In the final year of my PhD studies, I visited Prof. Manuel Iori’s research group at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (UniMore) for three months. During my exchange, I worked with his group and Prof. Roberto Orosei from the University of Bologna on detecting subsurface layers of ice in radargrams from Mars. This research was part of a project with the European Space Agency (ESA) and involved the space probe MARSIS which is currently in orbit around Mars to collect data samples about the Martian surface, subsurface, and atmosphere.

The aim of the project is to reliably detect subsurface layers of ice in the images generated from the radargrams taken by the Martian probe and then utilise them to optimise the future ground tracks of the probe to mainly include the areas with ice layers. There are many challenges such as noisy data, blackouts, signal disturbances caused by solar activity or the ionosphere of Mars, and the limited hardware capabilities of the probe itself. Images need to be constructed maximising signal information and decreasing noise to represent ice layers reliably for later detection models. Training a model to learn how to filter the radargrams into images and then to detect ice layers automates a process largely done manually by experts at the moment.

I really appreciated the opportunity to extend my research from constructing hyper-spectral images from distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) systems to construct (multi-spectral) images from radargrams from Mars. To be able to do research and be involved with a project with ESA that has the chance to impact space exploration has been an incredible chapter of my PhD journey. I found it very rewarding to join another research group and be part of their academic culture.

My stay in Reggio Emilia has overall been an amazing three months. Manuel’s research group is very lovely. I enjoyed my time in Italy immensely. We often went for espresso, had dinner trying out different regional dishes, and, of course, spent much time working on our respective papers/PhDs in our shared office. I have met an incredible team of researchers who have made me feel very welcome in Italy and have become an integral part of my PhD journey eventually resulting in my 4th thesis chapter.

One of the first events I attended at UniMore was Science Night when the university opened its doors to an interested audience to showcase research projects and present to high school students where STEM studies can lead you. I joined the optimisation group at our table where games and logic puzzles could be solved with optimisation techniques. While I barely spoke any Italian, it turned out to be a great introduction to the research group, UNIMORE, and Reggio Emilia.

While I lived in Reggio Emilia, I also attempted to speak Italian. I took Italian lessons twice a week, joined the group for international students in Reggio Emilia, and tried my most to speak Italian in daily life. While probably not as successful as I like to imagine it was, I at the very least managed to order food and gelato. The food, the ice cream, the vibes of the city, the history…three months seemed far too short.

This exchange was made possible by the Optimisation Technologies, Integrated Methodologies, and Applications (OPTIMA) centre and its dedicated team. I would like to thank them and especially Charlotte Hurry, Helen Allison, and Tab Sejoe for their support, good advice, and all the extra work they had to undertake to offer this exchange to us OPTIMA PhD students!