Interviewing a MAARBLE Scientist – September 2014
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Who is Who
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Dr. Ondrej Santolik is active in physics of plasmas and in spacecraft data analysis and interpretation with a focus on plasma waves and related processes. He is a Senior Research Scientist and head of the Department of Space Physics at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) in Prague, Czechia. He also works as associate professor at the Charles University in Prague. He coordinates the efforts at IAP in the frame of the MAARBLE project. Musical Plasma Waves in a Huge Laboratory
I was attracted by science since my childhood. I always wanted to learn how things look from inside. Sometimes this passion resulted in irreversible modifications of different household items. Later, during my school years, I started to consider physics as an honest attempt to learn how different pieces, of which nature is wonderfully composed, look from inside and how they fit into each other. I read about the amazing story of the discovery of the Earth’s radiation belts and that lead me to get interested in space research. At the university I hesitated between astronomy and space plasma physics, but the possibility to work with in situ experimental data dragged me to space science.
I had the opportunity to gain expertise in plasma waves. I immediately liked this subject very much because it’s very musical and I have passion for music. Besides that, properties of plasma waves are far from being trivial but some of them can be theoretically derived using a very simple approach assuming that the motion of charged particles is mainly induced by waves. However, their other experimentally proven properties still represent a challenge for theoretical physicists. Experimental data are very important in this process. Space is a huge laboratory in which we can test our theories and collect data to improve them or invent new ones.
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The first major discovery of the Space Era that started in the 1950s, was the finding in 1958 of two giant swaths of radiation surrounding Earth, zones where highly energetic charged particles were magnetically trapped. The discovery was made by Dr. James Van Allen, who had already been exploring the upper atmosphere of the Earth with balloons measuring radiation levels in the atmosphere. Van Allen and his team placed a Geiger counter and an altimeter on Explorer I, the first American spacecraft, to take radiation readings at different heights. The high-radiation regions that they discovered and mapped are now known as the Van Allen radiation belts. In 2012, observations from the NASA's twin Van Allen space probes, which are studying the Earth's radiation belts, showed that a third belt can sometimes appear. On the image, the radiation is shown here in yellow, green representing the spaces between the belts (Credit: NASA/Van Allen Probes/Goddard Space Flight Center).
Dr. Santolik gives a detailed account of many other space activities underway at the IAP and of the space missions he and his colleagues are involved in: “Our research group is actively involved in the data analysis and interpretation of spacecraft measurements from Cluster, Polar, Stereo, DEMETER, Double Star, Themis, and Van Allen Probes missions. Taking advantage of previous experience in scientific spacecraft instrumentation (started by our colleagues at IAP who build a series of MAGION spacecraft), we are also active in preparations of several future spacecraft missions which are related to our research interests”. And he explains: “We are responsible for a part of the instrument to measure waves in the solar wind plasma on board the European Space Agency’s probe Solar Orbiter, we are finishing development of a high frequency analyzer for the French TARANIS mission to measure signatures of high altitude discharges related to thunderstorms, we are involved in preparations of a low-frequency analyzers for the Resonance and Luna-Glob missions. We are also working on the design of a multicomponent analyzer of electromagnetic waves for the JUICE probe to Jovian icy moons. This very ambitious project has been selected as the first large mission of the European Space Agency’s Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 program. The launch is scheduled for 2022, to arrive at Jupiter in 2030. Our primary research interest for this mission are waves in plasmas of the magnetosphere of the Jovian moon Ganymede”, he adds.
While talking about the major challenges in space science today, Dr. Santolik points out that “For experimental space physicists, the major challenge at present is to build good instruments for new missions. Unfortunately, lots of paperwork and huge efforts are required in order to get funding for this work”, he adds. As to his own research plans, Dr. Santolik emphasized that “Experimental analysis of waves in space plasmas is still an open and challenging field which is worth of being explored”.
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JUICE - JUpiter ICy moons Explorer - is the first large-class mission in ESA's Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 programme. JUICE will carry a total of 11 scientific experiments to study Jupiter and three of its largest moons Ganymede, Callisto and Europa, thought to harbour vast water oceans beneath their icy surfaces. JUICE will spend at least three years making detailed observations (map their surfaces, sound their interiors and assess their potential for hosting life in their oceans). The mission will also carry a magnetometer, plasma and particle monitors, and radio science hardware, developed by scientific teams from 16 European countries, the US and Japan (Credit ESA; Illustration by M. Carroll). |
Enjoy Being Surprised Beyond Theories
We asked Dr. Santolik how easy or difficult would be for young talented scientists to develop a successful career today. “First of all they need to be really interested in their work and they need to like what they are doing. Their successful career is then a secondary effect which naturally follows. I would therefore advise them to focus on their subject and have fun while getting good at it”, says with emphasis Dr. Santolik.
His personal wisdom after many years of a successful career is an open-minded approach to what nature can teach us. “It is very important, not only for theorists but also for experimental scientists, to be always ready to accept evidence, even if it is sometimes surprising. Usually, the reality is much nicer than our elaborate theories. We shouldn’t stay enclosed in the narrow spaces of our ideas and theories. If we succeed to be open, we can be, step by step, taught to understand the facts that we observe. I believe that we can enjoy being surprised how wonderfully simple and logical things can be if we succeed to see them a little bit more from inside”, he concludes.
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JUICE MAGION 1 is the first Czechoslovak spacecraft (1978). It was launched as a part of the Interkosmos-18 experiment and separated from its parent spacecraft on November 14, 1978, with the aim of studying the spatial structure of ELF-VLF phenomena.The MAGION-1 experiment went on for almost three years, till the decay date of September 10, 1981. MAGION is a name of the serial of small MAGnetospheric and IONospheric satellites manufactured in Czech Republic to be launched as Russian scientific S/C hitch-hikers. These satellites are designed to perform measurements of space plasma parameters by a satellite/subsatellite pair simultaneously in two points which are not far from each other. |
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Eleni Chatzichristou
MAARBLE Outreach Team
