We began our day, once again, on the bus, this time we were headed to the Mullard Space Science Laboratory. Though we travelled through the countryside, given the nature of modern science I assumed we were just travelling to another city centre. You can imagine my surprise when the bus dropped us off in the middle of a rural village and we began to trek up the hill.
Photo 1: Our trek up
Once we reached the laboratory I was blown away by what stood before me. Located on Holmbury Hill near Dorking, the Mullard Space Laboratory lives in a converted country home housing a combination of physicists and engineers. I can’t believe that people have the luxury of researching physics here.
Photo 2: View from the space laboratory
Meeting up inside the laboratory PhD students and employees of the like gave 5-6 short talks on topics such as dust storms on Mars, predicting the aurora, and the design process behind the head of the ExoMars rover. Venturing into the workshops itself we saw many instruments for research and design purposes. My favourite was this giant thermo vacuum device used to replicate the conditions of being in space for testing purposes.
Photo 3: Giant thermo vacuum thingy
The fun didn’t end here as when we returned to Kensington our principal lecture, presented by Dr Paul McFarlane, was on spies! Extremely interactive in nature, Dr McFarlane assessed the quality of spies some of the audience members would make through memory tests and problem-solving skills whilst under high pressure. Additionally, he made a £100 (~$200) wager with the crowd who could solve an extremely elaborate pattern presented on screen. Finishing the talk Dr McFarlane left us to question how AI might reduce the risk of those in the field or assist in pattern recognition in a way no human could.
Photo 4: Dr Paul McFarlane on spies an AI
After a long day of travel, talks, and espionage, I went on a night walk and quickly retired to my quarters to catch a good night’s sleep.
-Connor