WHEN she isn’t mapping out distant parts of the galaxy for answers about the birth of the cosmos, she’s diving to the south coast of KwaZulu-Natal to get up close and personal with Ragged Tooth Sharks. That's all in a day's work for Tasmiya Papiah, a 24-year-old astrophysics student from the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

“Against the grain” is what best describes Papiah, as she enjoys playing on both sides of the spectrum; with academics on one end and adrenaline-inducing activities like ziplining on the other.

She said being influenced by her dad pushed her towards enjoying these daring activities, all while pursuing a career in astrophysics.

To add another skill to her CV, Papiah recently graduated from the Starlite Aviation Academy where she qualified as a drone pilot. She needed a drone licence to help complete the HIRAX telescope project.

“We are using a drone to help calibrate the HIRAX telescope. I was fortunate to have received funding for the drone course, which was given to me by the KZN Film Commission. The HIRAX telescope is actually part of my Master’s project for astrophysics,” said Papia, of Broadlands.

HIRAX stands for Hydrogen Intensity and Real-time Analysis eXperiment. It is a radio telescope array and will be used to measure emissions from hydrogen in distant parts of the galaxy to better understand the universe’s expansion history, according to Dr Anthony Walters, a research scientist from UKZN and team member.

The HIRAX telescope will enable scientists to look over 30 billion light years into the galaxy, which, effectively, is like into our past, Walters explained.

“When you look that far into the galaxy, it’s almost acting like a time machine because light travels faster here on earth given how small it is. But the galaxy is a large place and light sometimes takes longer to travel. So with this radio telescope, we are going to look at hydrogen emissions in distant parts of the galaxy. This is old information that did not make its way to earth yet. So it's like looking back at our past in many ways,” Walters said.

Hydrogen emits waves at a particular frequency, so the HIRAX will be set to 1400 hz to cut through other elements and single out the hydrogen activity to measure it and relay that information back to earth, Walters added.

When it is fully functional and installed in the Karoo, Papiah said the HIRAX telescope would be used to observe the southern sky.

HIRAX will be complimentary to CHIME (Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment) and shares much of its back-end technology.

The telescope will be installed in the Karoo to avoid the plethora or radio wave pollution which occurs in cities, giving the team a clear route to the ancient hydrogen they are trying to measure.

The project has 25 local and international collaborators.

“The drone will be used to calibrate the dishes and create beam maps. This will ultimately help us set up the 1024 satellite dishes,” Papiah said.

The Greenbury Secondary School alumni often travels to Cape Town because of the HIRAX project, as the fibre glass dishes are being made in the mother city. Every quarter, she visits her mum who works as a nurse in Saudi Arabia. Her father recently retired from his corporate job to focus on a new challenge.

Between family, academics and the HIRAX project, Papiah has little time left for herself, but always finds the time to enjoy her peculiar passions.

“I have an advanced scuba diving qualification as well, so that’s something I enjoy doing when I have the time. I am quite a bit of an adrenaline junkie but I think that comes from my father. He used to do mixed martial arts when he was younger and took us to training so that would explain the action side of me.

“My family does not want to go diving with me, so I go alone. But it's fun because I get to be up close with the raggies and dolphins. My instructors have warned me not to ever touch the sharks as much as I would love to,” she explained.

Walters said that Papiah was an inquisitive student, who was motivated and keen to learn new things, even if it meant her stepping out her spectrum of work.

“She is involved in the calibration side of the project but also helping this Swiss student we have, who is measuring the accuracy of the dishes for the radio telescope. So she is involved in many aspects of it and has been doing great,” Walters explained.

When she completes her Master’s degree, Papiah hopes to acquire a Ph.D in astrophysics.

"Our South African field is small but growing rapidly due to the astrophysics sector experiencing a boom in Cape Town. The drone course at Starlite was also really comprehensive and we learnt from the same handbook that pilots learnt from. I have made progress already in terms of theory and some practicals, so in the future, if it works out, I’d like to get my pilot's licence,” Papiah said.

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