THE President of the Council of Majorca, Maria Antonia Munar yesterday had the opportunity to met two scientists from the Huyguens-Cassini space mission, John Zarnecki and Simon Green.
The two scientists are in Majorca to give astrophysics lessons at the Majorcan Astronomic Observatory (OAM), as part of the British Open University Course.
Zarnecki and Green are working on the Huyguens-Cassini space mission, which focuses on a satellite that was launched in July 2004 to spend four years orbiting around the ringed planet to collect detailed information on Saturn, its rings and 34 known moons.
This information will aid scientists in discovering more about this complex part of the solar system. We do currently know that the chemistry of the Titan moon is very similar to the origins of Earth, said Green, who added that this space mission was not an expensive luxury, as the cost of it only represents 1.5 euros per European Union resident per year for the next 50 years.
John Zarnecki is a specialist in developing space instruments that are used to study the properties of the planets and satellites.
In addition, he has carried out studies on the impact of hyperspeeds on the survival of bacteria.
Simon Green has been studying smaller parts of the solar system (comets and asteroids) through land and space observation projects. He is also responsible for carrying out laboratory experiments and developing theoretical models.
During March and April students from the UK came to Majorca for one week periods to take part in the astrophysics classes.
The Majorcan Astronomic Observatory is the only one in Europe to hold these astrophysics courses, said Professor Green. Furthermore, he said that the Majorca Astronomic Observatory should not limit its courses, but should look into offering projects on scientific investigation, and also look into receiving support from other European observatories.
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