Saturday, 30 September 2008
09:00 – 10:00: Dr. Lewis Dartnell; Astrobiology
10:00 – 10:30: Dr. Douglas O’Handley
10:30 – 11:30: Project group work
11:30 – 12:00: Bernard Foing; ESA
12:00 – 13:00: Projects group work
13:00 – 14:00: Lunch
14:30 – 15:15: Dennis Stone; Hitchhikers Guide to Commercial Space
15:15 – 18:00: Project group work
19:00 – Late: SGC Closing Dinner
William Gerstenmeir; NASA
Robert Richards; Co-Founder of SEDS, Space Generation, ISU, and Odyssey Moon
"From Dreams to Reality"
The final day of SGC 2008 was packed. It started with yet another Scottish breakfast, then reassembly of the delegates at the congress venue. The first speaker was delegate Kathleen Coderre, giving an overview of Lockheed Martin Corporation, and the NASA plan to return to the Moon.
The first guest speaker was Lewis Dartnell of the Centre for Mathematics & Physics in the
Life Sciences and Experimental Biology in London, speaking on astrobiology.
LEWIS DARTNELL
"Looking for Life in Outer Space"
Is there life in outer space? How can human beings detect life signs on other planets? Those are only some of the millions of questions that astrobiologists ask everyday at their jobs. Lewis Dartnell, a young astrobiologist from the UK, talked about the challenges of that field, during his seminar to the SGC delegates.
Dartnell got his degree in Biological Sciences at Queen’s College in Oxford University. He has just finished a MRes-Phd programme at the Centre for Mathematics and Physics in the Life Sciences and Experimental Biology (CoMPLEX) at University College London. He is also a science writer and author of a book titled “Life in the Universe: A Beginner's Guide,” among other professional achievements.
During his PhD research, one of the topics he studied was the possibility of microbial life facing the cosmic radiation in the environment of Mars, which the media has called “Martian Death Rays.” He found that that phenomenon would be a big problem for life in the atmosphere of Mars.
The young scientist also commented during his presentation that astrobiology gets much notice in the media. “It is very easy to ‘sell’ these topics to people… There is fascination to know where humans come from,” he said.
Astrobiology is a multidisciplinary field. Some of its goals are, “to understand the origin, evolution, distribution and future of life in the Universe,” he said.
What is life is in the first place? In order to answer that question, he showed a video about life biodiversity produced by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He described the shape of a cell and DNA, and also explained that terrestrial life has different “ingredients,” like RNA, DNA, lipids, and organic precursors.
He pointed out that it is necessary to look for those ingredients, for example using the infrared spectrum as a research tool, to find a “bio-signature” of life in the Universe.
Another way to study different ways of life is to observe “extremophiles” on Earth. Those organisms, like thermophiles and acidophiles, manage to live in extreme environments, like volcanoes.
Dartnell also invited the audience on a “tour” around the Solar System. He showed the main differences between the Earth and Saturn, Galilean satellites, Mars, and Titan. The red planet, for example, is colder, has less gravity, no volcanic activity, and has no magnetic shield to protect it from radiation.
Alien solar systems are also seen as opportunities to find life. Some extrasolar planets like HD 28185 and Gliese 581c are promising places, he said.
Another question is what an alien would look like. According to Dartnell, it is more probable that extraterrestrial life wouldn’t look like Mr. Spock, Chewbacca, E.T. or the aliens from Simpsons TV show. It could be similar to a plant, or a animal, or even bacteria, but nobody really knows right now.
“That’s all, folks!”, concluded Dartnell at the end of his presentation, leaving the audience with lots of questions to contemplate.
Dartnell’s talk led right into one from Douglas O’Handley, a retired professional with varied experience across science and management.
DOUGLAS O’HANDLEY
“Management is a good opportunity to broaden a career”
Douglas O’Handley has worked on several of NASA´s missions, including the Mariner missions, on both the scientific area and also on the management sector. He said that nowadays, it’s frequent that when people get their PhD, they have a chance to get an MBA to learn how to manage people. However, the generally, according to a survey, scientists are not really good at management.
He compared current technologies to the ones that existed many years ago when he got his PhD. Now one can process information much faster, even using laptops, he said, and added that deciding which computers are used at laboratories is not really science but a matter of management.
Besides that, O’Handley said that working on management is a good opportunity to broaden one’s career. He said that is important to take advantage of opportunities, take also risks, and have one’s own “five year plan”.
In the race to accomplish goals, an important question is to stop to think: “What do I want to do now?” When he was younger, he had not thought to work on robotics and medicine in the future. He didn’t know what was going to be his next step in his career, but he started working on those fields, though he hadn’t had prior experience.
He said that it is important to have a “five year plan,” but if a new opportunity appears, it is a good idea to evaluate if it is OK to go on in the same line, or if it is better to change it. “Believe or not, I am not a biologist, but I am member of the Medicine Society of Space Exploration,” he said.
In the end of his presentation, he answered several questions from the young people who were listening to him. For example, he told the public that when he was a child, he saw the arrival of the human beings to the Moon. He smiled when he remembered that his brother told his neighbors that it was possible to see light on the Moon. And everybody went to the garden to see if it was true!
The expert added that he has never gone to work without desire to learn. He also commented to the audience his opinions about the plans of going back to the Moon. In reference to that goal, he concluded: “My prediction is that there will be international collaboration.”
After a brief break, the next special guest, Bernard Foing, the Chief Scientist of ESA's Research and Scientific Support Department, spoke to the delegates.
BERNARD FOING
"International collaboration and a myriad of space projects"
The Cassini-Huygens spacecraft, and the Hubble and the James Webb telescopes are only some of the exciting projects that Bernard Foing, from the European Space Agency (ESA), mentioned in the beginning of his speech during the Space Generation Congress 2008.
International collaboration, for example between ESA, NASA and its Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the Japanese space agency, JAXA, is really crucial to achieve big goals, said Foing. He is Chief Scientist of ESA's Research and Scientific Support Department and participated in the SMART-1 mission as Project Scientist.
There are many questions that scientists and engineers are looking forward to answering in space exploration. With the lunar mission SMART-1, one of the goals was to understand more about what shapes rocky planets, he said.
ESA is working on different missions now. Mars Express was launched in 2003, and ExoMars, within the Aurora program, will be launched in 2013. There are many other projects. Venus Express, BepiColombo (which will visit Mercury), and a Solar Orbiter are also part of the European space agency’s projects.
Mars Express mission took several instruments on board. Some of its science achievements are the direct measurement of a chemical signature of water ice at the South Pole of Mars, methane detection in its atmosphere, and 3D high resolution colour images.
LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna), an ESA/NASA mission that will be launched in 2015, will try to detect gravitational waves and measure massive black holes at the galaxy’s centre.
Foing said that ESA’s space exploration program has four main pillars: to take Europeans in space; to learn about history and fate of life in the universe; to develop sustainable life in space; and to share the adventure and benefits of space.
ESA has 17 members states and associates, which work in daily in collaboration with other space agencies on planetary missions in different fields, like in human spaceflight collaborations at the International Space Station.
How can young people get involved in these amazing missions? Foing pointed out that there are many ways to contribute in current and future missions. There are national and international opportunities to work on space exploration.
ESA has a training program for different professional areas related to space exploration, education and students programs and also invests in PhD and postdoctoral research fellowships, he said.
What is the difference in sending robotic missions or human crew trips? That was only one of the many questions that the delegates asked Foing. He answered that it is important to first test human behavior at the ISS for at least the next five years. He said that afterwards it will be possible to work on future missions to travel further on space, and in the long term travel to the Moon, Mars, and come back to Earth.
Following Foing was a lunch break at which the junior co-chair of SGAC, Ben Baseley-Walker, spoke about his work at the Secure World Foundation.
When the delegates returned to the main room, they saw a recorded address from the Chair of SGAC, Alex Karl, who regretfully couldn’t attend SGC. His words acknowledged the delegates for their hard work in getting to SGC, and praised them for already taking parts in the future of the world’s space activity.
Next, Dennis Stone, Assistant Manager for Commercial Space Development, Commercial Crew & Cargo Program Office at NASA, presented the Hitchhiker’s Guide to Commercial Space.
DENNIS STONE
“Commercial space will affect your future”
Dennis Stone, chairman of the World Space Week organization, gave a presentation about the scenario and challenges of “commercial space”, during the Space Generation Congress 2008, held in Glasgow, UK.
Stone said that nowadays there is a “Frontier Model”. On Earth, commercial goals dominate, but on space it is completely different: there, governments dominate. One reason that would explain that phenomenon is that space exploration is a risky investment.
“What markets need to succeed?”, he asked to the audience, and he afterwards answered: “money”. He pointed out that is it crucial to think about demand and supply.
On the side of demand, he explained that is important to think about possible customers, like communications and emerging tourism. On the side of supply, Stone pointed out that there could be an increase of communication satellites, launch service providers and space tourism companies.
There are different sources of funds, for example governments and prizes, he said. And he added that there are some areas that it is important to watch because they will grow in the future, like biotechnology research in Low Earth Orbit satellites, government commercial partnerships in lunar exploration and point to point cargo and passenger transportation.
According to Stone, as applications scale up, launch costs will come down. There is also a new scenario based on the possible joint venture of government and private funding.
Young people should get involved, learn and network in these multiple commercial fields. There are many ways to do it. “Commercial space will affect your future”, he concluded.
After Stone’s presentation, the delegates from South America read a special letter from the other representatives of the South American region who could not make it to SGC in person. This led right into a presentation from Martín Canales, SGAC Regional Coordinator for South America and National Point of Contact for Peru. Canales spoke on his work with German Space Agency (DLR) and the European Space Agency.
After a review of his work, Ana Alexandra Pérez showed a preview of an inspiration space video she and the South American group had been editing.
Then it was time for the last few hours of group project time. Each group was asked to prepare a short review of their work for the end of the day, and an even shorter one to present at the closing dinner that evening. Most also recorded a short video for the webservice 12seconds to be immediately posted online.
After these last formal group hours, the delegates came together one last time in the main room to share with each other the work that they’d accomplished over the weekend. Following that, manager Kevin Stube closed the working sessions, thanking delegates and staff for their dedication. In turn, assistant manager and group lead Sanjoy Som lead the delegates in appreciation of Stube’s constant work over the last year to make the event a success.
This was not the end of SGC 2008 work, however. Many delegates continued to work through the weekend and next week to prepare work for presentation at IAC 2008. Please see the listing of all SGC-related papers, presentations, and posters at IAC 2008 for more on the scope of work completed by SGC delegates.
After some freshening up back at purplehotel, the delegates made their way downstairs for a group picture and the closing dinner event. They were welcomed by a formal kilt-clad Stube, showing his own family heritage. The evening opened with an amazing video showing the extent a Space Generation project can go, featuring the 8100-person Yuri’s Night Bay Area event at NASA Ames Research Center on Current TV.
Stube then introduced William Gerstenmaier, NASA’s Associate Adminstrator for Space Operations, for an inspirational closing keynote about personal international relations and an inspiring story about seeing a father in Kazakhstan racing across the plains in a truck with his twelve year old daughter to let her witness a Soyuz return.
On that note, the delegates went through an ample buffet line with something for everyone, whether a meat lasagna, vegetarian pasta, or their first taste of haggis, with neeps and tatties, a truly cultural Scottish dinner fare. The food was accompanied by decorative bottles of fruit cordials on each banquet table.
After a bit of socializing with each other and visitors, each project group was invited to give a short overview of their work to the assembled. The Case for Human Exploration group debuted a video they’d produced during the congress with
Awards from sponsors which had allowed several delegates to attend were then presented by Stube and by A.C. Charania for the Move an Asteroid 2008 competition winners. These meritorious individuals included:
Peter Diamandis Outstanding Young Leader Award - Laura Garcia Oviedo
Amalio Monzon – James and Lin Burke Outstanding Delegate Award
Ghanim Alotaibi - NASA Astrobiology Institute Travel Grant
Daniela Petrova - NASA Astrobiology Institute Travel Grant
Anita Perez – International Lunar Observatory Association Travel Grant
Nicole Jordan – The Planetary Society Travel Grant
Alexandra Ruths – DLR Travel Grant
Oliver Troll – DLR Travel Grant
A special interlude was made for dessert. Event organizers happened to be informed that the closing dinner coincide with the birthday of the next speaker, Robert Richards, and the following day was Gerstenmaier’s birthday. Everyone filed out for a surprise serenade for the two of them, and they blew out a modest one candle each on chocolate and fruit cakes.
As everyone finished dessert, Richards took the floor for a “from Dreams to Reality,” the story of the founding of SEDS, Space Generation, International Space University, and more from himself and friends Peter Diamandis and Todd Hawley.
Besides the noted speakers, other special guests to the closing included Stacey Edgington from the Space Operations Mission Directorate at NASA and her husband; Ray Williamson from the Secure World Foundation and his wife; Rocio Caparros from Spain and Thomas Bouvet from France of the IAF Secretariat; Dennis Stone of NASA and World Space Week; Louis Friedman, Founder and Executive Director of the Planetary Society; Bill Nye, Vice-President of the Planetary Society; and Ambasador Choi, Mayor Park, and Mr. Sung, members of the IAC 2009 Daejong organising committee from the Republic of Korea.
After his closing words, Stube was thanked by SGAC and given a special presentation from Charania, the only delegate to have attended all previous years of SGC. Charania presented special gifts for Stube’s last two years of commitment and perseverance, and for growing the reputation of SGC and SGAC in the space community and as a member of the IAF. After a final round of applause for all, delegates broke into small, sometimes tearful, groups for photographs and good-byes.
And thus experience of SGC 2008 closed. New international friendships had been forged, intense working sessions had been supported, and projects had been pushed to new heights, as 40 delegates from every region of SGAC came to reveal their past, represent their present, and explore their future together.
[***]Thank you to Laura Garcia Oviedo, journalist and National Point of Contact of Argentina, for the speaker summary stories!
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Lodging: purplehotel
http://www.purplehotels.co.uk/glasgow/index.htm
Event venue: The Pearce Institute
http://www.pearceinstitute.org.uk/
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