Reframing space exploration through discovering terrestrial, temperate planets with the Terra Hunting Experiment

Supervisors: Dr Raphaëlle Haywood (Astrophysics) & Dr Christine Lehnen (Creative Writing)

Exeter is part of the Terra Hunting Experiment, a unique astronomical survey to monitor Sun-like stars every night for 10 years in order to discover Earth-mass planets in the habitable zones of their host stars. The planets discovered through this experiment will be prime targets for NASA and ESA’s large, strategic direct-imaging missions, including the Habitable Worlds Observatory to launch in the 2040s. This PhD project will begin around the same time that we get the first Terra Hunting data. The PhD student will become a member of the Terra Hunting Science Team and contribute equally to the science exploitation of the survey and to shaping a new narrative around Earth-like planets and space exploration, which the student will feed into each other. The student will develop and apply methods including critical fabulation and creative writing; through the historicisation and contextualising of astronomical investigation, the student will inform the scientific running of Terra Hunting, and vice versa. The student will develop and apply astronomical analysis methods to detect planetary signals amid intrinsic noise emanating from stellar variability. Leveraging their unique inter-disciplinary expertise, the student will participate in activities including: scheduling observations, selecting the best targets for the survey, characterising the host stars, detecting planets, developing new media narratives and informing space exploration policies for the next decades.

Suitable candidates will have the following skills and experience:

strong, demonstrable interests in both creative practice and astrophysics
an undergraduate degree in astrophysics, creative writing, and/or related fields in physical sciences, arts and humanities
strong programming skills (in any language, ideally including Python)
a strong interest in interdisciplinary work
strong communication and inter-personal skills, with a demonstrable ability to work in an international, interdisciplinary team
a demonstrable interest and preliminary experience in writing (for example journalism, creative writing, digital storytelling)
ideally, an early track record of artistic production, and/or prior experience of scientific research in astronomy or a related field.

Accompanying image available here: https://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/SearchPhotos/photo.pl?mission=ISS042&roll=E&frame=215303

Caption:

Photo: Earth seen from the International Space Station, 30 Jan. 2015. Credit: ISS crew; NASA photo ID ISS042-E-215303.