Ukrainians are still contributing to the global space industry. One of them is Pavlo Kochkin, a 34-year-old Ukrainian scientist now living in Norway.
Kochkin relocated to Norway in 2014 to work on creating an ambitious $40 million project — the Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor. It is a mobile climate observatory for the International Space Station.
And to make it even cooler, the climate monitor will be delivered to the station by none else than SpaceX, the U.S. company founded by the newest space icon, Elon Musk.
SpaceX dominated headlines in early February when it successfully tested its new super-heavy reusable launch vehicle, Falcon 9. For a test flight, it carried Musk’s own car, a Tesla Roadster.
During a launch scheduled for April, the Falcon 9 will carry the climate monitoring system developed by Kochkin’s team. It will be attached to the exterior of the International Space Station.
Atmosphere-Space Monitor
A team of more than 1,000 scientists have been working since 2010 to build the Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor. Kochkin joined them in 2014.
The multinational team includes scientists from Terma Aero Space Company, Technical University of Denmark, the University of Bergen, University of Valencia, Polish Academy of Science Space Research Center, and OHB Italia.
The idea is to install a system of cameras and various detectors on the International Space Station that will observe the upper atmosphere to help scientists understand its nature. Kochkin says that the main goal is to study “how Earth is coupled to space.”
“Besides lightning, there are a few other astonishing atmospheric phenomena that lack complete understanding; their effects on the terrestrial atmosphere and near-Earth environment are far from being clear to us,” Kochkin says.
Kochkin ended up on the project thanks to his earlier studies. Back in 2010, he relocated from Ukraine to the Netherlands to do a PhD at Electrical Engineering Department in the Eindhoven University of Technology.
“During the Ph.D., we conducted two experimental campaigns on long laboratory sparks in collaboration with the University of Bergen, Norway. Later, after I was awarded my Ph.D. in 2014, I was invited to join their research team in Bergen,” Kochkin says.
Lightning studies
The main focus of Kochkin’s current research is lightning and associated atmospheric phenomena, such as terrestrial Gamma-Ray Flashes, long gamma-ray glows of thunderclouds, high-altitude discharges (sprites) and other such phenomena.
“My research can be used practically, for example, to study the interaction of lightning with aircraft, and possible climate effects,” Kochkin explains.
“In collaboration with Airbus we send airplanes right into severe thunderstorms to study lightning effects, but also the phenomenology of aircraft-initiated lightning flashes,” he says.
He has a third project: studying long laboratory sparks and basic physical principles of their evolution and development.
“They are, in some sense, small lightning discharges in a controlled laboratory environment,” Kochkin says.
Ukrainians in Norway
Kochkin, who lives in Bergen with his wife and two children, is now part of the 5,000-member Ukrainian diaspora in Norway. He says that the high quality of life in Norway has a positive impact on him, inspiring him a lot.
“Life in Norway is enjoyable,” the scientist says. “The incredibly beautiful landscapes and ocean remind me of my home, Crimea. The climate is a bit tougher though, but Bergen is among the warmest cities in the country.”
Kochkin finds the country and its people friendly and helpful to migrants like himself.
“The government provides you and your family with lots of possibilities to integrate smoothly into their society,” Kochkin says. “There are free language courses, various social and sports activities, free library access, and international school classes.”
Norway is known for its particularly high income tax — for Kochkin it is above 30 percent — but the Ukrainian says that the comfort one gets in return is worth it.
The key to adapting to a life abroad for Ukrainians is to “become open-minded and drop the post-Soviet mentality,” he says.
“Once you’ve done this, life in Norway and other European countries becomes easier,” Kochkin says.
The video simulation demonstrates how the Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor would be attached to the exterior of the International Space Station (Courtesy of ASIM)
