How Astrophysics Benefits Technology and Industries?

The Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) is an observatory turned into an institute of learning for astronomy, astrophysics, and related physics. It has a huge budget to spend, and it produces great astrophysicists Harish Chandra (1923-1983) and Sandip Chakrabarti (1958).

Who is an astrophysicist?

An astrophysicist can simply be defined as a researcher whose job is to study the theoretical aspects of space or apply them to explore various occurrences in space like black holes. An astrophysicist is also a career for those that want to enter the unknown space of the universe.

Astronomy & space sciences are taught as subjects in schools and colleges. The country needs more astrophysicists to do research work in the field of space engineering.

The study of space benefits millions of people across the globe in the following ways

Industry

The camera in your phone is a charged-coupled device (CCD) that was originally developed for astronomy. CCD converts the movement of electrical charge into a digital value. Today it is widely used in cameras, webcams, and mobile phones.

FedEx tracks its packages using a language developed for a telescope. It is Forth and it was developed exclusively for the 36-foot telescope on Kitty Peak. It is a marvel of astrophysics that is now serving an industry.

AT&T, the telecom giant, uses software that was originally written for analyzing computer systems. The National Optical Astronomy Observatory developed IRAF for space engineering, and now it is serving telecom companies. AT&T alone serves millions of users.

Do you know that Kodak film was developed for physical Sciences? Its primary use was to study the sun, but it is now widely used in medicine, photography, and artwork. It is also a marvel of space engineering that is serving various industries in different ways.

Aerospace

Defense satellites guiding security forces in their battle against terrorism and securing the borders from enemies are space-based telescopes that give a bird’s eye view of the earth from thousands of miles above the earth. And it has been possible only through space research.

Today everyone uses Global Positioning System (GPS) for location tracking, but a few people know that engineering sciences like GPS rely on astronomical objects to determine the accurate position of an object on the earth. For example, take quasars and distant galaxies that can help in finding the right position of any given object on the earth.

Energy

Space engineering has the answer to clean energy. The technology gained from imaging X-rays can show the light towards clean energy solution. This technology is used to monitor fusion where two atomic nuclei are combined to form a heavier nucleus.

Medicine

There is a close similarity between astronomy and medicine. Both try to see faint objects. In astronomy, you try seeing the objects floating in space. It could be asteroids or any other grey matter. In medicine, you try seeing problems in the human body. Many questions are unanswered but space engineering can answer those questions. Science and technology in India are trying to find answers to all those questions.

Aperture synthesis is a technology that can help understand medical problems. It involves combining data gathered from multiple telescopes and preparing a single image just like one created by a telescope to accommodate all the findings. It has found its use in medicine in the form of CAT scanners and MRIs. The technology evolved for scanning space is now used for medical scanning.

Today’s advanced pharmaceutical labs are based on a technology used for making a clean environment free from dust particles for telescopes to get unobscured vision into space. It is a technology innovation in India that is helping in the functioning of hospitals and labs.

Everyday Life

When you fly by air, you take the help of science developed for astronomy. Your luggage is scanned using X-ray observatory technology and a gas chromatograph that was originally designed for the Mars mission, but it is now used for scanning luggage for explosives.

Astronomy & space sciences are bringing communities and industries together. Originally developed for the study of grey space matter, they are extensively used for industrial development and service to humanity. Also, they provide a career opportunity to those interested in space engineering and astronomy.