Aug. 15, 2024

#443: Mars' Mega Lake & ISS Archaeology Mysteries

#443: Mars' Mega Lake & ISS Archaeology Mysteries

Space Nuts: Mars' Ancient Lake, ISS Archaeology, and Science Fiction's Real Impact Join Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson in this captivating episode of Space Nuts, where they explore the latest discoveries and intriguing connections between...

Space Nuts: Mars' Ancient Lake, ISS Archaeology, and Science Fiction's Real Impact Join Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson in this captivating episode of Space Nuts, where they explore the latest discoveries and intriguing connections between science and science fiction.
Episode Highlights:

  • Mind-Blowing Mars Discovery: Dive into the latest findings on Mars, where scientists have identified what could be the largest ancient lake on the planet, Lake Eridania, which was three times bigger than Earth's Caspian Sea. Fred Watson Watson discusses the implications of this discovery and the potential for past microbial life.
  • - ISS Archaeology: Archaeology isn't just about digging in the dirt. Discover how researchers are using archaeological methods to study the International Space Station, revealing fascinating insights into how astronauts adapt their environment over time.
  • - Science Fiction and Real Science: Explore the symbiotic relationship between science fiction and real science. Learn how science fiction has inspired careers in science and how it educates the public about scientific possibilities and challenges.
  • Don't forget to send us your questions for our Q&A episodes via our website... spacenuts.io
  • Support Space Nuts and join us on this interstellar journey by visiting our website support page. Your contributions help us continue our mission to explore the wonders of the universe. Clear skies and boundless exploration await on Space Nuts, where we make the cosmos your backyard.
  • Visit our websites:
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WEBVTT

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Hi there, How are you going? Andrew Dunkley here, Great

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to have your company again on another edition of Space Nuts.

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Coming up on this episode, we're going to be looking

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at well, Mars. Gosh, when was the last time we

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did that? About a week ago, But a good reason

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for it, because they've made a discovery that is mind blowing.

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Lots of things on Mars are bigger than they are

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on Earth, even though it's a much smaller planet. This

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is one of those. We're also talking archaeology nowhere. When

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you talk archaeology you're thinking of people digging around in

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the dirt looking at bones. No, they're looking at dirty

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socks on the ISS, amongst other things, or maybe not

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specifically socks, but the International Space Station. Yes, and the

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link between science fiction and real science. There's a fascinating

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story that talks about that as well. All coming up

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on this edition of Space Nuts.

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Fifteen, Channel nine Ignition Space Nuts or three two.

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One Space Nurse's when I report it real good and

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here to discuss it all and talk about the shopping

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list from last week is Professor Fred Wat's, an astronomer

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at Large.

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Hello Fred, Well, there's bacon, there's corn flakes.

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The soap.

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All of the shopping list from last week, so I

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need to talk about.

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That's all processed food, even the soap.

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Yes, even the soap.

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Yeah, apparently cut do you eat as well?

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Yeah?

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I did when I was a kid. I was a

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pretty stupid kid there. But apparently it's very good for

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catching mice, is soap. I'm told, Well, there you go.

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That's interesting. Yes, I don't know how true it is.

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But when you try it, throw it at the mice,

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or you put it on the on the mouse trap,

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then okay, maybe it's the smell that it's them in

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and bang, Well that's right, it could be. Yes, I

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don't know for certain. Shall we just get started, because

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we've got a lot to get through as we should. Okay,

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let's do that. Our first story today involves the red

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planet Mars, and as I mentioned at the very beginning,

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it's a place with some of the biggest things in

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the Solar System, the biggest mountains, the deepest canyons, and

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now it looks like the largest lake. It's a really

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fascinating place for all of those reasons and more for it.

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Yes it is, and in some ways this is a

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bit surprising because we know that probably most of Mars

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is northern Hemisphere in ancient times, and by that I

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mean three to four billion years ago, probably had water

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on it. It probably had an ocean that basically covered it.

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We don't know whether that ocean lasted a long time,

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whether it was something temporary or whether it's sat there

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for hundreds of millions of years, but it definitely had

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its effect on the landscape. But this story is from

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actually it's kind of the equatorial region of Mars. In fact,

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it's actually in the southern hemisphere that we're talking about,

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so not that far south of the equator. I think

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from about minus twenty five degrees. What we have there

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is a much more highland region of Mars. That's where

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a lot of craters are, where there are a lot

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of mountains, and it's a region that you wouldn't expect

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to be home to large bodies of water. But images

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from the European Space Agency's Mars Express, which has been

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photographing Mars from above, I don't know, probably about the

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latter the best part of certainly more than ten years,

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probably more like fifteen years. Mars Express has not only

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photographed the surface of Mars, but also as it is

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obviously the planet. It's got ground surface radar, so you

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get very accurate topographical maps. And it's by studying those

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maps that scientists based at a number of institutions in

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Europe have What they've done is they've looked very carefully

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at the top topography of a region which is quite

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a large region of Mars that encompasses several regions, the

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Ariadnes Colleaise, the Gorgonum Chaos, the Newton Crater, Caralis Chaos.

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All of these are zones on Mars. Turns out though,

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that you can lump them all together and you can

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draw a contour around them, and you can also from

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that workout that that was once a shoreline, and from

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that you can establish that and it's not just the

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appearance of this. I think the chemistry actually also backs

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this up. But you can work out that there was

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a very large lake there which has a name. It

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is called Lake Ridania uh and Lake Ridania, as I said,

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three times bigger than the biggest lake on Earth, which

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is the Caspian Sea. So it's a colossal body of water,

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or it would have been when it was wet. It's

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not wet now, but the evidence is all there, and

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there's so much geological support for this idea that to

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some extent is surprising that we haven't been talking about

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it before. But yes, much is being learned about this

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region of Mars, and it may maybe maybe that it

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also involved geothermal activity, you know, when when when that

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water was there, there may well have been geothermal vents

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on the on the floor of that lake which have

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given rise to some of the interesting history of the

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minerals that we find on that region. So, yeah, really

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interesting story from a planet that is the planet that

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keeps on giving, really, isn't it? Mars?

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Yeah, so three times bigger than the Caspian Sea, which

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is the biggest inland body of water on Earth, and

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it measures three hundred and seventy one thousand square kilometers,

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So we're talking what one to one point two million

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square kilometers.

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Of water something of that sort. That's correct, you know,

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about one point once million kilometers is the estimate from

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the scientists who have done this work.

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It's you know, it is.

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When you think of a body of water like that,

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you think in terms of oceans. It's not an ocean.

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It's basically bounded by land, unlike the ocean in the

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northern hemisphere, which certainly was bounded on its southern border,

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but probably covered the polar region as well. So it is. Yes,

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it's what you could perhaps call an inland sea or

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a lake, but whatever it was, it's a lot of

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water and right, really quite extraordinary evidence for its existence.

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To the paper that we've been looking at, and there's

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a very nice summary of this Universe Today website that

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shows some of the evidence as to why we now

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believe that this lake existed.

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Yeah, it shows that it confirms I suppose previous theories

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about the abundance of water on Mars. Do we have

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any idea what kind of water it might have been?

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Has that sort of been probably wet because it's salty.

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Look, it might have had Because of the fact that we,

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you know, the scientists have really looked very closely at

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the minerals that have been deposited on the floor of

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this extinct lake, in particular chlorides around the shoreline, and

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which may be related to the you know, volcanic activity,

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the suggestion is that it would have been quite rich

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in minerals. So, yes, salty is probably a good way,

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a good way to describe it. It's there some very

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interesting chemistry. That's that I think is being studied in

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relation to this so very fine piece of work.

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It could it have existed long enough for some kind

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of microbial life to exist.

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Sixty four thousand dollars question there it is maybe it could,

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you know, maybe you could find evidence of life there.

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And I suppose the reasoning will be very similar to

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why Perseverance is in jesuro Crater at the moment, because

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that's a place where there was a definitely was a

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river Delcha Delta, which is thought to have deposited material

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brought down from a long river system, quite a long

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way actually from the region we're talking about at the moment,

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but it's a place where you expect the sediments to

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have been dropped to the floor of the crater in

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the case of jesuro Crater, and they might carry evidence

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of microbial life, as we talked about not very long ago.

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And it's possible that this lake, Lake Eridania might also

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have the same sort of properties that may be the

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sediments on its bed, which in some cases were almost

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to kill a meter below the surface. It's a deep lake,

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it's not just a shallow stretch of land, so that

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there may be evidence to be gained if somebody felt

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like sending a spacecraft there to have a look.

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Oh yeah, it sounds like it's a prime target for

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future investigations. Oh yes, yeah, and the volcanic activity went

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along with it, and may well have you know, we

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talk about volcanic activity in the depths of our ocean

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where life is abundant, so you could that kind of

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scenario have existed in this particular lake on Mars. Who knows.

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We're talking about a time frame of three to four

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billion years when this lake existed, but it took a

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long time to disappear. From what I can tell, I.

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Think that's right. And you know, that's one of the

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areas of interest in terms of research on Mars. How

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long did it take for Mars to become a dry, cold,

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and dry world rather than a warm and wet world.

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In fact, it's a question we've had from Space Not's

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listeners as well. How long did that process take? And

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it probably took quite a long time, And it may

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have occurred in episodes Andrew where you've got a wet

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period and then a dry period, and then a wet

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period and the dry period just gets up a bit

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longer than the last one was, and before we know

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where you are, you've tried the whole thing, and we'll

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never really be able to play a movie of that,

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but I'm sure the evidence will build up as to

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what kind of duration these water systems had.

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Yes, indeed, imagine if humanity had time to evolve on

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Mars and then came to the realization that their planet

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was dying. That would be a horrible thing to discover.

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Fiction story does that, The stuff does a bit.

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Yeah, Yes, it's called three body problem. Yes, that's what

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it's about. But yeah, I mean imagine if we right

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now made that discovery. We are not yet technology technologically

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capable of doing anything about it in the short term,

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and we certainly are in a position to say, all right,

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let's leave because this place is you know, not going

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to be worth hanging around.

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Well, there's some there's already one person who thinks like that,

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but the odds are that you you know, you'd have

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a very long lead time for that kind of thing,

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and just hope your technology catches up, which it probably would.

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Yes, yes, indeed, all right, as Fred said, if you

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would like to read up on that story, a great

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article on Universe today dot com. There's a space that's

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Andrew Dunkley with Professor Fred Watson Space Buds. Now Fred

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to our next story, and that is archaeology. Our archaeology

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is the study of historical artifacts to learn about the

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people and places of the past. That's a pretty loose definition.

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There's all sorts of variations in what archaeology is and

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what it's trying to achieve. But we generally think about

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people with the little brushes and spades, digging around the

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dirt looking for triceratops skulls and digging around the ruins

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of Pompeii, for example. But this is archaeology with a difference.

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This is photographic archaeology courtesy of the International Space Station

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and it's on board Cruise as they changed and did

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their work over the last two and a half decades,

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and they're coming up with some interesting stuff there.

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Indeed, actually one of the authors of this work is

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an Australian colleague, actually somebody I know not terribly well,

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but I do know. Her name is Alice Gorman. She's

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very well known as a space archaeologist here in Australia.

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She's at at Flinder's University. So that is, you know,

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the preface to what I think is a really interesting

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piece of work. And you know, what has happened is

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that the Alice and her colleagues have applied standard archaeological

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methods to a very non standard environment, namely the space station.

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They've basically divided the space station up into one meter squares,

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or the surface area. And that's what you do in archaeology.

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You divide your archaeological site into a grid of one

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meter squares, and then you take excavations of some of

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those squares, which are known as test pits, and so

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you diggip it one meter square and that gives you

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a sample of what kind of stuff there is in there.

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And so the scientists have done this work have obviously

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collaborated very strongly with the crew of the International Space Station,

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which itself is a movable feast because in the twenty

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three years or twenty four years that it's been inhabited,

230
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something like two hundred and eighty people have visited it.

231
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So lies my mind, I wouldn't never have put it

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at that many.

233
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Wow, Yeah, it's a lot.

234
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So that's.

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Large number. You know, some of the recent inhabitants have

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been not co opted, but have been collaborating with the

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archaeologists to do what archaeologists do. And what they've done

238
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is laid out five what they call sample areas, which

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are roughly a meter square, to follow standard archaeological practice.

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And there's a very nice conversation article about this, so

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I'm going to read from that because I think it's

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probably better than I could put it. We chose the

243
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square locations to encompass zones of work, science, exercise, and leisure.

244
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The crew also selected a sixth area based on their

245
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own idea of what might be interesting to observe. And

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there's a actually a nice acknowledgment there. The study was

247
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sponsored by the International Space Station National Laboratory. And what

248
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what they've done is they've they've given the Space Archaeology

249
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Exercise a name.

250
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It is an acronym in the app. I love this

251
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so good one, isn't it.

252
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It's the Sampling Quadrangle Assemblages Research Experiment or.

253
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Square that's very clever, be there or be square that's right, square,

254
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And yeah, what they've found is really interesting.

255
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Some of the areas that they've sampled are very busy areas.

256
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You know on the way from one part of the

257
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space station space station to another. There's a rather a

258
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rather nice summary here in the conversation article. The space

259
00:17:04.799 --> 00:17:10.160
station is cluttered and chaotic, cramped and dirty. There are

260
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no boundaries between where the crew works and where they rest.

261
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There's little or no privacy. There isn't even a shower,

262
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So you know what, that sentence actually reminds me of

263
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of the Vogon destructor fleet because full of old mattresses, metrices.

264
00:17:29.079 --> 00:17:37.960
It's probably like that anyway. So they've analyzed. The conversation

265
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article that these authors have written analyzes the first two

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squares and one I'm reading again. One was located in

267
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the US No. Two module, where there are four crew

268
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births and connections to the European and Japanese labs visiting

269
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spacecraft often dock here. Our target was a wall where

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the maintenance work area is located. There's a blue metal

271
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panel with forty valcro squares on it and the table

272
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before for fixing equipment or doing experiments, and NASA intended

273
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the area to be used for maintenance. However, we saw

274
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hardly any evidence of maintenance there and only a handful

275
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of science activities. In fact, for fifty of the days

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covered by our survey, the square was only used for

277
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storing items, which may not even have been used there.

278
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So it's because the amount of valcro there, you know,

279
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that made it just made it perfect for storing things.

280
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It says close to half all the items recorded, forty

281
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four percent were related to holding other items in place,

282
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So it's amazing.

283
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Yeah, I suppose one of the things they've discovered from

284
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all of this is that if they're going to build

285
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space stations in the future, and they probably will, they

286
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need to consider things like storage. I mean, even when

287
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we were selling our last house, one of the feed

288
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back things was where's all the storage? We need storage,

289
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want more storage. Well, it sounds like it's exactly the

290
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same for the ISS, and it's only being discovered through

291
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the people who've lived and worked there for the last

292
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twenty plus years, and you're seeing things that were built

293
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with certain intent not being used for that purpose.

294
00:19:22.519 --> 00:19:25.160
Adams, Yes, that's right, Yeah, exactly.

295
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So, yeah, they might have to sort of redo the

296
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blueprints on future space stations to deal with the needs

297
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of those who are living and working there. And another

298
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example was I think it was like a vanity case

299
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that someone had that spent sixty days stuck or worn

300
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near the near the bathroom or whatever near the toilet.

301
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That's right.

302
00:19:49.160 --> 00:19:52.319
They never found out who owned it, no, no, but

303
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it was just there. So that's the second area that

304
00:19:56.200 --> 00:20:00.559
they analyzed. It was perhaps some more interesting. It was

305
00:20:01.839 --> 00:20:04.400
sort of where the exercise machines were and the toilet,

306
00:20:04.839 --> 00:20:08.519
and it's a passage way to the cupular window, which

307
00:20:08.599 --> 00:20:11.279
is one of the best places probably on the space station.

308
00:20:12.400 --> 00:20:15.480
So again there was a wall with no particular function,

309
00:20:15.680 --> 00:20:20.960
but it got everything stored on it, including this anonymous

310
00:20:21.279 --> 00:20:25.599
toilet bag that we just mentioned, so really very interesting

311
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to find that. And I think you're right, you know,

312
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you highlighted the right thing. It's all about storage put things.

313
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It also shows how humans take advantage of the opportunities

314
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of the space they have to deal with whatever needs

315
00:20:42.279 --> 00:20:46.319
they have, so you know, and I think it changes

316
00:20:46.359 --> 00:20:50.640
from person to person, and with two hundred and eighty

317
00:20:50.680 --> 00:20:54.079
plus people going up there and more to come, because

318
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I think they're not going to bring the ISS down

319
00:20:57.640 --> 00:21:01.640
for another few years yet. But it's it's a case

320
00:21:01.680 --> 00:21:04.920
of all right, I'm new, I need to find space

321
00:21:05.039 --> 00:21:09.400
from a staff and you you adapt and that's what's

322
00:21:09.480 --> 00:21:13.720
being revealed in this archaeological study which is being done.

323
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I think you said through photographs. People on board taking

324
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photographs of these these particular one meter square spaces to

325
00:21:21.720 --> 00:21:26.559
see how they evolve and change. And it is fascinating

326
00:21:26.640 --> 00:21:30.759
stuff and a one off opportunity really, because when that

327
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space station's over and done with, all that information will

328
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be gone.

329
00:21:34.039 --> 00:21:38.920
That's correct, absolutely, But you know your your reasonings right

330
00:21:39.000 --> 00:21:43.920
on the money, Andrew that the given things like the

331
00:21:44.039 --> 00:21:48.440
Gateway space station, which is planned to be in orbit

332
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around the Moon, a sort of gateway resource for people

333
00:21:52.640 --> 00:21:55.759
to dock with before they take the journey down to

334
00:21:55.839 --> 00:21:59.880
the Moon's surface, all of this archaeology is going to

335
00:22:00.279 --> 00:22:03.559
directly into all the sort of meanesses that need to

336
00:22:03.599 --> 00:22:06.799
be included in the Gateway station. The ounce is probably

337
00:22:06.960 --> 00:22:10.160
going to be exactly what you said, storage storage, storage.

338
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And when you haven't got much room, I suppose you

339
00:22:14.720 --> 00:22:17.839
do have to take advantage of whatever opportunity is available.

340
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And if someone's built a wall with stacks of velcrow

341
00:22:20.599 --> 00:22:23.880
on it, yeah, well it's going to be it's going

342
00:22:23.960 --> 00:22:27.079
to be a very tantalizing opportunity to put your stuff

343
00:22:27.200 --> 00:22:29.119
rather than use it for what it was built for,

344
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which I think in this case was supposed to be maintenance. Yeah,

345
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very very interesting indeed, and it is a good article.

346
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I actually read the whole thing start to finish and

347
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absorbed it all. On the conversation site, you're listening to

348
00:22:44.960 --> 00:22:48.200
space Nuts Andrew Dunkley with Professor Fred what's an.

349
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Space nuts? Now to.

350
00:22:56.119 --> 00:22:59.400
A genre that I am much invested in, and that's

351
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science fiction. But this is a story about science fiction

352
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and science fact and how they have sort of collaborated

353
00:23:10.880 --> 00:23:14.640
and dovetailed so beautifully together. This is a really great

354
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story for him, it is.

355
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And it's I'm going to let you talk to this

356
00:23:18.119 --> 00:23:21.000
one because it's very much up your you know, up

357
00:23:21.079 --> 00:23:26.079
your street. But basically it's a researcher is actually a

358
00:23:26.160 --> 00:23:30.799
director of researcher leb Destro Physique and Marseille down there

359
00:23:30.880 --> 00:23:34.559
in the south of France is a gentleman by the

360
00:23:34.680 --> 00:23:40.039
name of Saul. What's here. So he's done this work investigating,

361
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you know, the relationship between science and science fiction, especially

362
00:23:46.519 --> 00:23:49.759
in gets the backdrop of the era that we live

363
00:23:49.839 --> 00:23:53.240
in now, where you've got misinformation, you've got deep fakes,

364
00:23:53.319 --> 00:24:01.400
you've got you basically basically attempts to or science. All

365
00:24:01.480 --> 00:24:04.480
of that sort of thing, you know, the good old

366
00:24:04.559 --> 00:24:07.640
conspiracy theories, all of that is distorting our view of

367
00:24:08.200 --> 00:24:11.599
what science is all about. And so it's an interesting

368
00:24:11.720 --> 00:24:15.079
context in which to put this study of the relationship

369
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between science fiction and science fact.

370
00:24:17.960 --> 00:24:23.319
Yeah. I think there were two keystone things that came

371
00:24:23.400 --> 00:24:26.079
out of it, and that is that science fiction has

372
00:24:26.079 --> 00:24:32.279
a place in that it can inspire people to look

373
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into careers in science. Even though science fiction is what

374
00:24:36.279 --> 00:24:41.599
it is, it's you know, the imaginations of writers and

375
00:24:41.880 --> 00:24:46.960
filmmakers for that matter, coming out in paper or on

376
00:24:47.079 --> 00:24:50.640
an ebook, or on a TV or a big screen.

377
00:24:51.920 --> 00:24:56.839
But it does have a place in the scientific community

378
00:24:56.880 --> 00:25:01.599
because it has been successful in an inspiring people to

379
00:25:01.720 --> 00:25:08.799
get into those fields of education or those fields of expertise.

380
00:25:08.799 --> 00:25:12.039
That's what I'm trying to say. The other keystone to

381
00:25:12.119 --> 00:25:15.680
come out of this is that science fiction can also educate.

382
00:25:16.559 --> 00:25:20.799
Even though the stories are coming from some incredible minds,

383
00:25:21.839 --> 00:25:25.000
they have been built on the back of real science,

384
00:25:25.440 --> 00:25:30.079
and so they educate. Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars series is

385
00:25:30.119 --> 00:25:35.640
a very good highlight in terms of teaching people about

386
00:25:35.759 --> 00:25:39.680
not just what Mars is like, but what it could

387
00:25:39.839 --> 00:25:42.640
be if we developed technology to turn it into a

388
00:25:42.680 --> 00:25:46.119
livable planet, which is what the Mars series was all about.

389
00:25:47.119 --> 00:25:52.799
The movie Interstellar was created using real science they used

390
00:25:53.079 --> 00:25:58.839
and some of it was pretty well stretched. And the

391
00:25:58.960 --> 00:26:02.599
Martian was science fiction film, but it was so close

392
00:26:02.720 --> 00:26:07.119
to being really possible because of the consultations they did

393
00:26:07.200 --> 00:26:14.720
with scientists and astronomers, it looked feasible in many respects.

394
00:26:15.799 --> 00:26:21.559
So there's a lot that works in and around science

395
00:26:21.640 --> 00:26:26.720
fiction and science coming together, and I think this is

396
00:26:26.759 --> 00:26:29.720
a really great story. And when you look at some

397
00:26:29.880 --> 00:26:34.319
of the early science fiction writers, they didn't have the

398
00:26:34.480 --> 00:26:37.880
science to back up their imaginations. They had to think

399
00:26:37.960 --> 00:26:41.039
outside the box. And even some of the really early

400
00:26:41.160 --> 00:26:47.279
ones that predated the rocket era came up with rocket

401
00:26:47.359 --> 00:26:53.680
ships as they are today. I mean, yeah, so their

402
00:26:53.759 --> 00:26:57.279
brains worked in incredible ways. And as someone who's written

403
00:26:57.319 --> 00:27:02.480
science fiction, I never I just let my imagination run while.

404
00:27:02.559 --> 00:27:06.240
But I'm not in the caliber of the Isaac Asimov's

405
00:27:06.279 --> 00:27:09.279
and Arthur C. Clarks of the world, who are some

406
00:27:09.400 --> 00:27:12.160
of the greatest of all time and have written some

407
00:27:12.279 --> 00:27:16.640
of the classic sci fi stories. But I've tried to

408
00:27:17.000 --> 00:27:22.720
work it into what could be conceived as feasible if

409
00:27:22.759 --> 00:27:25.279
it ever came to be, which it probably won't. But

410
00:27:25.400 --> 00:27:29.279
that's the nature of science fiction. But some of the

411
00:27:29.359 --> 00:27:33.319
homework that goes into these stories is based on real science,

412
00:27:33.799 --> 00:27:36.880
and some of the people who are working in science

413
00:27:36.960 --> 00:27:41.799
today have been inspired by stories from the imaginations of

414
00:27:41.960 --> 00:27:44.680
great people. And that's what this is all about. And

415
00:27:44.720 --> 00:27:48.880
I think it's fantastic stuff. I really am. I'm delighted

416
00:27:48.960 --> 00:27:50.160
by this story, to be honest.

417
00:27:52.160 --> 00:27:55.759
I mean, going back to that old chestnut, my all

418
00:27:55.880 --> 00:27:59.960
time favorite science fiction story, the movie that came up

419
00:28:00.079 --> 00:28:02.400
in nineteen sixty eight two thousand and one, A Space Odyssey.

420
00:28:03.279 --> 00:28:06.559
I remember after I'd watched that, thinking that all of

421
00:28:06.640 --> 00:28:11.160
that was entirely possible, you know, the idea of by

422
00:28:11.240 --> 00:28:14.079
two thousand and one, we'd be having regular flights to

423
00:28:14.160 --> 00:28:17.960
the Moon, we'd have artificial gravity space stations, we'd be

424
00:28:18.079 --> 00:28:21.839
able to send a spacecraft out to Jupiter to investigate

425
00:28:22.000 --> 00:28:22.799
things that were going on.

426
00:28:23.920 --> 00:28:24.839
I can't remember which.

427
00:28:24.640 --> 00:28:26.319
Way around it was. It was Saturn, one of the

428
00:28:26.799 --> 00:28:29.359
either Saturn and Jupiter. I think it was one in

429
00:28:29.480 --> 00:28:31.000
the movie and one in the book, And I can't

430
00:28:31.000 --> 00:28:33.359
remember which way around it went. But all of that

431
00:28:33.519 --> 00:28:37.680
seemed absolutely possible back in the nineteen sixties, and even

432
00:28:37.799 --> 00:28:41.720
the you know, the spacewarp, the sort of warped space

433
00:28:42.359 --> 00:28:46.880
into dimensional dive at the end of it, likewise seemed

434
00:28:47.319 --> 00:28:51.200
like an absolute possibility. So it's certainly stilled the bosom

435
00:28:51.279 --> 00:28:55.000
of my science fiction heart at that time I was

436
00:28:55.039 --> 00:28:57.640
a young scientist, just starting out in my career.

437
00:28:59.039 --> 00:29:03.079
I the TV series The Expanse. I've watched it twice actually,

438
00:29:04.000 --> 00:29:08.839
and it too is sort of looking at humanity living

439
00:29:08.920 --> 00:29:14.960
across the entire Solar System from the from Mars Earth

440
00:29:15.039 --> 00:29:18.640
and Mars right out through past the gas giants into

441
00:29:19.799 --> 00:29:23.079
deep the deep reaches of the Solar System, and how

442
00:29:23.319 --> 00:29:26.960
it's sort of factionalized. So you had Earth and Mars

443
00:29:27.039 --> 00:29:29.960
at Loggerheads and the people who lived in the outer

444
00:29:30.319 --> 00:29:34.960
Belt they call them belts strangely enough, and they all

445
00:29:35.640 --> 00:29:39.000
the tensions that existed between them. I see that as feasible.

446
00:29:40.839 --> 00:29:49.119
But within the story, there were technologies that might exist today,

447
00:29:49.160 --> 00:29:51.839
but not to that level. For example, they didn't overcome

448
00:29:51.920 --> 00:29:57.559
the problem of zero gravity in space travel, so there

449
00:29:57.680 --> 00:30:00.759
wasn't artificial gravity, and we still don't have that today.

450
00:30:00.960 --> 00:30:06.440
But they overcame movement around spaceships by having magnetic boots, yes,

451
00:30:07.279 --> 00:30:11.079
which seems so very logical, and you can turn them

452
00:30:11.119 --> 00:30:13.200
on and off as you needed to electromagnets in the

453
00:30:13.599 --> 00:30:16.720
bottoms of the shoes, so you walked around on metal decks,

454
00:30:18.960 --> 00:30:21.400
and that's how they solved the problem of no gravity

455
00:30:21.440 --> 00:30:24.759
in space. It was a remarkable series and very very

456
00:30:24.839 --> 00:30:28.160
cleverly done, and it sort of showed human nature to

457
00:30:28.200 --> 00:30:30.160
a certain degree because we all hated each other and

458
00:30:30.240 --> 00:30:33.559
wanted to kill each other because we had different beliefs

459
00:30:33.640 --> 00:30:37.880
and different needs. And the people in the outer reaches,

460
00:30:38.279 --> 00:30:41.119
the Belters, felt that they were slaves to Earth and

461
00:30:41.160 --> 00:30:43.640
Mars and they hated us all and it was really

462
00:30:43.720 --> 00:30:47.720
cleverly done. But that's the point we're making with this story,

463
00:30:47.920 --> 00:30:53.160
is that these science fiction stories come so very close

464
00:30:53.640 --> 00:30:57.839
to being real, to the point where they can inspire

465
00:30:58.599 --> 00:31:04.079
future scientists, and they can inspire future invention. Who knows

466
00:31:04.519 --> 00:31:07.279
what the next big idea will be that will become

467
00:31:07.279 --> 00:31:09.960
a reality as a result of science fiction, And who

468
00:31:10.079 --> 00:31:13.720
knows who the next big scientists will be because they

469
00:31:13.759 --> 00:31:17.240
are fans of science fiction. It is a really great

470
00:31:18.359 --> 00:31:21.480
and refreshing story. So I'm glad somebody did some work on.

471
00:31:22.960 --> 00:31:28.720
Looking at that link, it's brilliant. Have we covered it enough?

472
00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:32.759
Very excited, I've got very excited. I can tell you

473
00:31:33.799 --> 00:31:35.279
it's a great story. And if you would like to

474
00:31:35.359 --> 00:31:38.480
read up on that one, I think that's in Universe

475
00:31:38.519 --> 00:31:42.079
Today as well. Universe today dot com. Yeah, the new

476
00:31:42.119 --> 00:31:46.319
study examining the links between science fiction and astronomy. So

477
00:31:46.960 --> 00:31:50.160
check it out. It is a great read. And don't

478
00:31:50.200 --> 00:31:53.359
forget to check out our website too if you've got

479
00:31:53.359 --> 00:31:56.960
a few moments, Space Nuts podcast dot com, Space Nuts

480
00:31:57.000 --> 00:31:59.640
dot io. If you follow us on social media, don't

481
00:31:59.640 --> 00:32:01.759
forget the like us or follow us or add us

482
00:32:01.839 --> 00:32:05.720
to your favorites list, especially if you're on YouTube, please

483
00:32:06.039 --> 00:32:10.000
hit the subscribe button. Fred, we are done and dusted

484
00:32:10.160 --> 00:32:11.640
for another day. Thank you sir.

485
00:32:12.599 --> 00:32:14.880
It's a pleasure. What a great set of stories with

486
00:32:15.039 --> 00:32:16.119
us today. It's all good fun.

487
00:32:16.240 --> 00:32:18.400
Yeah they were fun. Yep, so we were a lot

488
00:32:18.400 --> 00:32:18.720
of fun.

489
00:32:19.000 --> 00:32:20.680
Let's do it again sometime.

490
00:32:20.519 --> 00:32:23.319
All right, let's we'll talk to you soon. Thanks Fred,

491
00:32:24.039 --> 00:32:27.920
No worries, and thanks to here in the studio pushing

492
00:32:27.920 --> 00:32:30.240
all the buttons, pulling all the levers, and flushing all

493
00:32:30.240 --> 00:32:33.839
the toilets. Thank you. Hugh and from me Andrew Dunkley.

494
00:32:33.960 --> 00:32:36.599
Thanks for your company, looking forward to joining you again

495
00:32:36.640 --> 00:32:41.240
on the very next episode of Space Nuts. Bye bye. Thanks.

496
00:32:41.519 --> 00:32:46.559
You'll be listening to the Space Nuts podcast available at

497
00:32:46.599 --> 00:32:51.839
Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, or your favorite podcast player.

498
00:32:52.039 --> 00:32:54.839
You can also stream on demand at bytes dot com.

499
00:32:55.359 --> 00:32:59.319
This has been another quality podcast production from nights dot com.
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