His talk will also cover the search for life on other planets
Saku Tsuneta will explain how solar activity influences Earth’s climate at a lecture in the BBVA Foundation
· Tsuneta is Vice President of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). In his talk, he will analyze whether solar activity affects Earth’s climate, and present data suggesting that our Sun might be headed for a prolonged period of weak activity
· He will also discuss the current cycle of solar activity, focusing on the need to improve the forecasting accuracy of space meteorology so we can prepare ourselves for solar storms
· The lecture series Science of the Cosmos. Science in the Cosmos in the BBVA Foundation has welcomed world authorities in the most active areas of astrophysics, from the study of the origins of the Universe to the search for life on other planets by way of ultra-exotic, high-energy phenomena such as black holes or gamma ray bursts. Videos of the lectures can be viewed in full on www.fbbva.es
Madrid, September 1, 2016.- Saku Tsuneta, Vice President of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), believes it is not yet feasible to travel to planets orbiting other stars, not even to the newly discovered planet circling our nearest star, Proxima Centauri, just 4.2 light years away. Conversely he is upbeat on our chances of achieving slightly less ambitious goals, like setting up mining operations on the moon and asteroids or “terraforming” Mars. “The 21st century should be the time when mankind gets its first comprehensive picture of the origins of the Universe and life,” he affirms.
Tsuneta, who is also Director General at JAXA’s Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), will visit Madrid on September 5 as the latest speaker in the BBVA Foundation’s astrophysics and cosmology lecture series Science of the Cosmos. Science in the Cosmos. As well as explaining how solar activity influences the Earth’s climate, he will offer data indicating that the Sun may be headed for a prolonged period of weak activity. On the subject of solar storms, he will discuss the threat they pose for civilization, while stressing the need to improve the forecasting accuracy of space meteorology.
Solar flares and other phenomena related to the Sun’s magnetic field can cause major damage to satellites, expose orbiting astronauts to harmful radiation and even trigger large-scale power cuts on Earth. Space agencies provide a “space meteorology” service that helps satellite operators and their own teams to prepare for solar storms, drawing on observations from space telescopes monitoring the central star.
Tsuneta will focus especially on the results of one such mission, Hinode (“sunrise” in Japanese), launched by JAXA with the collaboration of the European Space Agency (ESA) and other organizations, which has obtained some of the most precise images ever of the magnetic processes unfolding on the Sun’s surface. Among Hinode’s goals is to improve prediction quality with regard to solar storms.
As Tsuneta remarks, “the Sun is an essential and fascinating source of energy, partly driven by intense magnetic fields whose origin is not well understood. Nevertheless, being able to predict solar activity is of great importance for our technological society.”
An anomalous solar cycle
The lecture will feature spectacular videos of the Sun’s surface taken from Hinode. The observation satellite has made discoveries that elucidate how and why solar activity fluctuates periodically, registering a minimum every eleven years or so.
The Sun is currently into Solar Cycle 24 – a numbering that starts from the mid-18th century when solar activity was first measured. And its progress is proving far from typical. The solar minimum began officially in 2008 but continued for two more years, while the maximum was double, with twin peaks in 2011 and 2013. We are now approaching the next low point. Tsuneta will discuss how the irregular course of Cycle 24, and the upcoming minimum, may affect Earth’s climate, judging from earlier events in the planet’s history.
He will also talk about one of the Hinode mission’s most striking findings in connection with the reversal of the Sun’s magnetic field that occurs in each cycle. The Japanese satellite, he relates, discovered that the Sun, for a time, has as many as four magnetic poles, because “the poles do not flip simultaneously, as was once thought. Instead the North pole changes first, giving rise to a quadrupole structure.”
Unreachable extrasolar planets
As Director General of Japan’s Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Tsuneta has a comprehensive vision of the achievements and challenges of space exploration. Regarding the latest astrophysical discoveries he remarks that “60% of the stars in the Universe harbor planets,” and that over sixty such bodies are located in the “habitable” zone – the range of distance from the central star where temperatures are compatible with the existence of liquid water, a prerequisite for the emergence and survival of life as we know it.
As Tsuneta explains, “astronomers anticipate that in a few tens of years from now, the most advanced space telescopes will detect biomarkers indicating the presence on these planets of water, ozone, carbon dioxide, methane and other essential materials for life. This discovery, when it comes, could have a fundamental and permanent impact on humanity: Where do we come from? What are we? People on this globe might even seriously consider a situation like that described in Carl Sagan’s novel Contact.”
Other predictions for 50 years on conjure the possibility of colonizing Mars, exploiting mineral resources on other planets… “Whether or not we end up mining asteroids or the moon will depend on necessities other than science,” he remarks. And “terraforming Mars may become an important topic as we learn more about the planet. Travelling to Mars is already under discussion at space agencies, but anything beyond Mars is not practical. As to travelling to planets around other stars… I do not see that as feasible.”
Closer collaboration between Japan and Europe in space exploration
The lecture, titled The Sun and Life on other Planets, will be introduced by the Director of Science at the European Space Agency (ESA), Álvaro Giménez Cañete, who also heads the ESAC center in Villaneuva de la Cañada, Madrid, headquarters for all of ESA’s scientific missions.
The European and Japanese space agencies are already working together on numerous initiatives, like Hayabusa 2, Japan’s asteroid sample return mission; Europe’s BepiColombo mission to the planet Mercury or the Japanese-led X-ray astronomy mission, ASTRO-H2. Tsuneta, a declared admirer of recent European missions like Rosetta – which successfully landed a probe on a comet one year ago – is convinced that “collaboration between ESA and JAXA will and should grow. If both agencies contribute competent people, advanced technology and money for joint projects, we can create better missions that would otherwise be impossible.”
Bio notes
Saku Tsuneta obtained his PhD in astronomy from the University of Tokyo (1983). Since April 2014, he has been Director General at the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), where he also serves as Vice President. Before joining ISAS, he was a professor at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ). His research interest is anything related to magnetic fields in the cosmos. He is particularly interested in the Sun, where intense magnetic fields are generated along with various dynamic phenomena involving magnetic energy that affect Earth. In the past 35 years, he has developed innovative space instruments for solar physics aboard satellites, sounding rockets, and balloons.
Science of the Cosmos. Science in the Cosmos, forthcoming talks
The next speakers in the series will be Mark McCaughrean (European Space Agency, ESA), who will talk about the exploration of the solar system; Reinhard Genzel (Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Germany), who has spent two decades observing the black hole at the heart of our galaxy; and Werner Hofmann (Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics, Germany), who will talk about the future Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA), part of it sited in the Canary Islands.
For more information, contact the BBVA Foundation Department of Communication and Institutional Relations (+34 91 374 5210 / ) or visit www.fbbva.es