International award for PhD research into space debris clouds
PhD researcher Francesca Letizia has been awarded the International Amelia Earhart Fellowship by Zonta International Foundation for women in PhD/doctoral programmes in aerospace-related sciences and engineering.
Francesca, who is working under the supervision of Dr Camilla Colombo and Dr Hugh Lewis in the Astronautics Group, is modelling clouds of space debris and calculating their collision risk.
“Space debris left behind from missions poses a threat to important satellites and the International Space Station,” she explains. “We need to plot what happens to small pieces of debris which are generated by collisions and orbit the Earth in clouds.”
Francesca, who studied for her first degrees in aerospace engineering in Turin, will use the fellowship of US$10,000 on resources for her research and to take part in specialised studies and international conferences.