Science Vale UK, The environment for global Excelence
Revolutionary Navigation System for Future Mars Rovers
9th December 2011
An autonomous navigation system that will enable a future planetary rover vehicle to be in complete control of its own actions as it explores the surface of Mars is being designed by top-calibre scientists and engineers at STFC’s Rutherford Appleton Laboratory at Harwell Oxford in Science Vale UK.
The team from the UK, France and Canada are joining forces to design ‘Seeker’ as part of the European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) StarTiger initiative, which tackles specific space-related challenges through targeted projects with fixed timeframes.
The StarTiger-Seeker project, led by RAL Space, is a seven month project that will see the team work intensively day and night to design a navigation system that, unlike previous systems, will enable a rover to navigate around Mars totally independently, covering at least 1km a day. The Seeker navigation system will allow a rover to react better to its surroundings and undertake experiments in more locations, enabling our understanding of the Red Planet to take a major leap forward.
Designed for use on future missions to Mars, Seeker will perform a range of key actions completely unaided by Mission Control or by GPS-type technology. These include: identifying the precise location of the rover on Mars, identifying promising scientific opportunities; long-range pinpointing of particular sites to visit; detecting and avoiding hazards; and navigating back to previously visited sites. It is expected that the Seeker technology will also have potential applications here on Earth, particularly in inhospitable environments.
The Seeker team includes experts from RAL Space, SciSys, BAe Systems, Roke Manor Research (all from the UK), LAAS (France) and MDA Space & Robotics (Canada). It will apply leading-edge skills in autonomy and intelligence, electronic sensing, image processing and other disciplines to tackle the huge challenges presented by the project.
Kim Ward of RAL Space, the Project Director, says: “The keys to Seeker’s success will be imagination, application and team work. With radio signals to conventional rovers taking at least 30 minutes to travel between Earth and Mars, Seeker’s ability to work autonomously in hostile terrain will be crucial to extending our understanding of our planetary neighbour.”
David Willetts, the UK science minister said: “Space captures the imagination of so many people, and it’s excellent to see UK experts playing such a significant role in the groundbreaking StarTiger initiative. The Seeker project has the potential to transform our exploration of Mars and make an important contribution to the international body of knowledge on the universe around us.”
The UK Space Agency (UKSA) was instrumental in bringing the ESA StarTiger project to the UK, through working with ESA Harwell (ESA’s only UK base) and securing funding for ESA Harwell’s establishment as a focus for space exploration.
Skills for growth
2nd December 2011
Science Vale UK will be receiving Government funding that will support apprenticeships up to degree equivalent, enabling employers, colleges and universities to deliver the advanced skills most critical for growth. PERA Innovation is developing a Higher Apprenticeship pathway in research and development to serve the advanced engineering sector. Employers will be able choose the training that meets their business needs. The first apprentices will be recruited in the latter part of 2012.
Arming the engineers of tomorrow
18th November 2011
Diamond Light Source and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) are arming the engineers of tomorrow with the vital skills and experience needed to succeed in the UK job market, as youth unemployment figures hit 1,000,000.
Run by STFC with a third of support from Diamond Light Source, the Advanced Engineering Apprenticeship scheme at STFC’s Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) has been running for 19 years and is one of the best apprenticeship schemes in the country.
As the government announces new measures to ensure more young people benefit from an apprenticeship, the scheme at RAL celebrates the graduation of another five young engineers as they embark on careers in the technical and engineering sector. Their achievement was applauded during the scheme’s annual awards ceremony in November, with special guest Phil Taylor, from the 2009 series of BBC’s The Apprentice. Phil spoke to the current and graduating apprentices and new recruits about his own experience doing an engineering apprenticeship and the invaluable life skills he picked up along the way, before handing out the awards.
Eynsham resident 19 year old Jamie Nutter, who has just completed his apprenticeship and now works at STFC’s ISIS neutron source as an electronics technician, made a clean sweep picking up three awards: the ‘Alfie Phillips’ award, for consistently good reports in each placement; the ‘Joe Hoskins’ award for achieving an excellent record and helping others with their training; and the ‘Apprentice of the Year’ award, jointly with Paul Cross, aged 19 from Abingdon.
“This is an excellent way to end my apprenticeship, I’m honoured to be given these awards. It’s with thanks to my supervisors and mentors, everyone has been so helpful from day one. I decided to do an engineering apprenticeship because I didn’t think A-levels were for me. I’m so glad I did it because I’ve enjoyed every moment and have picked up lots of important skills along the way, not to mention making some really good friends for life. I’ve been working fulltime now since the start of October and it’s everything I thought it would be – lots of interesting and varied hands-on work.”
Twenty-two year old Lauren Summers from Wantage received the ‘Apprentice Achievement’ award for successfully balancing her engineering training whilst representing Great Britain in the World Ice Hockey Championships. She said, “I didn’t know I was going to receive this award so it’s a great surprise. It has been tricky doing my ice hockey training and the apprenticeship but I thoroughly enjoy both so I don’t mind working hard. My ultimate aim is to work in the space industry. The apprenticeship scheme offers a way into this field with RAL having a Space Department so I’m hoping to get a permanent position there when I complete my training next year.”
“It is vital that facilities such as Diamond help train the skilled technicians of tomorrow. Diamond began supporting this scheme in 2008 so this is the first year we’re seeing apprentices who were placed at the synchrotron graduate. We’re very pleased and proud. Every day we rely on trained technical people to keep our facility operational and many of our current employees have come up through doing apprenticeships so we are keen to play our part and support this scheme.”
Other awards received during the evening were as follows: 20 year old Adam Taylor from Wantage received the ‘Apprentice Progress’ award for his determination to complete his training; 21 year old Jacob Simms from Oxford received the ‘Apprentice Recognition’ award for his work on a promotional DVD for the scheme; and 21 year old Jamie Searis from Wantage received the ‘Lyn and Trevor Woodger’ award for outstanding effort.
The Advanced Engineering Apprenticeship scheme at RAL offers school and college-leavers comprehensive training in electrical, electronic and mechanical engineering in unique working environments such as the Diamond synchrotron, the ISIS neutron source, and RAL Space. The four-year scheme receives applications every March, with successful applicants starting their foundation year at college in the following September. Find out more
Additional work experience opportunities at Diamond include summer placement roles, internships and general short-term work experience.
New super microscope
18th November 2011
Engineers and scientists at STFC’s ISIS neutron source faced nervous moments on Friday (11 November 2011) when a new £4 million instrument that took five years to design and build, was lifted and lowered into its fixed position by a 30 tonne crane.
Polaris, a ‘super microscope’ is one of the most advanced neutron instruments in the world. It will measure objects on the nanometre scale, a million times smaller than a speck of dust. The giant camera will make images of the atomic structure of materials and will be able to watch chemical reactions in real time. Measuring the positions of atoms in a material allows you to understand completely why a material behaves the way it does.
Academics and industry will use Polaris to:
- improve the performance of laptop and mobile phone batteries
- find the structure of new pharmaceutical drugs to understand how they interact with molecules in the body responsible for diseases like Alzheimers
- develop new magnetic materials that can be used to make new forms of computer memory
Around £3.6 million has been spent on items such as electronics, cables and detectors with about 90 per cent being spent with UK companies. The project is a collaboration between the UK, Sweden and Spain.
John Randall who is in charge of installing the instrument said: “When you have seen first-hand the level of detailed work that has gone into constructing an instrument like Polaris, to see it lifted in the air on the crane, even though you know the crane is fully capable of lifting it, is a really nerve-wracking experience. I’m just relieved to see it in place now!”
Dr Stephen Hull, lead scientist on the project said: “Polaris will allow us to make measurements up to 30 times faster than we could before and follow chemical reactions in real time opening up new areas of science. Demand from the community to use the instrument is high, and we already have a queue of experiments waiting for it to come online. I’m looking forward to seeing results from the new rechargeable battery and fuel-cell materials that I’m working on with our Swedish collaborators.”
Commissioning of the instrument will begin in December 2011 and it is expected to be fully operational by February 2012.
Quantum leap in hospital X-rays
18th November 2011
Revolutionary technology, originally developed for use on space satellites, is being used to design X-ray machines, no bigger than a laptop, that can travel quickly and easily to patients in hospitals, care homes and accident sites. Radius Diagnostics Ltd is poised to bring this technology one step closer, as it becomes the latest tenant of the European Space Agency’s Business Incubation Centre (ESA BIC Harwell).
Incorporating cutting-edge technology originally developed by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) for ESA satellites, Radius has been working with the California nanoSystems Institute (link opens in a new window)(CnSI) to commercialise an innovative ‘X-ray source on a chip’, known as MAX (Microemitter Array X-ray), originally developed at UCLA.
A scanner based on MAX technology will be 20 times lighter than any existing portable X-ray system, allowing it to be more easily operated at the bedside or accident site, and avoiding causing further discomfort to patients by moving them to X-ray suites. A truly portable MAX based system weighing less than 10kg, will save hospital staff valuable time as current moveable X-ray machines, weighing 250kg or more, can take considerable time to position and get ready.
Mark Evans, CEO and co-founder of Radius Diagnostics, said “MAX will transform many applications of X-rays and we are thrilled that one of its first applications, allowing truly portable X-ray systems to travel to the patient, will improve patient comfort, prevent unnecessary hospital admissions and save lives. The transformation that MAX will achieve is as great as the shift from old-style TVs to today’s flat screens. However, it will be the reduction in cost and the opportunity for miniaturisation that will create a revolution. Many of the applications in healthcare, security and industry that MAX will make possible have not even been envisioned yet.”
Production costs will be less than half the cost of any current equivalent, making widespread use affordable; a doctor’s surgery might even have its own X-ray system. Also, MAX sources are pixelated in the same way as an LCD computer screen, allowing the physician to selectively control the emission of X-rays and enable the patient’s radiation burden to be reduced.
Radius is now set to take the development and commercialisation of this technology one step further as it becomes the newest tenant at the European Space Agency’s Business Incubation Centre (ESA BIC Harwell). The BIC provides the ideal environment for pioneering, innovative companies like Radius to translate space technologies and applications into viable businesses in non-space industries.
As a tenant at the ESA BIC, Radius Diagnostics will benefit from an impressive support package, which includes more than £40,000 towards further technology development; easy access to both STFC and ESA technical expertise, and a dedicated business champion from STFC to help with business planning and guidance. Radius is now gearing up to develop a production-ready model of the new system, having proven the technology in the lab, which could be deployed in clinical, industrial and security settings within three years.
Paul Vernon, Head of New Business at STFC, said: “The space sector can bring huge social and economic benefits to the UK economy. By working with both STFC and ESA scientists at the ESA Business Incubation Centre, Radius Diagnostics is already on its way to creating a sustainable, profitable business through technology that could make the world of difference to the elderly and seriously ill, to name just one application.”
Ultimately this new, lightweight, X-ray technology could be used by paramedics at patients’ own homes, and even by the armed forces in the field. The Radius team sees a world where patients will be imaged ahead of transportation, allowing the images to be read immediately at the receiving hospital while the patient is in transit, or before even being moved if a spinal injury is suspected, saving vital time in treating critical injuries.
Accelerated collaboration with Siemens
18th November 2011
The Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) is working with Siemens Healthcare Corporate Technology and Concept to develop a compact accelerator which is cheaper to build and cheaper to operate than those which are currently available.
Particle accelerator based innovative solutions promise to address many of today’s most pressing challenges in the fields of healthcare, energy, industry and environmental sustainability.
The technology is being put through its paces in a new testing facility within ISIS, STFC’s world leading neutron source at Harwell Oxford in Science Vale UK.
Professor John Womersley, STFC Chief Executive said: “STFC depends on particle accelerator technology for our present and future science facilities, like Diamond and ISIS. But we are also committed to developing accelerators to address key societal challenges and applications. Our interaction with Siemens is an important step in strengthening that direction. The products that will result from this collaboration have the potential to have a big impact on peoples’ lives.”
The development of the accelerator technology is part of a newly created strategic partnership between STFC and Siemens AG which combines the world class scientific expertise of STFC and the business understanding and market access of Siemens.