Podcast Extra – The Twinkle Space Mission

This podcast extra is all about our favourite topic of them all,
exoplanets. Thanks to our good friends Ian and Billy, we'll be
taking a look at the very exciting upcoming low-Earth orbit space
mission Twinkle. This small satellite will help us better
understand the chemical composition of known exoplanets, which in
turn will help us understand their history - and even their
weather!


 


Guests:


Ian Stotesbury - master of astrophysics and lead systems engineer
at Blue Skies Space. Ian has a background in low Earth orbit
Earth monitoring missions and constellations, but is now making
the leap to other planets.


 


Dr Billy Edwards - gained his PhD in Astrophysics from UCL,
specialising in observing exoplanet atmospheres with space based
telescopes. He's stayed on at UCL and is now a project scientist
for the Twinkle Space Mission.


 


In this podcast extra, we discuss:


The origin of the Twinkle Space Mission and Blue Skies Space,
the company behind the satellite, including an enlightening
discussion on why some space missions are chosen, and why some
seem to just always miss out.

Twinkle's unique science instruments (including an
astonishingly wide wavelength range), exoplanet science goals,
and surprising but very carefully considered size.

Twinkle's construction and launch window

Ian and Billy's wildest hopes and dreams for Twinkle
observations (including Uranus and Neptune!!) and future
follow-up missions

An invitation for YOU to join in with the ExoClock mission.
Help professional astronomers monitor transiting exoplanets!