Twinkle - A Mission to Unravel the Story of Planets in Our Galaxy

Note - address changed.

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Twinkle is a small, low-cost mission that will use spectroscopy to decode the light from hundreds of extrasolar planets. Twinkle will be able to reveal, for the first time, the chemical composition, weather and history of worlds orbiting distant stars.

The Twinkle satellite will be built in the UK and launched into a low-Earth orbit within 3 to 4 years, using a platform designed by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd and instrumentation led by UCL.

Clara Sousa-Silva is a molecular astrophysicist and a science teacher as part of the Researchers in Schools initiative. Alongside her research where she searches for new habitable planets, Clara works as an advocate for getting more girls into STEM fields and improving career opportunities in science for women of all ages. 

Clara is the educational coordinator for the Twinkle Space Mission.

With the support of Goldman Sachs, Researchers in Schools and UCL, she is responsible for the mission's educational programme, EduTwinkle, which brings space exploration into schools all over the country. The programme aims to inspire girls and other under-represented groups to take up STEM subjects at A-level and Higher Education and dispel harmful stereotypes about careers in modern science. Recently, Clara started ORBYTS (Original Research By Young Twinkle Students) where secondary school students collaborate with young scientists to create publishable astrophysics research.