Pallavi Bekal

PhD student in the “Space Interferometry” group

Individual in a blue coat and yellow scarf stands on a bridge; city skyline visible across the river.

What is your current position at our institute?

I’m currently a PhD student in the “Space Interferometry” group at the AEI in Hannover.

What is your academic education?

Bachelor's in Engineering (B.E.) in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Nitte Meenakshi Institute of Technology, Bangalore, India
Master of Science (M.Sc.) in Space Science and Technology from the University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany

How and when did you choose to do physics?

I watched many Physics lecture videos on MIT OpenCourseWare when I was in high school. These lectures were more exciting than my school classes and inspired me to pursue physics.

What would you recommend to a young woman wanting to start a career in physics?

If you find physics even remotely interesting, go for it! Don't listen to anyone who says you cannot do it. You will never know unless you try!

What is your vision for women and girls in science in 20 years?

My vision is to see more women in leadership positions across all STEM organisations and institutes.

What measures that target women and girls in science would you care about?

At the school level, there should be more programs to encourage girls to get involved in science. These programs should inspire them with stories of great female scientists and with fun experiments. They should be taught to convert curiosity into experimentation through the scientific method.

Can you please describe your research?

I analyse data from instruments on board Earth gravity-mapping satellite missions like GRACE-FO. The Laser Ranging Interferometer (LRI) is one of the instruments on board that measures the Earth's gravity field by measuring the distance between the two spacecraft that form the GRACE-FO constellation. These distance changes are caused by the varying mass of the Earth around the globe and also changes in mass over time.

I also work on the instrumentation of a future LRI-like instrument for the Next Generation Gravity Mission (NGGM). Both these missions are vital for climate change research.

Do you have a favorite figure from a paper you (co)authored?

Global map illustrating magnetic field strength in microtesla, with color gradients from blue to red, and individual points with white diamond-shaped markers. — From “Disturbances from single event upsets in the GRACE follow-on laser ranging interferometer”, Advances in Space Research, Volume 73, Issue 6 (2024)

Advances in Space Research, Volume 73, Issue 6 (2024)

From “Disturbances from single event upsets in the GRACE follow-on laser ranging interferometer”, Advances in Space Research, Volume 73, Issue 6 (2024)

Advances in Space Research, Volume 73, Issue 6 (2024)

In my master's, I worked on detecting single event upsets (SEUs) caused by charged particles impinging on the electronics of the Laser Ranging Interferometer (LRI). This map shows the location of GRACE-FO at the time of each detected event. The colour depicts the Earth's magnetic field. The well-known South Atlantic Anomaly, where the magnetic field is low and the concentration of charged particles is high, shows the highest number of events as expected.

It is very pleasing to see that, through analysis of LRI data, any minor disturbance can be correctly characterised and understood, thereby revealing more about this technology demonstrator instrument.

Why did you choose the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics for your research?

The Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics is at the cutting edge of research on gravitational wave detection, both on the ground and in space. This research is then used for Earth observation, enabling gravity recovery to promote new climate change research. There is a lot of freedom to pursue new avenues of investigation and to collaborate across groups, to enhance the institute's scientific output.