This summer, students Charles Cleminson, Teodora Ghiuvea, Calum Jones and Rhys Llewellyn from The Sixth Form College, Farnborough completed a project under the Engineering Education Scheme (EES) in collaboration with SSTL looking at ways to detect signals in space that offer a precursor to earthquakes. Their report was well received by their SSTL and EES mentors, who congratulated them during the award ceremony.

The EES provides students aged 16 and 17 with experience in engineering, science and technology in order to make informed decisions about their future education and career. Working with SSTL, the project aimed to discover a suitable combination of payloads that would successfully identify and monitor the proposed earthquake precursors through regular measurements on a global-scale using a satellite constellation.

According to their very professional end of project paper entitled “A study to examine the feasibility of a constellation of small satellites to detect Earthquake precursor signatures”, up to now we have data only from older missions that are not dedicated to earthquake detection.

The team found that the main failing of previous missions is the lack of continuous measurements, so that statistics could not be built based on data from previous missions. As such, the team proposed, in addition to finding a reliable short term earthquake precursor, their proposed mission should make statistical studies of space-borne precursors of strong earthquakes possible by continuous monitoring. In summary, this data should lead to improved knowledge of the physics behind earthquakes and hopefully save many lives.

The team reviewed a broad range of technologies for detecting earthquakes from correlation with lightning, infra-red emissions, particle precipitation to numerous methods for detecting ionospheric permutations. These were analysed based upon their “prediction capability”, a measure of their ability to answer the three main questions of the short term earthquake prediction: When? Where? How strong?

Their conclusion: that the global monitoring of short term earthquake precursors from space is possible, but that a satellite constellation is necessary if this information is to be used in practice for short-term earthquake prediction.

Aside from the scintillating (no pun intended) discussion of Earthquake detention from space, it was a golden opportunity for the EES scheme team to learn more about space and real world engineering in a commercial environment. SSTL project mentor Dave Sanderson put Space Blog in touch with two of the team members, Rhys and Teodora to talk about their experiences and their future career aspirations.


What was your experience of working with SSTL?

Rhys:

Although the project seemed daunting at the start I found working with SSTL rewarding and informative. I enjoyed visiting the company headquarters, and gained a real insight to what it means to be an engineer, it gave me food for thought and inspired me. I felt the company had a lot to offer and working with Dave was a very pleasant process. Dave gave us clear guidance and advice on the next steps involved in the project. He was very enthusiastic and helpful even when he was busy himself. In short a top bloke.

Teodora:

SSTL has provided excellent supervision, which was of much help throughout the project.

What do you feel you have learned or achieved as a result of the EES?

Rhys:

I felt working with SSTL showed me the complexities involved with getting a project from a brief or an idea to a finished satellite. With deadlines to meet, I feel I now understand how missed deadlines can have a knock on effect on the rest of the project. The other key things I felt I learned were how to work in a team and most importantly, how to produce a report!

Teodora:

I have definitely learned how to be more organised, because there was too much research to do and not a lot of time. I also have more confidence in dealing with deadlines. On the other hand, it was a pleasure to find out more about a topic I am interested in, satellites.

Would you consider a career in space and if so why?

Rhys:

Yes, because the space industry appears to be a safer industry, no matter what is happening in the global stock markets, mankind is always curious to find out what is out there, and I would love to help find the answers to unanswered questions, developing and utilising cutting edge technologies to help people, in our case to try and reduce the casualty figures in earthquakes.

Teodora:

I might consider a career in space because I find it fascinating how new technologies can allow us to predict various events taking place on Earth. Many lives can saved if we manage to foresee natural disasters.

How did you get involved in this EES program?

Rhys:

My teacher told my Physics class about the scheme at the start of a lesson one day. I wrote a paragraph explaining why I wanted to be involved in the EES, and handed it to our link teacher. He then read though the entries and selected 3 other students and myself to take the project on. I feel very honoured to have been part of the EES, and will definitely peruse a career in Engineering.

Teodora:

I have firstly heard about it from my Physics teacher. I have then attended a meeting with Steve, the person in charge of the EES program, and with the others students who also wanted to be part of the team. As we were too many, we had to write why we want to get involved in the EES program. Then, 4 of us were chosen.

Thanks for the chat and on behalf of all at SSTL, I’d like to wish you all the best in your future careers!

According to the EES organizers, around 90% of Scheme students go to study a science/engineering/technology subject at degree level and it remains an immensely successful (and necessary) program for increasing the talent pool of young engineers in Surrey. To find out more visit the new EDT website.