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Digital Planet: Robots under the Thwaites Glacier

Factual: Science & Nature

Filip-Stedt_Thwaites-CROP.jpg

11/01/2022 GMT

Robots under the Thwaites Glacier

BBC World Service - Digital Planet, Robots under the Thwaites Glacier

Robots under the Thwaites Glacier collect data on Climate Change

Robots under the Thwaites Glacier. Also, tiny light engines that could make AR glasses an everyday accessory and the tech behind the James Webb space telescope.

Huge robots, including a seven-metre two-tonne vessel named Ran, are on their way to the Thwaites Glacier to learn more about the retreating ice and its impact on Climate Change. But this won’t be the only tech that’s being deployed on the 65-day mission; British Antarctic Survey’s Boaty McBoatface and the Autosub Long Range vehicle operated by the National Oceanography Centre in the UK, will travel under the ice shelf along with Ran.  Professor Anna Wåhlin from the University of Gothenburg tells us more about her robot Ran and about the data she’ll be collecting.

Tiny light engines
We’re talking to Ed Tang, the CEO of Avegant. They’re the company behind the world’s smallest light engines for augmented reality. Developing projectors thinner than the width of a pencil means we’re on the brink of AR glasses that will barely look different from standard glasses. Alongside talking about how this technology works, Ed also spoke to us about what this means for the future of AR. 

James Webb telescope tech
Space journalist Kate Arkless-Gray is live on the show to tell us about the tech that got the James Webb Telescope into space and how vital it is that none of the tech deployed goes wrong - unlike the Hubble space telescope, repair missions to James Webb are impossible.

The programme is presented by Gareth Mitchell with expert commentary from Ghislaine Boddington.

Studio Manager: Nigel Dix
Producer: Ania Lichtarowicz


(Image: Ran navigates its way under the ice front of Thwaites Glacier. 
Photo credit: Filip Stedt)

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