I was named after Yuri Gagarin, so I was interested in space since I was born. However, I got seriously involved with space science during University years. Initially I wanted to study theoretical physics, but as I got to learn more about space and plasma physics I started to realize the beauty of experimental science.

During my PhD I started working on problems related to the Earth’s ionosphere. Gradually I moved farther away from the Earth and now I am working mainly on magnetospheric physics. My favourite research topics is related to magnetic reconnection and particle acceleration in space plasmas. Magnetic reconnection is one on the main processes leading to the release of magnetic energy in the Earth’s magnetotail, leading to production of energetic particles which later contribute to the Earth’s radiation belts.

The major challenge was for me to understand what I need to do to stay in the field, to prioritize certain things and to allocate sufficient time for personal life. If I can offer my “wisdom”, I would say that in order to progress you need to be open and try new things. But be aware that you can’t do too many things at the same time! One needs to concentrate on what he/she can and needs to do to have a successful career, and not be distracted by other things on the way.

My nearest research plans are concerned with magnetospheric models and the NASA Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission, which is very similar to the CLUSTER mission. I am involved with the CLUSTER project for more than ten years, mainly with the instrumental aspects of the mission, in particular with the electric field measurements. At the same time I find the time to do real science and to publish my results.

One of the major challenges in my opinion is to keep balance between exploring new distant regions of space and refining our knowledge toward quantitative understanding of the space around us, which is already rather well explored. ESA and NASA have several missions in the near future, in several of which my institute is involved. With ESA’s Solar Orbiter, Beppi Colombo and JUICE missions we will approach the Sun and Mercury, as well as some of the moons of Jupiter. These are places in our solar system about which we don’t know yet much. On the other hand, with NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) and ESA’s Swarm missions we are aiming to a better understanding of the processes in the near earth space. This is a physical system we already know much about, but it can afford quantitative improvements such as better statistics and understanding details with more sensitive instrumentation. Furthermore, there is great value in observing the same process from several locations in near-Earth space and on the ground.

It is very difficult to find a permanent job in space science today. The money available for science is shrinking and the available positions in the field are also shrinking. It is quite easy to find a postdoctoral position but after that it really gets very difficult. In my country our research is mainly funded by the government via the Swedish National Space Board, as well as, via the Research Council. Additional funding comes from ESA and now finally we start getting some European money having being involved in several FP-7 projects.

There are several areas in science which are well developed and expert knowledge has been well established. With space science though, things are often not so well understood; in many cases new observations with improved resolution cause major updates to our understanding of how a particular physical system works. In fact as soon as you touch a new subject in space science you realize that things are not so well established as you may have thought. So there is plenty of room for bringing in new ideas in the field!

My advice to new researchers is the following: stay close to data. The theory is interesting but if one stays close to data he/she is safer and, in many cases, closer to reality. There are always missions flying around and as a result there will always exist a need for data reduction, analysis and archival.

Eleni Chatzichristou

MAARBLE Outreach Team