BC/ISR Director visits the South Africa National Space Agency

Pat Doherty, Director of BC’s Institute for Scientific Research (ISR), visited the South Africa National Space Agency (SANSA) last week in Hermanus, South Africa. While there, she presented a public talk on space weather “Storms from the Sun: Space Weather & Technology.” She met with SANSA scientists and toured their facilities, including SANSA’s Space Weather Regional Warning Centre led by Lee-Ann McKinnell. Her hosts were SANSA scientists John Bosco Habarulema and Zama Katamzi-Joseph, experts in ionospheric disturbances, a key field of study for the ISR. Also visiting SANSA was Sharafat Gadimova, from the UN office of Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), who co-chaired the 2017 ISWI conference held at BC.

This week, Doherty is attending the 64^th Annual Conference of the South African Institute of Physics (SAIP) in Polokwane, SA. At the conference, she gave the Plenary Talk for the Space Science session: “Storms from the Sun: The Science of Space Weather“, describing how the Sun influences the space environment of the Earth and how those interactions impact technology and society, such as GNSS satellites and power grids. She also discussed current capabilities to forecast geo-effective solar storms and ongoing efforts to mitigate their effects.

Pictured, from left to right: John Bosco Habarulema (SANSA), Pat Doherty (BC/ISR), Sharafat Gadimova (UNOOSA), and Zama Katamzi-Joseph (SANSA). On the left is the announcement poster for the public talk at SANSA. Additional photos can be seen in the BC/ISR Photo Gallery and on the BC/ISR Instagram page.