Marta Yebra appointed Director of the “ANU-Optus Bushfire Research Centre of Excellence”

 in Canberra / News / Space  tagged 2020 / ANU / Bushfires / Canberra / Satellites / Space by

Our SRAP-IEAP member, Dr. Marta Yebra (Australian National University, ANU), has been appointed as Director of the “ANU-Optus Bushfire Research Centre of Excellence“.  

Dr Marta Yebra is using satellites to help predict and manage fires. Credit: Jamie Kidston.

The ANU-Optus Bushfire Research Centre of Excellence will undertake advanced research and develop hi-tech solutions to predict, identify and extinguish blazes before they become deadly. The ambitious program will run until 2024. In the short-term, experts from Optus and ANU will work together to develop an autonomous ground-based and aerial fire detection system.

By 2022, the program proposes launching a constellation of satellites, managed by ANU, to complement the fire detection system. The program will look to be augmented by a geostationary satellite to help spot and track fires as well as deploy extinguishing technologies.

The program will investigate how to use existing and new technologies including infra-red cameras, drones, robotics and satellites. It will also harness expertise and research in space, communications, computer vision, sensing systems, defence, data analytics and bushfire science.

Bushfires are expected to cost the nation at least $30 billion over the next three decades. Recent modelling from ANU shows investment in early bushfire detection could save Australia $8.2 billion over the next 30 years.

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Angel.Lopez-Sanchez

About Angel.Lopez-Sanchez

A/Prof Ángel R. López-Sánchez is an astrophysicist and science communicator working at the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Macquarie University (MQ). He is a recognised expert in the study of how the gas is converted into stars in galaxies and how this affects galaxy evolution. He graduated in Theoretical Physics at the University of Granada (2000) and completed his PhD Thesis in Astrophysics at the prestigious “Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias” (IAC, Spain) and the University of La Laguna (Spain) in 2006. He moved to Australia in 2007, joining CSIRO “Astronomy and Space Science” to perform radio-interferometric observations of gas-rich galaxies at the Australian Telescope Compact Array. In 2011 he joined the Australian Astronomical Observatory and Macquarie University combining instrumentation support, research, lecturing, and outreach. He was appointed as a full-time research academic at the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at Macquarie University in May 2023. He is the president of the association of Spanish Researchers in Australia-Pacific (SRAP), the vice-president of the Astronomical Association of Córdoba (AAC, Spain), representative in the Andalusian Astronomy Network (RAdA), and member of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the Spanish Astronomy Society (SEA), and the Australian Astronomy Society (ASA). He is a globally-recognised science communicator, with visibility in Spanish and Australian printed, broadcast, and social media. He is also a passionate amateur astronomer that uses his own equipment for capturing the beauty of the Cosmos. His stunning astronomy time-lapse videos and photos have received +1/2 million views in YouTube and have been seen in TV channels in USA, Australia and Spain, science museums worldwide, and textbooks.