Biography

Mars Buttfield-Addison is a technologist currently working towards her PhD at the University of Tasmania. Her project—a collaboration with CSIRO Data61 and S&A—looks at adaptation of non-traditional hardware to track satellites and space debris. Alongside this, Mars works with universities and companies around Australia and beyond, to develop specialised software for space-related instrumentation—software that is used across astronomy, space weather modelling, asteroid and space debris tracking, and more.

Prior to her space work, Mars came from a background in more traditional computer science—working in areas of software development, data science and machine learning, and high-performance computing. She continues to share her love of tech through her diverse freelance and volunteer work: writing machine learning textbooks, speaking at developer events, teaching AI and data science at university and as a private tutor, developing apps and interactive educational materials for STEM, and contributing to Open Source software and standards.

An avid communicator of science, Mars has been named one of Science & Technology Australia’s Superstars of STEM 2023-24.

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