Star
Hacking : Finding the Next Earth and getting there
Hakeem Oluseyi (Florida Inst of Technology and NASA)
Abstract: In modern times, the word hack has come to
mean
repurposing
something in new or creative ways in order to gain benefit or
cleverly
solve
a tricky problem. It is now common in astrophysics to hack
stars in order
to
further human understanding of the universe or invent new
technologies.
We
can use stars to discover new planets, to address the
structure
and
evolution of the Galaxy, or even to develop new technologies.
In this
talk,
I will describe my recent work "star hacking". Two main
projects are
being
undertaken. The first is a collaboration with the Transiting
Exoplanet
Survey Satellite (TESS) science team to discover new
Earth-like
planets
around nearby stars. TESS will also observe and discover a
large number
of
variable stars, which may be used to elucidate Galactic
structure
and
evolution. I will also describe a novel magnetic reconnection
based,
ion
drive in-space propulsion technology that my group has
invented, which
was
inspired by plasma acceleration at the Sun's
surface.