Make History Speaker Series: Writing History in the Stars

Make History Speaker Series

Join us to hear from our brightest stars as they discuss how space science and satellite imagery are addressing humanity’s greatest challenges!

Space is the final frontier—and space science one of the most thrilling areas of research and discovery. There’s something infinitely exciting about understanding the depths of our solar system and the universe’s most distant galaxies.

The University of Adelaide is a global leader in so many off-world areas—from space agriculture to base-building on the Moon and Mars. Closer to home, we have extra-terrestrial objects orbiting us every day and impacting the way we operate as a society.

Satellites are rarely discussed in the battle against climate change, with the media instead focusing on decarbonisation and electric cars. There’s also a lack of appreciation for satellites as disaster response tools or a means for measuring resources.

The scope and severity of a flood, tsunami, or wildfire can now be determined with a few snaps of a satellite camera—and, in many places, hydrologists are using sky-based scanners to assess water supplies. Satellites can even be used as a defence against deforestation. Getting the big picture from a bird’s eye view really is changing the way we do things.

The Speakers

Dr Kimberley Clayfield is the Director of the Space Research Program, with oversight of the CSIRO Centre for Earth Observation and the AquaWatch Australia Mission. She is the Leader of the CSIRO Space Technology Future Science Platform (Space FSP), a recipient of the University's James McWha Award of Excellence, and recognised in the Australian Space Discovery Centre on Lot Fourteen.

Dr Sarah Cannard is Senior Engineer and Project Manager with Nova Systems. She is also a Fellow with Engineers Australia, an Amelia Earhart Fellow (Zonta International), a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and the Program Director and Project Manager for Australian Remote Operations for Space and Earth (AROSE).

Dr Matthew Tetlow is a Research Fellow in the University of Adelaide’s School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering. In 2020 he was named Australian Space Innovator of the Year at the Australian Space Awards and his nano-satellite company, Inovor Technologies, was named Australian space business of the year.

Facilitator

John Culton is Associate Professor of Off-Earth Resources in the University of Adelaide’s School of Civil Engineering and director of the University of Adelaide's Andy Thomas Centre for Space Resources.