“Houston, I’m ready for the event.” With these words, adjunct DTU professor Andreas Mogensen appears on the screen behind a panel of experts: Professor John Leif Jørgensen, Chief Consultant Per Lundahl Thomsen from DTU Space, and Professor Anja C. Andersen from the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen.
Andreas Mogensen is wearing a white DTU Space t-shirt and has a floating microphone close at hand. He receives a huge applause from the around 1,000 expectant students, employees, neighbours, and upper secondary school students looking at the screen.
In a call from the International Space Station (ISS), Andreas Mogensen is about to give a DTU Ørsted Lecture Special on three DTU projects that he has been testing during his mission.
One of the projects is based on virtual reality (VR) and allows the astronauts - using a pair of VR glasses - to escape the clinical space station environment and immerse themselves in peaceful natural surroundings. The hope is that the glasses will prove to relieve stress, and that they can therefore also play a role on longer missions in the future - like trips to the Moon or Mars.
“This is one of my favourite activities on board the space station. It allows me to take a break and de-stress surrounded by beautiful imagery from Earth, and they’re also good when combined with our exercise bike, which allows me to cycle five different routes in Denmark - including a mountain bike route in the woods around Silkeborg,” says Andreas Mogensen.
Photos of lightning provide new understanding of our atmosphere
In another project, THOR-Davis, Andreas Mogensen is involved in investigating electrical activity in the upper part of the atmosphere.
Using an sophisticated camera that captures changes in the images at the equivalent of 100,000 frames per second, Andreas Mogensen has documented the electrical activity of lightning from thunderclouds at a height of 50 kilometres. The project was established as part of the THOR research project headed by DTU Space. It was part of the groundwork for the ASIM mission, which launched for the ISS in 2018 with DTU Space managing the scientific aspect of the mission.
“It’s about understanding the planet we live on and its phenomena. This is a phenomenon that we don’t know much about, so everything we learn will add to our knowledge about our planet and the atmosphere,” says Andreas Mogensen.
He explains that, among other things, this will provide researchers with new knowledge about how lightning affects the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and thus the climate on Earth.
Professor John Leif Jørgensen, DTU Space, elaborates:
"The new photos taken by Andreas will add greatly to our understanding of the ‘lid on the pot’. That is, the upper part of the atmosphere. There are a lot of things that we will never be able to see from Earth. Activity that occurs at altitudes that cannot be reached by either aircraft or stratospheric balloons. This part of the atmosphere is a largely uncharted territory. So we need to find out what this really means, both for our atmospheric models and thus our models for how the Earth develops, also when it comes to the climate.”
In the future, the plan is to install more cameras on the space station to help provide a greater understanding of the electrical phenomena.
Delayed 3D printer and student questions
The original plan was also for Andreas Mogensen to test a 3D printer capable of printing metal tools and spare parts in weightless environments. However, the launch of the printer was delayed by a leak of coolant at the space station, which meant that equipment for the repairs had to be launched instead. The printer therefore did not arrive until February. Since then, complications with the installation of the printer have further delayed the process, and Andreas Mogensen will now have to hand over the project to his colleagues.
However, he has great expectations for the concept of printing metal in space:
“If we want to go to the Moon for extended periods of time, or to Mars, we need to be more self-sufficient, which means that we need to be able to produce our own spare parts, and the 3D printer is an important technology in this context,” says Andreas Mogensen.
In addition to producing tools and spare parts, the dream in the long term is to be able to print even larger parts that could be used to build solar farms in space, among other things.
Today’s host, tech journalist Nikolaj Sonne, is not the only one who gets the chance to ask questions of the Danish astronaut. Two DTU students - Mikkel Hansen and Laura Asta Ejsing - are also handed the microphone and are keen to hear Andreas Mogensen’s advice for students dreaming of going on space missions.
“The basic requirement to become an astronaut is that you have a background in STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). Being a good team player is also important when working at a space station, and then you have to seize any opportunities that come your way,” says Andreas Mogensen.
Before the ISS signal is lost, he gets to round off:
“I look forward to seeing many of you - hopefully soon - when I get back on Earth.”
Watch the full DTU Ørsted Lecture Special.
