ESA project to test ways of 'speeding up' technological advance
The European space agency (ESA) has launched a project to test whether technological advances can be speeded up. The Star Tiger project will bring together a small multidisciplinary team of European scientists to crack a key technological challenge in just four months. 'With Star Tiger we want to reduce dramatically the turnaround time for state-of-the-art technology developments,' said Niels Jensen, head of ESA's Technology Programme department. 'By creating a highly-motivated team of researchers and experts and letting them work together in the same labs with all that's needed for an intense period, we will get an extra synergy not known in the conventional world of R&D (research and development), and a prospective of a key scientific breakthrough in a strategically important area.' The Star Tiger team's challenge is to create a terahertz imager operating in two frequencies, 250 GHz and 300 GHz, and use it to image a human hand in as near to real time as possible. 'In this project we'll be handpicking people for their expertise and ability to work in a team - to work together to push technology to its limit,' explained Dr Chris Mann, the project manager at CLRC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in the UK, where the team will be located. Terahertz radio waves are emitted by almost all objects, including people. The imager produced by Star Tiger will provide an insight into the information embedded in these waves. Terahertz imaging is currently used in astronomy, atmospheric physics and Earth and environmental monitoring. The Star Tiger team aims to produce a small, low-power imager which could be used for planetary and micro-satellite missions. Terahertz radio waves can also be used to see through materials such as clothing to obtain the equivalent of an 'X-ray' image. It has potential applications for security and the early detection of skin cancers.