new tabDownload slide Following her Presidential Address, Emma Bunce joined Carole Mundell by a virtual fire, to talk about challenges in life and work. Diversity was a theme, from the positive changes both women have experienced to how to drive further change, perhaps by adding apprenticeships and other more inclusive pathways into our sciences, alongside degrees. Mundell raised the issue of career recognition and prizes, to which Bunce responded: “For me, winning a prize provided a bit of momentum, some encouragement, maybe a bit more confidence. From the RAS perspective, we've been examining whether the fantastic work that our community does in so many different ways is reflected in our prizes and awards.” Bunce finished by reflecting on her role as first virtual RAS president: “It's a lot of fun, it's a lot of work, but it's really an honour to be in this position. I think the RAS has a really important voice within our community because we're free of institutional baggage … so we can do things like looking at research culture and asking questions.” • Watch the Presidential Address and fireside chat at bit.ly/3B8O7On Community Session A feature of every NAM is the RAS Community Session, in which leaders of major organizations in our sciences give their take on current issues and future prospects, followed by questions from the floor. This year was no different and this year's panel comprised: Carole Mundell, who holds the Hiroko Sherwin chair in extragalactic astronomy at the University of Bath and is chief international science envoy in the UK government's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO); Mark Thomson, CEO of the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and professor of experimental particle physics at the University of Cambridge; Fabio Favata, European Space Agency (ESA) coordinator for astronomy and fundamental physics missions; and James Endicott of the Open University, academic liaison lead for the Space Academic Network (SPAN). RAS president Emma Bunce was in the chair. Funding is always a theme of the Community Session and research funding is inherently political. The departure of the UK from the European Union and the Covid-19 pandemic continue to affect science funding. Carole Mundell began the session by sharing her insights from her role at the FCDO, noting first that the government values UK science. “This year, the prime minister has been very clear in his ambition for the UK to be a global science superpower by 2030,” she said. “He recognizes the incredible world-leading science and innovation ecosystem that we have. But he also recognizes that that is a highly contested space, internationally.” In order to achieve that ambition, there has been a lot of activity in government, including publication of the Integrated Review: Global Britain in a Competitive Age, in January this year. “This is the most significant strategic review of foreign policy security, defence and development in a generation. And that Integrated Review has science and technology and innovation at its heart,” she continued. “I see this as a very positive and welcome addition to our international outlook.” Mundell also drew attention to the UK's strong international links at high level, which the government is promoting through ambassadors worldwide and through the Science and Innovation Network, funded by the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the CDO. “That really sits at the heart of the science diplomacy work that I do, which helps to build long-term stable relationships and friendships that are important for our world-leading science.” Mundell also highlighted the imminent launch of another element of government objectives, the People and Culture Strategy, which relates to the astronomy and geophysics community. “There have been many conversations this week about culture,” she noted, “and how we make science a welcoming place for a diverse range of people.” Barriers to international movement have been a concern for UK researchers for some years as the UK left the European Union. “We have taken the messages from the academic community very seriously,” said Mundell, “and helped policy teams to understand some unintended consequences of first drafts of visa reforms.” The government has now launched a Global Talent Visa, to smooth the path for researchers coming to the UK. Support for science in international collaborations is coming through the creation of a new body to engage with the higher education sector: the Research Collaboration Advice Team, led from BEIS, now provides advice from the government for universities about how to protect UK prosperity and security within international collaborations. A similar approach for business communities is part of the Innovation Strategy. Both these services are part of the government's integrated approach, as is the new Office for Science and Technology Strategy and the new role of National Technology Advisor, to be filled by Sir Patrick Vallance, in addition to his role as chief scientific advisor. Use it or lose it Mundell also set out progress on membership of Horizon Europe, the Europe-wide research-funding framework. After some years of uncertainty, it has been agreed that the UK will be part of the whole of the Horizon Europe programme, except the European Innovation Council Fund, from 2021–27. And she urged the whole community to engage with Horizon Europe. “It was a real pleasure to see that our work brought forward association with Horizon Europe,” said Mundell. “We are investing in it, it is there for you to engage with – use it now and use it well. It's a very important programme and it acts as a lynchpin for our wider global collaborations. I encourage you to continue to put your proposals in and support colleagues and particularly junior colleagues … to engage with Horizon Europe and build those long-term stable collaborations and partnerships.” While the government is funding our membership of Horizon Europe, the cost of it will now come from the BEIS budget; when we were members of the European Union, European research funding was in addition to this budget. While this brings funding challenges for UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), as discussed by Mark Thomson below, it does not change the fundamental message about Horizon Europe funding. Mundell put this even more forcefully during the panel discussion: “The government has committed to those seven years of Horizon Europe association, but will be looking very closely at community engagement. It's not obvious, beyond an ideological connection with Europe, that it's good value for money. I would encourage the community to use it or lose it. We need that data to give to ministers and say, look at the strength of our community, our engagement with that programme, and the success that we have in winning those bids. It is a fantastic programme, but it isn't a foregone conclusion that we remain members. If it doesn't look as though it's important to the UK community, then the Treasury will rightly interpret that as a sign we're not interested in it and they will do something else with the money.” Review: The Musical Life of William Herschel (1738–1822) William Herschel is popularly best known for his discovery of the planet Uranus, writes Martin Barstow. He is also widely recognized for his broader contributions to the studies of planets, stars and nebulae, in which his sister Caroline was an important collaborator. All this work was made possible by his developments in optics and instrumentation, building his own telescope and pioneering astronomical spectroscopy, the latter leading to his discovery of infrared radiation. However, William's scientific endeavours belong to the latter half of his life. Before this, until the age of 40 or so, he was a professional musician and composer, and proficient in many instruments including oboe, violin, harpsichord and organ. Of course, Herschel was the founding president of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1820. When I became president in 2014, I took a quiet pleasure in being perhaps the first presidential organist since that time. During my tenure, we started planning for the RAS Bicentenary, with a recital of Herschel's organ works (not by me!) featuring prominently. This metamorphosed into a concert of a wider variety of his music, but the global pandemic meant that it – and NAM – didn't take place in 2020. We finally had the opportunity to “attend” the concert at the Bath NAM, albeit as a virtual experience – and I have a chance to try out a new referee role, in music rather than astronomy. Open in new tabDownload slide The Herschel Museum's music room, where William tutored his students. His musical interests financed his passion for astronomy. (The Herschel Museum) Open in new tabDownload slide The Herschel Museum's music room, where William tutored his students. His musical interests financed his passion for astronomy. (The Herschel Museum) The title, The Musical Life of William Herschel, is an apt description, as the concert covers Herschel's musical journey from his time in the northeast of England through to his work in Bath. The music is beautifully performed by the singers of the Vauxhall Players, the string players of the Bristol Ensemble, with Sara Stowe on harpsichord and organ and Matthew Spring providing accompaniment on English guitar and five-course guitar. Matthew also provides a very informative narrative that provides historical links and context. The music is nicely recorded in the Herschel Museum in Bath and both instrumental and vocal lines are clear and vibrant. While, in my experience, Herschel's music is not particularly technically difficult, it can be a challenge to play from the often-handwritten score, as only a limited amount of the music was published for public consumption. In my copies of the organ music there is much use of shorthand and ditto marks to indicate repetition of parts of previous bars or lines, seriously brain-teasing when you are trying to play. So, the effortless and mostly flawless delivery is to be commended. William Herschel's musical career is fixed very much in the classical period. He was a contemporary of Joseph Haydn and, although there was a large geographical separation, there are similarities to be heard between their early symphonies. However, their musical development was quite different; Haydn was a choral scholar and then a musician working for a wealthy family, while Herschel began in the Hanoverian Guards regiment and then worked as an independent musician playing in city orchestras and acting as church organist wherever he moved. How does William Herschel compare in musical terms? I enjoyed the music immensely, but it does not have the inventiveness and boundary-shifting power of Haydn's. On the other hand, I was pleasantly surprised by the breadth of the music on offer. We were treated to a couple of symphonies, organ and harpsichord sonatas, and some religious and secular vocal music. I was captivated by the last pieces, four unaccompanied songs (described as “catches”), which were full of humour and wit. I like to imagine that they open a window into William Herschel's personality. I think I will sing Today I Am Just 29 at all my future birthdays! Thank you to the RAS and the performers for pulling this excellent concert together. I would really like to see this live one day, but even as a recording it is a fitting contribution to the bicentenary celebrations and the Bath NAM, as well as providing an important remembrance of a different aspect of our founding president. Prof. Martin Barstow is a past president of the RAS and an enthusiastic organist Funding Thomson began his contribution with an overview of the current funding environment, noting that science research and development forms a significant fraction of the BEIS budget. Current funding allocations, with an inflationary increase for the 2021/22 financial year, have come under additional pressure by the transfer of provision for the UK contribution to the European Union into the BEIS budget. Further pressure at UKRI level came from the government's reduction in funding for Official Development Assistance. “The bottom line for STFC is that the financial year 21/22 budget is quite challenging. But we found a way of managing it,” he said. “I reflect Carol's sense that the government's ambition for the UK as a science superpower is up-front in government policy. We're working in an environment where science is getting a lot of attention, and there's a lot of positivity about science. That has to be balanced against the quite difficult economic situation that the UK finds itself in as a result of the pandemic. But we think there are clear opportunities here.” STFC is developing its work aligned to government policies such as the Integrated Review, which includes a focus on transformative technologies and infrastructure. “The Integrated Review recognizes the importance of the UK engaging globally and that's a very strong link for STFC,” said Thomson. “There's almost nothing we do that doesn't have an international connection.” Infrastructure, especially digital research infrastructure, is also key for both the government and STFC science, exemplified by the investment of £100 million in the National Satellite Test Facility at the STFC's Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, now largely complete (figure 1). “This will be a world-class facility able to test the largest satellites, comparable in scale to the best of the rest in the world, for example, ESA's ESTEC Centre.” 1 Open in new tabDownload slide The National Satellite Test Facility, shown here as it should look when complete at RAL Space, is a key investment in UK research infrastructure. (Mace/IBI Group) 1 Open in new tabDownload slide The National Satellite Test Facility, shown here as it should look when complete at RAL Space, is a key investment in UK research infrastructure. (Mace/IBI Group) UKRI has also been working on a UK infrastructure roadmap since its inception in 2018, with a very specific goal, that of investing relatively small amounts of money in preliminary activities that might lead to specific advances. This roadmap runs across all areas of UKRI, including the arts and humanities, and it comprises a portfolio of projects, rather than a prioritized list. “This model of awarding preliminary funding to develop and take concepts forward, prior to actually committing to the construction, is a really big step forward,” said Thomson. “And it's not just about current investments, it's enabling our scientific communities to engage. There was a small amount of funding awarded to a neutrino experiment in Japan, to allow the UK community to continue to engage with the possibility of becoming a partner in the future. That's not a commitment to join. But it maintains the engagement.” This infrastructure funding will need input from the community, as well as STFC Science Board and Council, in order to identify priority projects; this will work through the Advisory Panel roadmaps and Thomson encouraged the audience to sign up to their mailing lists and to get involved. Doing new stuff Thomson went on to survey the research landscape, touching on the results from the Dark Energy Survey, which hint that something might be amiss with the current standard model of the universe, and welcoming the formal establishment of the Square Kilometre Array Observatory – and the start of its construction on 1 July. And, despite the budget limitations, STFC is continuing to support new activities; Thomson mentioned the Liverpool John Moores University investment in robotic telescopes, which will bring a 4 m survey instrument to La Palma, Spain, and the speedy response to the Winchcombe meteorite that led to rapid analysis of the fragments. “Despite challenging budgets, we're not standing still and we're able to continue to do new stuff in parallel with supporting science preparation for various space missions: the James Webb Space Telescope, Ariel, Euclid, the list goes on.” He did note that, while much research has continued through the global pandemic, it has restricted activities that rely on a physical presence and travel. The European Southern Observatory facilities in Chile have been partly operating, and construction is now restarting at Cerro Armazones where the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) is taking shape. Work on instruments for the ELT, including METIS, MOSAIC and HIRES, has been delayed. Pandemic precautions also mean that the Astronomy Grants Panel will be meeting online as it did last year. STFC is also working to boost the diversity of its panels, at all levels. “I think it's really important that 43% of the Astronomy Grants Panel are women. This is something that the STFC is trying to push across all of our panels,” stressed Thomson. “We are really championing gender balance because it's obviously the right thing to do, to get diverse thinking in the way we get advice.” STFC also feels that opportunities for early-career researchers have grown since the formation of UKRI, and that STFC research areas do well out of the fellowships on offer, although in the panel discussion that followed, some questioned this view. “And last year, UKRI published multiple action plans for the concordat to support career development of researchers,” continued Thomson. “STFC is slightly ahead of the game; we've signed the technician commitment. Many of our internal staff fall into the category of technicians and it's a fantastic initiative.” Space also figures strongly in the portfolio, with more than 100 space businesses now based on STFC campuses. “We've provided inputs at various levels of UK space strategy,” said Thomson. “We've been strongly engaging at a very senior level with the new BEIS space policy team and the new MOD space teams as well because I think that as the landscape is changing, it's really important to make sure that our interests in the science and what we can actually offer in terms of capability are recognized. We're looking forward to working with the new UK Space Agency CEO Paul Bate.” Thomson concluded by echoing Mundell's favourable impression of the government's view of science research, while noting the significance of the spending review coming this autumn. “This funding review is going to be incredibly important for science. I think it will set out the government's longer-term ambition for science. And the outcome will then define the level of ambition for our core science programme and beyond.” Questions for Thomson focused on the poor support and lack of communication offered to research students by UKRI during the pandemic. Thomson acknowledged that communication had become challenging, but also pointed out that the pandemic had brought significant costs, including the extensions to funding for research students, concluding that there are no easy solutions. He also agreed that, while STFC is doing better with representation of women, both UKRI and the community needed better data on diversity. Parallel session: Megaconstellation matters Continuing growth in the number of small-satellite constellations in orbit made the parallel session on their challenge to astronomy both timely and, in some ways, gloomy. The 2000 operational satellites in low Earth orbit in 2019 could be joined by 100 000 by 2025, if all those currently licensed for launch take off. The session was followed by a panel discussion chaired by Heidi Thiemann, space project manager at Truro & Penwith College, Cornwall, which highlighted the need for coordinated international action. Connie Walker of the US National Science Foundation's NOIRlab cited an example of the impact expected on astronomical observations. “We have wonderful, high-technology telescopes coming online that have very wide field, such as the Rubin Observatory,” she said. “At least 30% of the images will be affected.” There is also a significant threat to radio astronomy. “With radio astronomy, you want to cover as much frequency space as you can in order to get sensitivity, said Bob Watson of Jodrell Bank Observatory, University of Manchester. “And with modern radio astronomy we no longer can work in those narrow, well-defined, protected bands, we need to cover as much spectrum as we can.” Andy Williams, representing the European Southern Observatory, noted: “Starlink falls within band one of ALMA. It turns out that it will result in some minor loss of observing time, but we don't know, in the future, exactly what frequencies these systems will cover.” The panel discussed engagement with government, regulators and industry in the UK, US and in Europe, and with the United National Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. One panel member, James Blake of the University of Warwick, felt that those working to mitigate space debris should also be involved, given the potential risk from both working and obsolete megaconstellations. National regulatory frameworks have a role to play, but it is international agreement that will make the difference. An additional complication arises where organizations such as ESA are developing their own constellations; the UK government is now a part-owner of one satellite company, OneWeb, as well as overseeing the regulatory framework within which the company operates. All these aspects need to be taken into account if we are going to find a workable way forward for observers. And it has to be international. “No one nation can truly solve it on their own,” noted Blake, “because it requires surveillance and communication and expertise from everyone involved in the space domain.” Looking forward Fabio Favata then spoke about the long-term plan for European space science in ESA's science programme, starting by acknowledging the current healthy spread of missions, with a nod to Isaac Newton. “We have a large number of missions in orbit covering lots of places in the solar system, doing lots of astrophysics in different ways. Any new plan must stand on the shoulders of giants.” From the world firsts of landing Huygens on Titan and Rosetta's lander Philae on the comet 67C Churyumov-Gerasimenko, to the recent launch of BepiColombo to Mercury, ESA is leading in planetary science – and, with ground-based instruments such as COROT, leading in exoplanet research as well. Gaia is producing amazing astrophysical data, but will also provide a bonus for exoplanet research by finding longer period exoplanets. The dedicated exoplanet missions Plato and Ariel are in progress, and the partnership with NASA over the James Webb Space Telescope means that European astronomers will have plenty of resources available. Favata also noted the tremendous research productivity of ESA missions, especially the Gaia catalogue. “ESA science missions are responsible for between 10 and 15% of all the papers in the world on astronomy, astrophysics and planetary science, which I think is a pretty good return on investment,” he said. “Gaia is currently accounting for almost half the refereed publications per year produced from other science missions. I predict that this number will go down, not because the mission becomes less important but because people will simply start using Gaia data without quoting it. You no longer cite the Henry Draper catalogue, you just give an HD number in your paper.” Looking to the future, the three big missions are: JUICE, to Jupiter and Ganymede, set for launch next year; Athena, the largest X-ray observatory; and LISA, the first gravitational wave observatory in space. Athena and LISA will be launched in the mid-2030s, and ESA is planning for missions flying in the 2040s and 2050s. The Voyage 2050 initiative, developed through a large community consultation, recommended three targets for large missions to follow Athena and LISA: moons of the giant planets, temperate exoplanets across the Milky Way, and new physical probes of the early universe. The initiative also identified areas for technology development, including cold atom interferometry, very-high-resolution X-ray imaging, new propulsion, power and heat sources for planetary exploration plus, possibly, cryogenic sample return. Voyage 2050 was a major exercise, and the goal was to find missions that produce scientific breakthroughs, but also that the missions selected should be both feasible and affordable. Favata finished by acknowledging that the future is particularly bright for early-career researchers; these missions would fly sometime after his professional lifetime, and perhaps beyond his biological lifetime. “I'll certainly be long retired, if I am alive at all, when the last Voyage 2050 mission will fly. So we're really building the future for the younger members of the audience, whom I invite to look forward to working on those themes.” One question for Favata was whether international collaborations, such as the ESA–JAXA collaboration for BepiColombo, were the model for future missions, or if there would be more stand-alone ESA missions like Gaia. “International collaboration is in the DNA of space science. Researchers are absolutely global. So all our missions are open to international collaboration,” responded Favata. “JUICE has US and Japanese participation, the same applies to Athena; LISA has a strong US involvement and maybe Japan will join in the future. So this is a model that we want to apply to all our missions, but the largest missions will be European-led, because they are European flagships.” Posters: Prize-winners Congratulations to all the winners of the NAM poster competitions. The standard was high overall and the judges particularly enjoyed discussing the posters with their authors in the live poster session. • Among the student posters competing for the prize sponsored by Oxford University Press, Stephanie Campbell (University of St Andrews) won for her poster “Using HI gas to model dark matter haloes in MaNGA” in the section “Beyond 1D”. The runner-up was Kellie de Vos (University of Nottingham) for her poster “Cluster's far-reaching influence on narrow-angle tail radio galaxies” in the section “Galaxy clusters: obervations and simulations”. • The award for postdocs is sponsored by Winton Capital. This year two entrants tied for first place. The award is shared between Joanna Ramasawmy (UK Astronomy Technology Centre), who presented “AtLAST: surveying the sky with a next-generation submillimetre telescope” in the section “Beyond 1D”, and Kylash Rajendran (Open University) with the poster “Super-rotation and the 2018 Mars global dust storm” in the section “Mars missions – 2021+”. • The MIST Council also awarded its annual Rishbeth Prizes, to the best poster and best student talk at the meeting in the magnetosphere, ionosphere and solar–terrestrial physics sessions. The prize for the best poster went to Zoe Lewis (University of Lancaster) for “Looking for space weather impacts on UK power-station transformers”. The prize for best talk by a student went to Aisling Bergin (University of Warwick) for “Solar cycle variation in empirical distribution and burst statistics of auroral electrojet and ring-current geomagnetic indices”, which she gave in the open session on magnetospheric, ionospheric and solar–terrestrial physics. Academic research James Endicott then spoke about the Space Academic Network (SPAN), which draws together some 200 researchers from 39 universities and eight centres, to give a voice to academic space research in the UK. “The UK is a space-science superpower, but how we maintain, grow or protect that status is of key importance,” he said. “And within the UK, industry has a very strong voice with government. Over the last few years, we've built up SPAN and we're starting to provide a voice for space-science academics in the UK.” Although the group has representatives at board-level from some of the key funding councils in UKRI and from universities, they are keen to involve career researchers at any level in their working groups. “We're asking for improved coordination between space academics and other stakeholders around policy and strategy,” said Endicott. “We're also strongly in support of ESA, the route to these grand international missions. We are keen to secure more international space research, through ESA, bilateral or multilateral.” SPAN puts forward ideas from its community, for example about current funding systems. “It's strongly felt by the community that there's a need for multi-year fiscal policies,” noted Endicott. “The annualized funding that we see through the UK Space Agency but also through parts of the funding councils is very difficult to manage for space missions or large-scale infrastructure.” The group also sees a place for technology hubs, to foster collaborative research between industry and academia, and supports a skills initiative for the space sector. SPAN has also suggested that the UK should fund a national small-satellite initiative. “We've proposed that it could ramp up to about £25 million per year. Within that scope, we think that the UK could fund a series of small-satellite missions, up to about 100 or 200 kg. We developed this idea through engagement in the community and in early 2020 we had a call for mission ideas … and 70 ideas came in.” Smaller, more frequent missions could allow development of new science and technology ideas, an area where the SPAN community feels there are limited opportunities in the UK. But there's also the training element. “We hope that this will increase the cadence of missions for the UK and provide opportunities for early-career researchers to build up their experience,” noted Endicott. “And those early-career researchers, working in tandem with more experienced staff, would then go on to become the future leaders in the space sector.” Questions for the panel The session concluded with a series of questions to the panel of speakers as a whole that highlighted areas of concern to the audience. Money was one, of course, with the question of how government strategy to be a science superpower could be reconciled with essentially flat funding. The answer to this question will be clearer after the autumn spending review, but Thomson made the point that, in the most recent spending review, UKRI's budget was protected, to some extent. “It was an incredibly tough spending review. And a lot of areas in government received very significant cuts. I think the proof of the pudding will be the coming spending review, because that's the one that will set the long-term ambition.” One theme among the questions was the position of early-career researchers, with the panel asked if they felt that the UK was facing a brain drain. Mundell felt that it was more of a “brain circulation” within a global science community, but felt that “it's about building up those talent pipelines, the collaborations, where you can best do your science”. This drew the discussion back to diversity and the nature of our workplaces. “A more welcoming, more diverse research environment is also very helpful,” noted Bunce, “including one that is diverse and representative of wider society.” Thomson agreed, but put his finger on the fundamental problem, right now: “I think the thing that we need to do to make sure we attract and retain early-career researchers is actually make the whole environment more vibrant. And the only way we're going to do that is to invest in the science base. It's about the ability of scientists at all career stages to develop new projects and have access to funding to do new things. It's putting that money into the whole ecosystem, investing in the core science budgets of the UK, that will make us more attractive, because we will basically be doing more.” AUTHOR Open in new tabDownload slide Open in new tabDownload slide Dr Sue Bowler is editor of A&G and especially enjoyed the lively discussions on Slack during NAM 2021 NAM 2021 Plenary talks are available to watch on the RAS YouTube channel at bit.ly/3B8O7On COMMUNITY SESSION LINKS Integrated Review: Global Britain in a Competitive Age bit.ly/3kfz12K R&D People and Culture Strategy bit.ly/3zaahyY UK Innovation Strategy: Leading the Future by Creating it bit.ly/3D8XuPQ Voyage 2050: Final Recommendations from the Voyage 2050 Senior Committee bit.ly/38cIfqB © 2021 Royal Astronomical Society This article is published and distributed under the terms of the Oxford University Press, Standard Journals Publication Model (https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model) http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Astronomy & Geophysics Oxford University Press

The first virtual NAM

Astronomy & Geophysics , Volume 62 (5) – Oct 1, 2021

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Publisher
Oxford University Press
Copyright
Copyright © 2021 The Royal Astronomical Society
ISSN
1366-8781
eISSN
1468-4004
DOI
10.1093/astrogeo/atab086
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Abstract Sue Bowler picks out highlights of a different but somehow familiar National Astronomy Meeting, online from the University of Bath in July Open in new tabDownload slide Open in new tabDownload slide The 2021 National Astronomy Meeting had all the features we have come to expect: a packed programme of research sessions sparking coffee-time discussions, plenty of posters, wide-ranging plenary lectures and lunches and workshops focusing on community concerns. There was even a tour of Stonehenge at sunrise. What was not part of NAM 2021 was any in-person meeting: Covid-19 precautions led to the meeting being entirely virtual for the first time. While no-one was packing their bags and heading for the University of Bath (this year's hosts), the meeting was nonetheless an event, with more than 900 people registered. The meeting was held on several linked sites: Hopin, Gathertown and Slack, in addition to the meeting website. Hopin hosted the talks and exhibit hall, Gathertown facilitated informal mixing and the always-popular poster session – as well as offering the opportunity to represent yourself as a cartoon avatar of your choice – and Slack was buzzing with chat and shared information. Significant behind-the-scenes effort by the University of Bath hosts made the meeting happen at all and played a huge part in its success. The virtual presentation made attendance possible for people who would not consider travelling to attend in person; recorded plenary talks were available to watch or watch again at a convenient time, wherever in the world you live. Virtual presentations also make it possible for speakers to address the meeting from across the world, and the NAM benefited from some spectacular speakers at plenary sessions. One of them, Stephon Alexander, a theoretical physicist at Brown University, Rhode Island, USA, gave a fascinating talk on “The jazz of physics: the link between music and the structure of the universe”, echoing the activities of another astronomer and musician, William Herschel. In a nod to the origins of the Royal Astronomical Society 200 years ago, the NAM 2021 team had arranged a concert of music written by our first president, William Herschel; you can read Martin Barstow's review of this enjoyable event from the Herschel Museum of Astronomy in Bath on page 5.12. There was also a virtual exhibition of words, images, drawings and videos, called Writing Skyscapes, addressing how people see and experience the night sky. Research perspectives Parallel sessions at NAM generally have a strong research focus and offer snapshots of work in progress on themes suggested by the astronomical, solar physics and magnetosphere, ionosphere and solar–terrestrial physics communities. These specialist sessions also offer the opportunity to consider some of the wider issues affecting our work. This year, for example, there were sessions on astronomy outreach and education, including the RAS Bicentenary projects, RAS 200. There was also the opportunity to discuss the issues being considered by the new IAU–RAS partnership focused on Culturally Sensitive Astronomy Sites: Beyond Land Acknowledgements. This comes out of an RAS initiative to develop ethical guidelines specific to astronomy and geophysics and share them with the community by developing training and raising awareness. The wide-ranging science programme had a strong data-science component alongside solar physics, extragalactic astronomy, survey science and more. The focus on data science made the announcement that the RAS is launching a new journal devoted to this growing field very timely (see news pages). Awards: Celebrating achievement Open in new tabDownload slide Open in new tabDownload slide Open in new tabDownload slide Open in new tabDownload slide The RAS hosted an online celebration of the 2021 medal and award winners, as pioneered in 2020, introduced by RAS president Emma Bunce. The recipients responded, including this year's Gold Medallists Prof. Jocelyn Bell Burnell and Prof. Thorne Lay. No limits There was plenty of food for thought alongside the science at NAM 2021. Working lunches included community meetings for UK Solar Physics and the Magnetosphere, Ionosphere and Solar–Terrestrial physics group, sessions on publishing, careers, diversity, new telescopes and, for the first time, sustainability. The virtual presentation meant no limit on numbers attending these sessions; they were busy and debate was lively, both in the sessions and on Slack. The RAS was also pleased to present the annual Presidential Address, in which current president Prof. Emma Bunce spoke about “The future exploration of Jupiter and Ganymede”. After the enjoyable lecture and the lively question-and-answer session that followed, the president and Prof. Carole Mundell of the University of Bath shared a “fireside chat” – complete with virtual fire – addressing some of the wider issues affecting the astronomy community (see box “Bunce and Mundell”). NAM is also the place where we celebrate the achievements of those receiving RAS medals and awards; at the online awards ceremony we heard from all the winners, finishing with a toast. And we heard a really engaging public lecture on “Current and future Mars missions” by Andrew Coates (University College London), part of the Minerva series of public engagement events organized by the University of Bath – another big hit. Bunce and Mundell: A hearth to hearth chat Open in new tabDownload slide Open in new tabDownload slide Following her Presidential Address, Emma Bunce joined Carole Mundell by a virtual fire, to talk about challenges in life and work. Diversity was a theme, from the positive changes both women have experienced to how to drive further change, perhaps by adding apprenticeships and other more inclusive pathways into our sciences, alongside degrees. Mundell raised the issue of career recognition and prizes, to which Bunce responded: “For me, winning a prize provided a bit of momentum, some encouragement, maybe a bit more confidence. From the RAS perspective, we've been examining whether the fantastic work that our community does in so many different ways is reflected in our prizes and awards.” Bunce finished by reflecting on her role as first virtual RAS president: “It's a lot of fun, it's a lot of work, but it's really an honour to be in this position. I think the RAS has a really important voice within our community because we're free of institutional baggage … so we can do things like looking at research culture and asking questions.” • Watch the Presidential Address and fireside chat at bit.ly/3B8O7On Community Session A feature of every NAM is the RAS Community Session, in which leaders of major organizations in our sciences give their take on current issues and future prospects, followed by questions from the floor. This year was no different and this year's panel comprised: Carole Mundell, who holds the Hiroko Sherwin chair in extragalactic astronomy at the University of Bath and is chief international science envoy in the UK government's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO); Mark Thomson, CEO of the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and professor of experimental particle physics at the University of Cambridge; Fabio Favata, European Space Agency (ESA) coordinator for astronomy and fundamental physics missions; and James Endicott of the Open University, academic liaison lead for the Space Academic Network (SPAN). RAS president Emma Bunce was in the chair. Funding is always a theme of the Community Session and research funding is inherently political. The departure of the UK from the European Union and the Covid-19 pandemic continue to affect science funding. Carole Mundell began the session by sharing her insights from her role at the FCDO, noting first that the government values UK science. “This year, the prime minister has been very clear in his ambition for the UK to be a global science superpower by 2030,” she said. “He recognizes the incredible world-leading science and innovation ecosystem that we have. But he also recognizes that that is a highly contested space, internationally.” In order to achieve that ambition, there has been a lot of activity in government, including publication of the Integrated Review: Global Britain in a Competitive Age, in January this year. “This is the most significant strategic review of foreign policy security, defence and development in a generation. And that Integrated Review has science and technology and innovation at its heart,” she continued. “I see this as a very positive and welcome addition to our international outlook.” Mundell also drew attention to the UK's strong international links at high level, which the government is promoting through ambassadors worldwide and through the Science and Innovation Network, funded by the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the CDO. “That really sits at the heart of the science diplomacy work that I do, which helps to build long-term stable relationships and friendships that are important for our world-leading science.” Mundell also highlighted the imminent launch of another element of government objectives, the People and Culture Strategy, which relates to the astronomy and geophysics community. “There have been many conversations this week about culture,” she noted, “and how we make science a welcoming place for a diverse range of people.” Barriers to international movement have been a concern for UK researchers for some years as the UK left the European Union. “We have taken the messages from the academic community very seriously,” said Mundell, “and helped policy teams to understand some unintended consequences of first drafts of visa reforms.” The government has now launched a Global Talent Visa, to smooth the path for researchers coming to the UK. Support for science in international collaborations is coming through the creation of a new body to engage with the higher education sector: the Research Collaboration Advice Team, led from BEIS, now provides advice from the government for universities about how to protect UK prosperity and security within international collaborations. A similar approach for business communities is part of the Innovation Strategy. Both these services are part of the government's integrated approach, as is the new Office for Science and Technology Strategy and the new role of National Technology Advisor, to be filled by Sir Patrick Vallance, in addition to his role as chief scientific advisor. Use it or lose it Mundell also set out progress on membership of Horizon Europe, the Europe-wide research-funding framework. After some years of uncertainty, it has been agreed that the UK will be part of the whole of the Horizon Europe programme, except the European Innovation Council Fund, from 2021–27. And she urged the whole community to engage with Horizon Europe. “It was a real pleasure to see that our work brought forward association with Horizon Europe,” said Mundell. “We are investing in it, it is there for you to engage with – use it now and use it well. It's a very important programme and it acts as a lynchpin for our wider global collaborations. I encourage you to continue to put your proposals in and support colleagues and particularly junior colleagues … to engage with Horizon Europe and build those long-term stable collaborations and partnerships.” While the government is funding our membership of Horizon Europe, the cost of it will now come from the BEIS budget; when we were members of the European Union, European research funding was in addition to this budget. While this brings funding challenges for UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), as discussed by Mark Thomson below, it does not change the fundamental message about Horizon Europe funding. Mundell put this even more forcefully during the panel discussion: “The government has committed to those seven years of Horizon Europe association, but will be looking very closely at community engagement. It's not obvious, beyond an ideological connection with Europe, that it's good value for money. I would encourage the community to use it or lose it. We need that data to give to ministers and say, look at the strength of our community, our engagement with that programme, and the success that we have in winning those bids. It is a fantastic programme, but it isn't a foregone conclusion that we remain members. If it doesn't look as though it's important to the UK community, then the Treasury will rightly interpret that as a sign we're not interested in it and they will do something else with the money.” Review: The Musical Life of William Herschel (1738–1822) William Herschel is popularly best known for his discovery of the planet Uranus, writes Martin Barstow. He is also widely recognized for his broader contributions to the studies of planets, stars and nebulae, in which his sister Caroline was an important collaborator. All this work was made possible by his developments in optics and instrumentation, building his own telescope and pioneering astronomical spectroscopy, the latter leading to his discovery of infrared radiation. However, William's scientific endeavours belong to the latter half of his life. Before this, until the age of 40 or so, he was a professional musician and composer, and proficient in many instruments including oboe, violin, harpsichord and organ. Of course, Herschel was the founding president of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1820. When I became president in 2014, I took a quiet pleasure in being perhaps the first presidential organist since that time. During my tenure, we started planning for the RAS Bicentenary, with a recital of Herschel's organ works (not by me!) featuring prominently. This metamorphosed into a concert of a wider variety of his music, but the global pandemic meant that it – and NAM – didn't take place in 2020. We finally had the opportunity to “attend” the concert at the Bath NAM, albeit as a virtual experience – and I have a chance to try out a new referee role, in music rather than astronomy. Open in new tabDownload slide The Herschel Museum's music room, where William tutored his students. His musical interests financed his passion for astronomy. (The Herschel Museum) Open in new tabDownload slide The Herschel Museum's music room, where William tutored his students. His musical interests financed his passion for astronomy. (The Herschel Museum) The title, The Musical Life of William Herschel, is an apt description, as the concert covers Herschel's musical journey from his time in the northeast of England through to his work in Bath. The music is beautifully performed by the singers of the Vauxhall Players, the string players of the Bristol Ensemble, with Sara Stowe on harpsichord and organ and Matthew Spring providing accompaniment on English guitar and five-course guitar. Matthew also provides a very informative narrative that provides historical links and context. The music is nicely recorded in the Herschel Museum in Bath and both instrumental and vocal lines are clear and vibrant. While, in my experience, Herschel's music is not particularly technically difficult, it can be a challenge to play from the often-handwritten score, as only a limited amount of the music was published for public consumption. In my copies of the organ music there is much use of shorthand and ditto marks to indicate repetition of parts of previous bars or lines, seriously brain-teasing when you are trying to play. So, the effortless and mostly flawless delivery is to be commended. William Herschel's musical career is fixed very much in the classical period. He was a contemporary of Joseph Haydn and, although there was a large geographical separation, there are similarities to be heard between their early symphonies. However, their musical development was quite different; Haydn was a choral scholar and then a musician working for a wealthy family, while Herschel began in the Hanoverian Guards regiment and then worked as an independent musician playing in city orchestras and acting as church organist wherever he moved. How does William Herschel compare in musical terms? I enjoyed the music immensely, but it does not have the inventiveness and boundary-shifting power of Haydn's. On the other hand, I was pleasantly surprised by the breadth of the music on offer. We were treated to a couple of symphonies, organ and harpsichord sonatas, and some religious and secular vocal music. I was captivated by the last pieces, four unaccompanied songs (described as “catches”), which were full of humour and wit. I like to imagine that they open a window into William Herschel's personality. I think I will sing Today I Am Just 29 at all my future birthdays! Thank you to the RAS and the performers for pulling this excellent concert together. I would really like to see this live one day, but even as a recording it is a fitting contribution to the bicentenary celebrations and the Bath NAM, as well as providing an important remembrance of a different aspect of our founding president. Prof. Martin Barstow is a past president of the RAS and an enthusiastic organist Funding Thomson began his contribution with an overview of the current funding environment, noting that science research and development forms a significant fraction of the BEIS budget. Current funding allocations, with an inflationary increase for the 2021/22 financial year, have come under additional pressure by the transfer of provision for the UK contribution to the European Union into the BEIS budget. Further pressure at UKRI level came from the government's reduction in funding for Official Development Assistance. “The bottom line for STFC is that the financial year 21/22 budget is quite challenging. But we found a way of managing it,” he said. “I reflect Carol's sense that the government's ambition for the UK as a science superpower is up-front in government policy. We're working in an environment where science is getting a lot of attention, and there's a lot of positivity about science. That has to be balanced against the quite difficult economic situation that the UK finds itself in as a result of the pandemic. But we think there are clear opportunities here.” STFC is developing its work aligned to government policies such as the Integrated Review, which includes a focus on transformative technologies and infrastructure. “The Integrated Review recognizes the importance of the UK engaging globally and that's a very strong link for STFC,” said Thomson. “There's almost nothing we do that doesn't have an international connection.” Infrastructure, especially digital research infrastructure, is also key for both the government and STFC science, exemplified by the investment of £100 million in the National Satellite Test Facility at the STFC's Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, now largely complete (figure 1). “This will be a world-class facility able to test the largest satellites, comparable in scale to the best of the rest in the world, for example, ESA's ESTEC Centre.” 1 Open in new tabDownload slide The National Satellite Test Facility, shown here as it should look when complete at RAL Space, is a key investment in UK research infrastructure. (Mace/IBI Group) 1 Open in new tabDownload slide The National Satellite Test Facility, shown here as it should look when complete at RAL Space, is a key investment in UK research infrastructure. (Mace/IBI Group) UKRI has also been working on a UK infrastructure roadmap since its inception in 2018, with a very specific goal, that of investing relatively small amounts of money in preliminary activities that might lead to specific advances. This roadmap runs across all areas of UKRI, including the arts and humanities, and it comprises a portfolio of projects, rather than a prioritized list. “This model of awarding preliminary funding to develop and take concepts forward, prior to actually committing to the construction, is a really big step forward,” said Thomson. “And it's not just about current investments, it's enabling our scientific communities to engage. There was a small amount of funding awarded to a neutrino experiment in Japan, to allow the UK community to continue to engage with the possibility of becoming a partner in the future. That's not a commitment to join. But it maintains the engagement.” This infrastructure funding will need input from the community, as well as STFC Science Board and Council, in order to identify priority projects; this will work through the Advisory Panel roadmaps and Thomson encouraged the audience to sign up to their mailing lists and to get involved. Doing new stuff Thomson went on to survey the research landscape, touching on the results from the Dark Energy Survey, which hint that something might be amiss with the current standard model of the universe, and welcoming the formal establishment of the Square Kilometre Array Observatory – and the start of its construction on 1 July. And, despite the budget limitations, STFC is continuing to support new activities; Thomson mentioned the Liverpool John Moores University investment in robotic telescopes, which will bring a 4 m survey instrument to La Palma, Spain, and the speedy response to the Winchcombe meteorite that led to rapid analysis of the fragments. “Despite challenging budgets, we're not standing still and we're able to continue to do new stuff in parallel with supporting science preparation for various space missions: the James Webb Space Telescope, Ariel, Euclid, the list goes on.” He did note that, while much research has continued through the global pandemic, it has restricted activities that rely on a physical presence and travel. The European Southern Observatory facilities in Chile have been partly operating, and construction is now restarting at Cerro Armazones where the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) is taking shape. Work on instruments for the ELT, including METIS, MOSAIC and HIRES, has been delayed. Pandemic precautions also mean that the Astronomy Grants Panel will be meeting online as it did last year. STFC is also working to boost the diversity of its panels, at all levels. “I think it's really important that 43% of the Astronomy Grants Panel are women. This is something that the STFC is trying to push across all of our panels,” stressed Thomson. “We are really championing gender balance because it's obviously the right thing to do, to get diverse thinking in the way we get advice.” STFC also feels that opportunities for early-career researchers have grown since the formation of UKRI, and that STFC research areas do well out of the fellowships on offer, although in the panel discussion that followed, some questioned this view. “And last year, UKRI published multiple action plans for the concordat to support career development of researchers,” continued Thomson. “STFC is slightly ahead of the game; we've signed the technician commitment. Many of our internal staff fall into the category of technicians and it's a fantastic initiative.” Space also figures strongly in the portfolio, with more than 100 space businesses now based on STFC campuses. “We've provided inputs at various levels of UK space strategy,” said Thomson. “We've been strongly engaging at a very senior level with the new BEIS space policy team and the new MOD space teams as well because I think that as the landscape is changing, it's really important to make sure that our interests in the science and what we can actually offer in terms of capability are recognized. We're looking forward to working with the new UK Space Agency CEO Paul Bate.” Thomson concluded by echoing Mundell's favourable impression of the government's view of science research, while noting the significance of the spending review coming this autumn. “This funding review is going to be incredibly important for science. I think it will set out the government's longer-term ambition for science. And the outcome will then define the level of ambition for our core science programme and beyond.” Questions for Thomson focused on the poor support and lack of communication offered to research students by UKRI during the pandemic. Thomson acknowledged that communication had become challenging, but also pointed out that the pandemic had brought significant costs, including the extensions to funding for research students, concluding that there are no easy solutions. He also agreed that, while STFC is doing better with representation of women, both UKRI and the community needed better data on diversity. Parallel session: Megaconstellation matters Continuing growth in the number of small-satellite constellations in orbit made the parallel session on their challenge to astronomy both timely and, in some ways, gloomy. The 2000 operational satellites in low Earth orbit in 2019 could be joined by 100 000 by 2025, if all those currently licensed for launch take off. The session was followed by a panel discussion chaired by Heidi Thiemann, space project manager at Truro & Penwith College, Cornwall, which highlighted the need for coordinated international action. Connie Walker of the US National Science Foundation's NOIRlab cited an example of the impact expected on astronomical observations. “We have wonderful, high-technology telescopes coming online that have very wide field, such as the Rubin Observatory,” she said. “At least 30% of the images will be affected.” There is also a significant threat to radio astronomy. “With radio astronomy, you want to cover as much frequency space as you can in order to get sensitivity, said Bob Watson of Jodrell Bank Observatory, University of Manchester. “And with modern radio astronomy we no longer can work in those narrow, well-defined, protected bands, we need to cover as much spectrum as we can.” Andy Williams, representing the European Southern Observatory, noted: “Starlink falls within band one of ALMA. It turns out that it will result in some minor loss of observing time, but we don't know, in the future, exactly what frequencies these systems will cover.” The panel discussed engagement with government, regulators and industry in the UK, US and in Europe, and with the United National Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. One panel member, James Blake of the University of Warwick, felt that those working to mitigate space debris should also be involved, given the potential risk from both working and obsolete megaconstellations. National regulatory frameworks have a role to play, but it is international agreement that will make the difference. An additional complication arises where organizations such as ESA are developing their own constellations; the UK government is now a part-owner of one satellite company, OneWeb, as well as overseeing the regulatory framework within which the company operates. All these aspects need to be taken into account if we are going to find a workable way forward for observers. And it has to be international. “No one nation can truly solve it on their own,” noted Blake, “because it requires surveillance and communication and expertise from everyone involved in the space domain.” Looking forward Fabio Favata then spoke about the long-term plan for European space science in ESA's science programme, starting by acknowledging the current healthy spread of missions, with a nod to Isaac Newton. “We have a large number of missions in orbit covering lots of places in the solar system, doing lots of astrophysics in different ways. Any new plan must stand on the shoulders of giants.” From the world firsts of landing Huygens on Titan and Rosetta's lander Philae on the comet 67C Churyumov-Gerasimenko, to the recent launch of BepiColombo to Mercury, ESA is leading in planetary science – and, with ground-based instruments such as COROT, leading in exoplanet research as well. Gaia is producing amazing astrophysical data, but will also provide a bonus for exoplanet research by finding longer period exoplanets. The dedicated exoplanet missions Plato and Ariel are in progress, and the partnership with NASA over the James Webb Space Telescope means that European astronomers will have plenty of resources available. Favata also noted the tremendous research productivity of ESA missions, especially the Gaia catalogue. “ESA science missions are responsible for between 10 and 15% of all the papers in the world on astronomy, astrophysics and planetary science, which I think is a pretty good return on investment,” he said. “Gaia is currently accounting for almost half the refereed publications per year produced from other science missions. I predict that this number will go down, not because the mission becomes less important but because people will simply start using Gaia data without quoting it. You no longer cite the Henry Draper catalogue, you just give an HD number in your paper.” Looking to the future, the three big missions are: JUICE, to Jupiter and Ganymede, set for launch next year; Athena, the largest X-ray observatory; and LISA, the first gravitational wave observatory in space. Athena and LISA will be launched in the mid-2030s, and ESA is planning for missions flying in the 2040s and 2050s. The Voyage 2050 initiative, developed through a large community consultation, recommended three targets for large missions to follow Athena and LISA: moons of the giant planets, temperate exoplanets across the Milky Way, and new physical probes of the early universe. The initiative also identified areas for technology development, including cold atom interferometry, very-high-resolution X-ray imaging, new propulsion, power and heat sources for planetary exploration plus, possibly, cryogenic sample return. Voyage 2050 was a major exercise, and the goal was to find missions that produce scientific breakthroughs, but also that the missions selected should be both feasible and affordable. Favata finished by acknowledging that the future is particularly bright for early-career researchers; these missions would fly sometime after his professional lifetime, and perhaps beyond his biological lifetime. “I'll certainly be long retired, if I am alive at all, when the last Voyage 2050 mission will fly. So we're really building the future for the younger members of the audience, whom I invite to look forward to working on those themes.” One question for Favata was whether international collaborations, such as the ESA–JAXA collaboration for BepiColombo, were the model for future missions, or if there would be more stand-alone ESA missions like Gaia. “International collaboration is in the DNA of space science. Researchers are absolutely global. So all our missions are open to international collaboration,” responded Favata. “JUICE has US and Japanese participation, the same applies to Athena; LISA has a strong US involvement and maybe Japan will join in the future. So this is a model that we want to apply to all our missions, but the largest missions will be European-led, because they are European flagships.” Posters: Prize-winners Congratulations to all the winners of the NAM poster competitions. The standard was high overall and the judges particularly enjoyed discussing the posters with their authors in the live poster session. • Among the student posters competing for the prize sponsored by Oxford University Press, Stephanie Campbell (University of St Andrews) won for her poster “Using HI gas to model dark matter haloes in MaNGA” in the section “Beyond 1D”. The runner-up was Kellie de Vos (University of Nottingham) for her poster “Cluster's far-reaching influence on narrow-angle tail radio galaxies” in the section “Galaxy clusters: obervations and simulations”. • The award for postdocs is sponsored by Winton Capital. This year two entrants tied for first place. The award is shared between Joanna Ramasawmy (UK Astronomy Technology Centre), who presented “AtLAST: surveying the sky with a next-generation submillimetre telescope” in the section “Beyond 1D”, and Kylash Rajendran (Open University) with the poster “Super-rotation and the 2018 Mars global dust storm” in the section “Mars missions – 2021+”. • The MIST Council also awarded its annual Rishbeth Prizes, to the best poster and best student talk at the meeting in the magnetosphere, ionosphere and solar–terrestrial physics sessions. The prize for the best poster went to Zoe Lewis (University of Lancaster) for “Looking for space weather impacts on UK power-station transformers”. The prize for best talk by a student went to Aisling Bergin (University of Warwick) for “Solar cycle variation in empirical distribution and burst statistics of auroral electrojet and ring-current geomagnetic indices”, which she gave in the open session on magnetospheric, ionospheric and solar–terrestrial physics. Academic research James Endicott then spoke about the Space Academic Network (SPAN), which draws together some 200 researchers from 39 universities and eight centres, to give a voice to academic space research in the UK. “The UK is a space-science superpower, but how we maintain, grow or protect that status is of key importance,” he said. “And within the UK, industry has a very strong voice with government. Over the last few years, we've built up SPAN and we're starting to provide a voice for space-science academics in the UK.” Although the group has representatives at board-level from some of the key funding councils in UKRI and from universities, they are keen to involve career researchers at any level in their working groups. “We're asking for improved coordination between space academics and other stakeholders around policy and strategy,” said Endicott. “We're also strongly in support of ESA, the route to these grand international missions. We are keen to secure more international space research, through ESA, bilateral or multilateral.” SPAN puts forward ideas from its community, for example about current funding systems. “It's strongly felt by the community that there's a need for multi-year fiscal policies,” noted Endicott. “The annualized funding that we see through the UK Space Agency but also through parts of the funding councils is very difficult to manage for space missions or large-scale infrastructure.” The group also sees a place for technology hubs, to foster collaborative research between industry and academia, and supports a skills initiative for the space sector. SPAN has also suggested that the UK should fund a national small-satellite initiative. “We've proposed that it could ramp up to about £25 million per year. Within that scope, we think that the UK could fund a series of small-satellite missions, up to about 100 or 200 kg. We developed this idea through engagement in the community and in early 2020 we had a call for mission ideas … and 70 ideas came in.” Smaller, more frequent missions could allow development of new science and technology ideas, an area where the SPAN community feels there are limited opportunities in the UK. But there's also the training element. “We hope that this will increase the cadence of missions for the UK and provide opportunities for early-career researchers to build up their experience,” noted Endicott. “And those early-career researchers, working in tandem with more experienced staff, would then go on to become the future leaders in the space sector.” Questions for the panel The session concluded with a series of questions to the panel of speakers as a whole that highlighted areas of concern to the audience. Money was one, of course, with the question of how government strategy to be a science superpower could be reconciled with essentially flat funding. The answer to this question will be clearer after the autumn spending review, but Thomson made the point that, in the most recent spending review, UKRI's budget was protected, to some extent. “It was an incredibly tough spending review. And a lot of areas in government received very significant cuts. I think the proof of the pudding will be the coming spending review, because that's the one that will set the long-term ambition.” One theme among the questions was the position of early-career researchers, with the panel asked if they felt that the UK was facing a brain drain. Mundell felt that it was more of a “brain circulation” within a global science community, but felt that “it's about building up those talent pipelines, the collaborations, where you can best do your science”. This drew the discussion back to diversity and the nature of our workplaces. “A more welcoming, more diverse research environment is also very helpful,” noted Bunce, “including one that is diverse and representative of wider society.” Thomson agreed, but put his finger on the fundamental problem, right now: “I think the thing that we need to do to make sure we attract and retain early-career researchers is actually make the whole environment more vibrant. And the only way we're going to do that is to invest in the science base. It's about the ability of scientists at all career stages to develop new projects and have access to funding to do new things. It's putting that money into the whole ecosystem, investing in the core science budgets of the UK, that will make us more attractive, because we will basically be doing more.” AUTHOR Open in new tabDownload slide Open in new tabDownload slide Dr Sue Bowler is editor of A&G and especially enjoyed the lively discussions on Slack during NAM 2021 NAM 2021 Plenary talks are available to watch on the RAS YouTube channel at bit.ly/3B8O7On COMMUNITY SESSION LINKS Integrated Review: Global Britain in a Competitive Age bit.ly/3kfz12K R&D People and Culture Strategy bit.ly/3zaahyY UK Innovation Strategy: Leading the Future by Creating it bit.ly/3D8XuPQ Voyage 2050: Final Recommendations from the Voyage 2050 Senior Committee bit.ly/38cIfqB © 2021 Royal Astronomical Society This article is published and distributed under the terms of the Oxford University Press, Standard Journals Publication Model (https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model)

Journal

Astronomy & GeophysicsOxford University Press

Published: Oct 1, 2021

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