Finding water across the universe

Water in space​

At a university renowned around the globe for its water research, Michel Fich is boldly going where none of his campus colleagues have gone before: beyond the Earth’s moist atmosphere.

While the physics and astronomy professor will remain firmly planted on Earth, he has sent aloft a complicated instrument — a Terahertz spectrometer — to search for water molecules across the universe.

Part of the European Space Agency’s Herschel Space Observatory, launched in 2009, the Heterodyne Instrument for the Far Infrared (HIFI) allows a team of 30 Canadian astronomers to make detailed studies of water in our galaxy and beyond.

As senior manager in charge of the Canadian hardware contribution, Fich and his team developed a local oscillator source unit, essentially a radio tuner and “the heart of the HIFI,” he says.

Real rocket science

With it, the researchers may now have a chance to find answers to some of their most burning questions:

• Are Earth-like planets common?
• How did water get onto planet Earth?

Canadian researchers are guaranteed time to use the HIFI by directing where the instrument is pointed and how data is collected. Yet in addition to the scientific and commercial advantages of Herschel, Fich sees another bonus that is often overlooked.

“When we start doing real rocket science in Canada, in Waterloo, it encourages kids to think about careers in science. That’s a very real benefit to Canada.”