Science in Space: Reality vs Fiction

Here I share my own experiences of conducting science in microgravity, training the next generation of astronauts, and the similarities to every-day life onboard the International Space Station with those depicted in film.  I shall also describe some typical scientific experiments conducted in space, and the process followed to fly your experiment in reduced gravity conditions. 

Using the French Zero-G airbus, we have performed condensed matter experiments in 2G and microgravity to investigate the agglomeration of intermetallic melts.  We discovered that without the earth-based forces of gravity and convective heat flows we were able to grow unique nanoparticulate structures, impossible to fabricate in earth-based laboratories.

Recently, Hollywood has treated us to two modern-day blockbuster movies set in space: Gravity, starring Sandra Bullock and Interstellar starring Matthew McConaughey.  The films are exciting and tackle Newtonian physics in the special effects, but are the orbital mechanics and relativity accurate?  After this seminar – you can decide!

About Dr Iles

Role at ANSTO

Dr Gail Iles is an instrument scientist responsible for EMU, the cold neutron backscattering spectrometer, in the Bragg Institute.  Her expertise in neutron scattering has been demonstrated through characterisation measurements at neutron sources around the world, and in neutron instrumentation.

Gail was instrument scientist of FALCON, the neutron Laue diffractometer at HZB in Berlin, Germany, responsible for the design, construction and commissioning of this new instrument.  Previously, Gail also spent a short time as instrument scientist on the high-flux powder diffractometer, D20 at the ILL in Grenoble, France. Gail’s research interests are in the field of rare earth magnetism.  The very high resolution of EMU will be ideal for investigating hyperfine energy fields which typically occur at just a few µeV.  A number of rare earth atoms have been shown to undergo hyperfine splitting which can be observed as the interaction between the spins of the incoming neutron and the sample nuclei.  Studies of nuclear magnetism will help us better understand the mechanisms of high-temperature superconductivity, for example.

Qualifications and Achievements

• WISE Champion award presented by HRH Princess Anne for a range of outreach activities with Unlimited Theatre; for inspiring children, especially girls, to study science, technology and mathematical subjects at school (2011)
• Novespace Bronze Medal awarded for flying 500 parabolas onboard the Zero-G aircraft, Bordeaux, France, accumulating over 2.5 hours in microgravity (2011)
• European Space Agency fellowship awarded to characterise intermetallics at ILL and ESRF, Grenoble, France, within the framework of the FP6 project, IMPRESS (2007-2009)
• PhD in experimental condensed matter physics awarded by University of Leicester, UK (2007)
• BSc (Hons) in Natural Sciences with Physics awarded by Open University, UK (2003)