A New Frontier in Space: Maggie Aderin-Pocock / Space Scientist

Direct Talk

Our understanding of space and other galaxies

is going through
the most exciting period in decades.

We are unlocking mysteries of the universe -

thanks to the most powerful
telescope ever built:

the James Webb Space Telescope.

It is orbiting the Sun, at a distance of
around one million miles from Earth

Doctor Maggie Aderin-Pocock

is a popular and well known
space scientist working in the UK.

She appears regularly on television

and is an author of
several bestselling books.

She is also one of the scientists

who contributed to
the construction of James Webb.

Direct Talk met her in London

to find out why a super telescope
is going to revolutionize

much of we previously knew
and understood about space.

A New Frontier in Space

The James Webb Space Telescope

is a major step forward
in our understanding of the universe.

So when the first images
started coming through,

I was so excited,

I was excited at seeing them

because they just show
fantastic stuff out there,

space images are always,
they make my heart sort of skip a beat.

Seeing them and appreciating them.

And thinking that,

I helped here, I was one of the
10,000 scientists that worked on this project,

but also what was lovely was
seeing the response of the public,

people talking about them,

oh, have you seen the latest James Webb?

oh, isn't that one beautiful,
what do you think is going on there,

and so it sort of just caught
the public imagination

and far more than we ever thought
would be possible,

so that was a joy in itself.

The James Webb telescope was developed
and constructed over 30 years.

It cost more than 8 billion pounds,

and involved the work of 10 thousand people
from 14 different countries.

As the most complex telescope in space,

James Webb's high resolution and sensitivity,

means that it can peer
much further back in time,

close to the formation of the universe
some 13.7 billion years ago.

The telescope's ability
to gather infrared light

allows it to examine
ancient stars and galaxies.

In July 2022,

NASA released the first images
from James Webb.

The pictures generated
excitement around the world,

revealing stunning
new images of the universe,

the like of which had never been seen before.

Images from James Webb

Some of the first images released by
the James Webb Space Telescope

were showing some of the
first galaxies formed in the universe.

One of the interesting things
about how a telescope works is,

a telescope is there to gather light,

it might be infrared light,
it might be visible or UV,

but light travels at a finite speed.

And so when we pick up light
through a telescope

it has sometimes taken
maybe millions of years

for that light to travel from the star
to our telescope.

And so in that way
a telescope can be a time machine,

when we actually look at
some of these objects

we're seeing them
as they were millions of years ago

or billions of years ago.

And so sometimes we can actually see objects
which were made soon after the big bang,

and it gives us a better understanding
of how the universe works

and how the universe was created,
what happened.

Sometimes people think of the
James Webb Space Telescope

as the next step after Hubble,

and in some ways it is
but in some ways it's quite different.

The Hubble Space Telescope
worked in visible light,

so the sort of things
that we see with our eyes,

and also ultraviolet light,

but the James Webb Space Telescope
is an infrared telescope,

now infrared is quite interesting

because there are parts of the universe
which are shrouded in clouds of dust

and this is where visible light
can't pass through,

but infrared light can pass through
these clouds of dust,

It means you can look further back in time

and so one of the things we're doing with
James Webb at the moment

is looking at some of the early galaxies
and how they formed and what they look like.

As one of the UK scientists
working on the project from 2005 onwards,

Dr Aderin-Pocock's expertise
in mechanical engineering,

led her to contribute to NIRSpec

- one of four scientific instruments
on James Webb.

NIRSpec - known as the "Super Eye"

is capable of simultaneously measuring the
near infrared spectrum of at least 100 objects,

such as stars and galaxies.

And one of the instruments
that I worked on is NIRSpec,

and with NIRSpec what we do is we actually
take the light gathered by the telescope

and then stretch it into
its component colours,

and then we are able to do chemical analysis

and work out that some of the stars
were far younger than we realised.

Another one of the revelations
provided from James Webb

were the images of the solar system's
biggest planet, Jupiter.

They reveal auroras,

giant storms,

moons and rings surrounding Jupiter

in detail, that astronomers
have never seen before.

One of the amazing things about
the James Webb Space Telescope

is it covers so much,

so it can look back to early time,

we can look at nebulas in space.

But we can also look locally at the planets
of the outer solar system.

Now these planets
haven't been quite as explored,

and so now getting these
close-up images of places like Jupiter.

Now we do have probes
in orbit around Jupiter,

but James Webb gives us that infrared image

and we can see the aura,
and the north and south pole,

we can see the dynamic of
churning atmosphere around Jupiter

and analyse it in a different way.

Another fantastic image that we got
from the James Webb Space Telescope

is an image of something
called the Tarantula Nebula.

Now it's called the Tarantula Nebula

because if you look at it in visible light,
in sort of optical light,

and what you see is this sort of strands of
dust and clouds where light can't penetrate,

and it looks like sort of spiders' webs,
or spiders' legs in the nebula.

But because JWST is an infrared telescope,

it means that some of the infrared light
can penetrate through these clouds of dust

and so suddenly we're seeing a star birth,
which it what happens in nebula,

but we're seeing younger stars
than we thought were there.

And it gives us a sort of better
understanding of how star formation happens,

how solar systems form,

so it's giving us, what an understanding
of how the universe works.

In the three decades since
Dr Aderin-Pocock started her career,

there have been huge societal changes.

More women study science today,

and there is less of the discrimination

that Maggie encountered
in the scientific world of the 1990s.

As a result, she believes passionately
in communicating to young children

that they must follow their dream.

So she visits schools regularly across the UK

to give lectures about the wonders of space,

as well as the importance of
diversity and gender.

So, growing up, there weren't
many role models that looked like me,

so there weren't many
black female scientists out there,

and it's quite interesting because
sometimes people say today,

oh, you're such a role model.

But what I realised is, to be a role model
you don't need to be perfect.

To be a role model you just need to
have a passion for something,

and for me it's a passion about space,

everything out there, exoplanets, you know,
pulsars, all the wonderful stuff out there,

I think I am a role model in a certain way,
because I do love telling people about space,

and encouraging kids into STEM,
science technology engineering and math.

But I think now, we are getting more diverse

but not diverse enough.

We need to change the scenario,

because we need more scientists
and engineers coming through.

Dr Aderin-Pocock's career
as a leading scientist and communicator

was not something that was ever
predicted for her when she was a child.

She had an unsettled upbringing,
attending 13 different schools.

She has dyslexia and was
often placed in a remedial class.

Sometimes when I speak to people,
they look at my past and think that,

it was strange that my past
led me to be a space scientist,

because growing up, for one thing
I went to 13 different schools.

Now when I tell people that,
sometimes they look at me and say,

"How naughty were you?",

but it wasn't like that.

My parents split up when I was four

and sometimes, I was with my mum

and sometimes I was with my dad,

so it meant I went to
lots of different schools,

and the other challenge I had

is I have a condition called dyslexia.

Now dyslexia means that
my brain works in a different way,

I'm neurodiverse, as they say,

and it means that I find spelling and sort of
phonics and things like that quite hard.

One of the challenges with dyslexia

was because I was put in the remedial class,
because I was considered to be a bit slow,

when I said things like

"I want to be a space scientist
when I grow up,

I want to travel to the stars,"

people looked at me,
sort of slightly disparagingly, sort of,

"Oh Maggie, that's probably
not going to happen,

we think you should limit your expectations,"

and it's quite funny because,
now I go out and speak to lots of school kids

and I tell them, to reach for the stars
and have big ideas,

because I think by having big ideas
we achieve so much more.

I think it also made me more determined
to sort of see if I could make it happen.

As a graduate from London University
with a physics degree,

and a PHD in mechanical engineering,

Dr Aderin-Pocock

worked on a variety of projects, in
industrial, academic and government sectors.

Her gift for inspiring and her ability
to communicate difficult science

was soon recognised, by television and radio.

Her books explaining
the wonders of space to children

became best sellers.

And she was even awarded
an MBE by the Queen in 2009.

So, back in 2009 I got a letter
from Buckingham Palace

and it said that
I'd been nominated for an MBE,

a Member of the Order of the British Empire,

and to actually be awarded the MBE
I got an invite to go to Buckingham Palace

and actually meet the Queen.

And so I went up and I sort of,
I got a bit excited

and, because you're meant to curtsey,

but I curtsied and bowed

because I just wanted to cover all bases,

and then the Queen said:
"So what do you do,"

and I was so excited I said:
"I'm a space scientist!" ,

and the Queen said, "Oh."

So I did actually manage to shock the queen.

I think because I got the MBE
for services to science and education,

I think she assumed I was a teacher.

And it was one of the most
surreal moments of my life,

because still, inside me
there's still that little girl, you know,

sort of Maggie, sitting at the
back of the class, you know,

with the safety scissors and the glue

because everybody thinks I'm a bit dumb,

and there was you know, little Maggie
standing in front of the Queen of England,

and so it was just a magical moment,

NASA hopes that the James Webb telescope
will operate for as long as 10 years.

And with its unique observation post nearly
a million miles away from planet earth,

it is hoped that as more images are released,

we may discover things
that will change humanity.

As there is endless potential

of how studying space can help us solve
some of the problems on Earth.

I think one of things
that people may find surprising

is that as a space scientist,

much of my work hasn't been
looking out there deep into space,

but it's been looking down
here on planet earth.

Space gives us a very unique
perspective on our planet.

Some of the projects I've worked on
have helped us understand

how wind is changing at different altitudes,

how, with Earth observation we can see
how sort of lakes are drying up,

how the ice caps are melting,

but it also gives us another viewpoint.

Sometimes when a disaster hits,

we can go and use satellites
in disaster mode,

which means they'll take images of
maybe something like,

sort of, where Hurricane Katrina hit,

and it means with those images
we can send them out

to sort of NGOs or people across the world

so that when help and support comes,

they know how to actually
direct that support.

We also use Earth observation
in refugee camps,

working out where
the densest populations of people are

and where perhaps
you should put water fountains

and sort of supplies for those people.

So that perspective from space

really gives us a different
viewpoint of planet earth,

and it's a very important viewpoint.

And in terms of disasters
and for mitigation for climate change,

there's a lot we can do from space
and actually help people here on Earth.

Dr Aderin-Pocock remains committed to
inspiring a new generation of astronauts,

engineers, and scientists,

and sharing the wonders of space.

That by looking beyond to
distant worlds around other stars,

we will unlock the origins of
our universe and our place in it.

And her greatest hope is that countries will
share their knowledge for the greater good.

But she has one ambition
of her own yet to realise.

All my life I have dreamed of
getting out there into space,

and it's been my big crazy dream

and by having that big crazy dream it's
pushed me on to sort of overcome hurdles and

sort of like when things go wrong

I think well, you know, OK,
that's horrible, that's gone wrong,

but hey, if I'm going to get into space
I need to pick myself up and go on.

So I still dream of getting into space.

But that would be
the crowning glory of my life,

I'd love to get out in space,

just see the curvature of the Earth,

just as Yuri Gagarin did.

And one day I'd love to
travel out to the moon.

We talk about sort of
having moon bases in the future,

and building a telescope in
one of the dark craters on the moon

which never sees daylight,

so yeah, these are my crazy plans,

but I always think
it's nice to have a crazy dream.

But now one of things I'm focused on.

I want people to be more aware of space and
the potential that space has for all of us,

but one of my biggest challenges I think
is I want space to be for everyone.

I want to make sure that, you know,
all countries have a space programme,

all countries can have the benefits of space.

At the same time I think there's
an ethical question of space as well,

as we go out and we sort of talk about
sort of moon, Mars and beyond,

how are we going to do that?

Sometimes it feels as if
we've had a wild party here on Earth,

we've made a bit of a mess of the planet

and now we're looking to
go to the next place.

Let's learn the lessons here,

let's work together here

before we get out there and
make a mess of somewhere else.

"Reach for the stars!
No matter what your stars are."

Reach for the stars!
No matter what your stars are.