Special Events
David Elder Lecture - Dr Jinglang Feng
Asteroids: from scientific exploration to planetary defence
Dr. Jinglang Feng, University of Strathclyde
Earlier this year, global attention turned to asteroid 2024 YR4, initially believed to have a slight chance of hitting Earth in 2032. This prompted a worldwide effort to assess the threat and reinforced the importance of international collaboration in planetary defence. Although further analysis confirmed the asteroid poses no danger, the event highlights key questions: How does the world track and respond to such threats?
What role does the UK play in these efforts? And beyond planetary protection, could asteroids also present opportunities for scientific exploration, technology progression and economic benefits?
This lecture will address these questions in detail with the UK and global approach, including international organisations and their responsibilities, the past, current and future space missions.
About the Speaker
Jinglang Feng is a senior lecturer (Associate Professor) at the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering of University of Strathclyde, where she performs research about orbital dynamics and uncertainty analysis with applications to asteroid deflection for planetary defence. She has been also working on autonomous navigation, intelligent space robotic arm control and AI-based sensor fusion for active debris removal (ADR), in-orbit servicing, assembly and manufacturing (ISAM), to address the challenges of space sustainability.
She is a member of the Astrodynamics Committee of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF).
About the David Elder Lectures
Glasgow Science Centre is proud to host the David Elder Lectures in partnership with the University of Strathclyde's Department of Physics. This lecture is open to adults and interested young adults. Please ensure you arrive at least 10 minutes before the event begins. After the start the doors will be closed and access will not be permitted.
When is this on?
| Wednesday 26th November | 19:00 |
This event is available as a standalone event. The tickets can be purchased below
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