Students eye high-tech plan for Nasa launch watch party

As Nasa prepares to launch its first crewed mission around the Moon in more than 50 years, a group of students have their own stellar plan to track the Artemis II mission from Armagh.

The PhD students are based at the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium and so their watch party is a little different as it will involve state-of-the-art telescopes.

Andrew Marshall-Lee said he could not stress enough how exciting the launch will be.

The launch comes as the planetarium unveiled plans for the UK and Ireland's first wraparound and completely immersive LED dome theatre.

Marshall-Lee told BBC News NI that when he was growing up, he "read all the little books, showing pictures of men on the Moon".

"The potential is I am going to see that with my own eyes - that's really cool," he said.

"We have a bit of a plan, all of the other PhD students, my mates, we are going to be coming and watching the launch here, in the observatory.

"We have these telescope facilities and will be able to track the spaceship as it heads towards the Moon."

Marshall-Lee's role at the planetarium is observing "how asteroids zip about the place, studying how they interact with each other and how they come towards the earth".

This is crucial for space agencies that wish to send astronauts to the Moon.

Marshall-Lee explained that the Moon "was constantly being peppered by meteorites, about the size of a golf ball.

"If we are going to put people and facilities on the Moon, we need to know how frequent they are, how serious they are as a concern, we can map out where they are more likely going to hit and how much protection is needed."

Kerem Osman Çubuk is also "super excited".

"We are going back to the moon, and this is incredible," he said.

"We went to the moon more than 50 years ago and now we are going back. So far 12 people have walked on the Moon and we will see this happening again in the next couple of years."

He described themission as one of "firsts".

"We have the first female onboard, who will go to the Moon for the first time , the very first person of colour among the crew as well," he added.

"But this is just a start - we will keep launching Artemis missions every year from now on."

Michael Burton is the director of the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, one of the oldest scientific institutions in Ireland and the UK. It houses the oldest telescope in the world still in its original setting.

Burton told BBC News NI that the multimillion-pound transformation of the planetarium would help explain to the public how they use science "to understand the challenges that humanity faces in the 21st Century".

"It's a rejuvenation of the city of Armagh," he said. "We will be opening a centre for the public communication of science."

Burton said the technology used in the new LED dome was the same used by The Sphere in Las Vegas.

"The next two years we will have an architect team in place and they have begun the planning phase," he said.

Plans will see the current planetarium rebuilt in a different location - officials say it will allow for a complete reimagining of the entrance, expanded car-parking facilities and establish an even closer physical link with the centuries-old observatory.

The initial design phase will be supported by the Department for Communities and the National Lottery Heritage Fund.