Yair Pina: Difference between revisions
Imported from text file |
No edit summary |
||
| Line 5: | Line 5: | ||
| known_for = [[Physics]], [[UNAM]] | | known_for = [[Physics]], [[UNAM]] | ||
}} | }} | ||
'''Yair Pina''' (Yair Israel Piña López) is a Mexican physicist and space-radiation researcher from Mexico City. A student of [[Physics]] at the Faculty of Sciences of the National Autonomous University of Mexico ([[UNAM]]) and a collaborator of that university's Institute of Nuclear Sciences, he became known in 2016 when he was accepted by NASA as a student-researcher, and in 2017 when he took part in a Mars analog mission in the Utah desert. | |||
==Biography== | |||
Pina studied physics at the Faculty of Sciences of UNAM in Mexico City, working in parallel at the Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares (Institute of Nuclear Sciences) of the same university. His early research concerned dosimetry, that is, the measurement of ionizing radiation, and in particular the development of materials with thermoluminescent properties that can register radiation doses in the space environment. | |||
His first scientific paper on space dosimetry, written with Epifanio Cruz Zaragoza, was published in the ''Journal of Physics'' conference series. On the strength of that work he was accepted in October 2016, at the age of twenty, as a student-researcher associated with NASA through the International Space Education Board, and he was widely reported in the Mexican press as the youngest Mexican to hold such a position. | |||
==Work== | |||
Pina's research has centred on radiation measurement outside the Earth's surface environment: | |||
* Development and characterisation of thermoluminescent materials for space dosimetry, including studies of the thermoluminescent response associated with strontium-90 irradiation. | |||
* Radiation-measurement protocols carried aboard stratospheric balloon capsules, developed at UNAM. | |||
* Work with Samara University in Russia on a satellite component intended to measure ion densities in the ionosphere. | |||
In 2017 he was selected by The Mars Society for Crew 180, "Team LATAM I", the first Latin American crew of the Mars Desert Research Station near Hanksville, Utah. The rotation ran from late April to mid-May 2017, and Pina served as the crew's extravehicular activity (EVA) officer while carrying out his own radiation-measurement experiments. During the mission he also collaborated with Colombian crewmate Camilo Reyes on a stratospheric capsule for radiation protocols and on the analysis of atmospheric samples, work connected with the Fundación Universitaria Los Libertadores in Colombia. | |||
He has lectured on his work in Mexico, presenting his experience with NASA and The Mars Society to student audiences. | |||
==External links== | |||
* [https://unamglobal.unam.mx/global_revista/yair-pina-estandarte-de-la-investigacion-universitaria/ "Yair Piña, estandarte de la investigación universitaria", UNAM Global] | |||
* [https://www.jornada.com.mx/2017/02/15/sociedad/037n1soc "Hay que creer en los jóvenes: Yair Piña, alumno que irá a una misión de la NASA", La Jornada] | |||
[[Category:Scientist|Pina Yair]] | [[Category:Scientist|Pina Yair]] | ||
Latest revision as of 02:58, 20 July 2026
Yair Pina | |
|---|---|
| Residence | Coyoacan, Mexico City, Mexico |
| Known for | Physics, UNAM |
Yair Pina (Yair Israel Piña López) is a Mexican physicist and space-radiation researcher from Mexico City. A student of Physics at the Faculty of Sciences of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and a collaborator of that university's Institute of Nuclear Sciences, he became known in 2016 when he was accepted by NASA as a student-researcher, and in 2017 when he took part in a Mars analog mission in the Utah desert.
Biography
Pina studied physics at the Faculty of Sciences of UNAM in Mexico City, working in parallel at the Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares (Institute of Nuclear Sciences) of the same university. His early research concerned dosimetry, that is, the measurement of ionizing radiation, and in particular the development of materials with thermoluminescent properties that can register radiation doses in the space environment.
His first scientific paper on space dosimetry, written with Epifanio Cruz Zaragoza, was published in the Journal of Physics conference series. On the strength of that work he was accepted in October 2016, at the age of twenty, as a student-researcher associated with NASA through the International Space Education Board, and he was widely reported in the Mexican press as the youngest Mexican to hold such a position.
Work
Pina's research has centred on radiation measurement outside the Earth's surface environment:
- Development and characterisation of thermoluminescent materials for space dosimetry, including studies of the thermoluminescent response associated with strontium-90 irradiation.
- Radiation-measurement protocols carried aboard stratospheric balloon capsules, developed at UNAM.
- Work with Samara University in Russia on a satellite component intended to measure ion densities in the ionosphere.
In 2017 he was selected by The Mars Society for Crew 180, "Team LATAM I", the first Latin American crew of the Mars Desert Research Station near Hanksville, Utah. The rotation ran from late April to mid-May 2017, and Pina served as the crew's extravehicular activity (EVA) officer while carrying out his own radiation-measurement experiments. During the mission he also collaborated with Colombian crewmate Camilo Reyes on a stratospheric capsule for radiation protocols and on the analysis of atmospheric samples, work connected with the Fundación Universitaria Los Libertadores in Colombia.
He has lectured on his work in Mexico, presenting his experience with NASA and The Mars Society to student audiences.