UCT R&I Highlights 2020-21 High res - Flipbook - Page 22
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UCT PARTNERS WITH NASA
FOR FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND
BIODIVERSITY SURVEY
BioSCape will see scientists from the United States and South
Africa collaborating to map marine, freshwater and terrestrial
species and ecosystems.
Dr Jasper Slingsby, a senior lecturer in Plant
Ecology and Global Change Biology at UCT,
is part of the project team coordinating the
roll-out starting in 2023.
“The campaign involves NASA coming
here with two of their planes and the latest
and greatest in sensor technology to capture
hyperspectral images of key focal areas within
the region,” he said.
Apart from collecting ultraviolet, visual and
thermal imagery, the height and structure of
vegetation will also be measured using light
distance and ranging (LiDAR) technology.
Satellites will gather additional data, while
teams on the ground make observations at
locations of particular interest, logging any
plants and animals they detect.
Using these data, the team will map the
region’s biodiversity, providing estimates of
the distribution and abundance of species, and
of the boundaries of ecosystems. Ultimately,
the campaign will help scientists understand
the structure, function and composition of
ecosystems in the study area.
The project has implications that go beyond
science, said Slingsby. “NASA is a household
name that conjures images of rockets and
walking on the moon, yet they want to come
to the Cape. When most people think of
botany or zoology, they don’t imagine you
could end up working with NASA, but there
you are!”
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MONITORING
VEGETATION
WITH SIMULATED
SATELLITES
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NEW GALAXIES
IDENTITFIED
Dissertation shows
role replicated
satellites can play
A team of scientists including
in reaching South
UCT have identified 20 new
Africa’s vegetation
galaxies using the MeerKAT
monitoring goals.
telescope.
The work, carried out by UCT SpaceLab
master’s student Brendon Maongera,
focused on building a simulated satellite
camera and assessing and monitoring its
effectiveness using a testbench – a special
station developed to test a mechanism
using software and hardware tools.
The goal was to identify the benefits of using
a replicated satellite for capacity building, and
to showcase how it can benefit vegetation
monitoring in South Africa.
The project will add to the advantages of
using space applications in ways that have
“never been thought of before”, to help
solve some of the continent’s challenges,
said Maongera.
It also offers students the opportunity
to learn special skills such as spacecraft
modelling and satellite operations, and teaches
them how to use satellite software currently
being employed in the space industry.
“This will help us with new research on
space that is likely to benefit our country, our
continent and the world,” Maongera said.
A team of scientists representing three
South African universities, including
UCT, were pleasantly surprised when
their usual studies of the sky revealed a
rather unusual find: 20 new, previously
unidentified galaxies.
The serendipitous revelation was
detected by members of the MeerKAT
International GHz Tiered Extragalactic
Exploration (MIGHTEE) project team.
The team of scientists study the
demographics, evolution and conditions of
galaxies in a variety of environments.
Their recent, ultra-cool discovery was
made possible by the ingenuity of the
MeerKAT telescope – the South African
precursor telescope to the Square
Kilometre Array (SKA).
“The discovery cements the leading role
that UCT plays in many MeerKAT projects,
which provide a rich environment for
discoveries and research excellence to
thrive,” said the project’s Dr Bradley Frank,
from the Department of Astronomy.
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