Marta Yebra nombrada directora del «ANU-Optus Bushfire Research Centre of Excellence»


Nuestra socia Dr. Marta Yebra (Australian National University, ANU), ha sido nombrada directora del «ANU-Optus Bushfire Research Centre of Excellence«.  

Dr Marta Yebra usa satélites para ayudar a predecir y sofocar incendios. Crédito: Jamie Kidston.

El ANU-Optus Bushfire Research Centre of Excellence realizará investigación avanzada y desarrollará soluciones tecnológicas de alta precisión para identificar y extinguir incendios forestales poco despues de su ignicion para evitar impactos catastróficos. Este ambicioso programa durará hasta 2024, con expertos tanto de Optus como de ANU trabajando juntos para desarrollar un sistema de detección de incendios integrando medios autónomos tanto terrestres como aéreos y satelitales.

Para 2022, el programa propone lanzar una constelación de satélites, gestionada por ANU, para complementar el sistema de detección de incendios. Para el 2024 el programa incluira un satélite estacionario que ayudara a identificar y monitorizar los incendios, además de desarrollar technologies de extincion.

Se estima que el coste que Australia podría pagar en incendios forestales alcance los 30 mil millones de dólares ($30 billion en inglés) en las próximas 3 décadas. La ANU realizo un modelizado economic que estimo que Australia puede ahorrar 8200 millones de dólares ($8.2 billion en inglés) en los próximos 30 años si invierte en detección temprana de incendios.

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Angel.Lopez-Sanchez

Acerca de Angel.Lopez-Sanchez

Dr Ángel R. López-Sánchez is an astrophysicist and science communicator working at the Australian Astronomical Optics (AAO) and the Department of Physics and Astronomy of the Macquarie University (MQ) in Sydney (NSW, Australia). His research is focused in the analysis of star formation phenomena in galaxies of the Local Universe, especially in dwarf starbursts and spiral galaxies, using multi-wavelength (UV, optical, IR, radio) data. He presented his PhD Thesis at University of La Laguna and the Instituto Astrofisica de Canarias (Spain) in 2006. In 2007 he joined CSIRO Astronomy & Space Science (Sydney) with a postdoctoral position. He then joined the AAO (formerly the Australian Astronomical Observatory) and MQ in 2011. In July 2018 he was appointed as Senior Lecturer at AAO-MQ. He has been providing instrument and observing support at the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT, Siding Spring Observatory, NSW) since 2011, being the instrument scientist of several instruments: the multi-fiber spectrograph 2dF+AAOmega and the near-infrared imager and spectrograph IRIS2. He also has large experience with integral-field spectroscopy (IFS), being a very active member of the SAMI collaboration at the AAT and part of the HECTOR Science Team. He currently is the Instrument Scientist of KOALA+AAOmega at the AAT, and leads the international astronomy survey "HI KOALA IFS Dwarf and irregular galaxy Survey" (Hi-KIDS), that is getting unique, high-quality IFS data of a sample of 100 nearby dwarf and irregular galaxies for which 21cm H I interferometric data is available He has large experience teaching undergraduate and PhD students and giving lectures and classes about Astronomy. Dr. López-Sánchez is passionate science communicator who continuously gives talks and public lectures, writes popular science articles and organizes science communication events and stargazing activities. He is very active in social media, his Twitter feed is @El_Lobo_Rayado.