In just less than 30 minutes time Colonel Chris Hadfield will handover the reins of the ISS to Russian Cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov. In honour of his time as the first Canadian ISS Commander, I wrote a few lines. In about 24 hours time Chris will be leaving the space station and heading home in a trusty Soyuz capsule. I will be watching with my heart in my mouth wishing him the softest Soyuz landing ever.

Letter to a Commander

I love to look up at the sky and think of you, to know you’re up there.

I love that you enjoy every moment of life on the ISS and you share it passionately.

I love that in the serious moments before sending your crewmates out into the void of space, your skill, professionalism and humour all shine through.

I love that you love the experience of space as much as I ever dream that I would.

I love your photos, your insight, your special roly-polys.

I love that you got to be the first Canadian Commander.

I love that you’re the commander of a real-life spaceship, and yet you’re one of the most down to Earth guys I’ve ever met.

I’m proud and honoured that you’re my friend Chris.

NASA apps

NASA
The main NASA app gives you quick access to NASA images, videos and tweets, as well as information about its missions, centres and different programmes.

This takes information about your location and so the sighting information is tailored to you. The news and features sections is also a handy gateway to the latest news from NASA, and can be separated into areas of interest, such as commercial spaceflight, solar system, ISS etc. You need to be connected to the internet in order for this app to work, but it makes for a nice way of exploring the mountains of information that NASA puts out. Worth a download.

Things that you might find particularly useful are the list of launch dates (under the “missions” tab) and a list of possible times to view the space station.

ISS live!

This app has some cool features, like checking out the astronauts’ timelines (as you can do online on the ISS live website), though it does seem to freeze up a bit for me. You have the option of following the current position of the space station and see the Earth from its perspective. It’s a nice way of making it “real”, seeing what the astronauts are flying over, right now, is quite special. The other nice thing this app offers, if you can coax into not crashing, is a 3D model of the entire space station, with different elements coloured to show whose they are. You can choose to see only the Russian modules, or the Canadian elements, for example, or see what the station would look like without them. Zoom functionality, labels and ability to spin it around to see it from other angles are all useful. I do like this, but be warned that it needs a net connection and a bit of patience.

NASA Desert Rats App (2011)
This app lets you explore a 3D visualisation of the Desert Rats base. By moving your character around you unlock badges when you discover items such as the space exploration vehicle, these also give you a summary of what they are. You can also choose to explore the different scientific sites that the Desert Rats were studying. It gives a nice insight into the scale of the project and may be a good stepping off point to encourage you to find out more.

NASA’s Integrated Space Weather Analysis (iSWA)
This app allowes you to view Cygnets (observational and modelled space weather products, since you ask) and update them with the latest information from SDO, STEREO and SOHO. There isn’t really any information about what the images are showing you, or background about the spacecraft responsible for collecting the data, but even if you’re not an expert, the pictures of the sun are pretty incredible. The more you know/understand about space weather, the missions and the graphs this apps include, the more spectacular it would be. For now I just enjoy the fact that I can see up to date pictures of the sun’s activity on my phone, which is, I think you’ll agree, pretty amazing.

JPL’s Space Images App

Lots and lots of lovely images! Sorted as the latest images released, highest rated or by category. You can favourite images, save them to your device or set them as wallpaper, and share them via Twitter/Facebook. Clicking on the “i” gives you information about what the image is of, how and when it was taken, and who should be credited. You can also find out more by clicking “more info” and it will take you to the image catalogue online. The main problem with this app is that once you’ve been tantalised by the amazing thumbnails, loading the full image seems to take an age. You can go to settings and change the resolution of that you want the images to download, but I got bored of waiting to see the full screen versions. Patience is a virtue Kate…

HIAD (Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator)
This NASA app is actually a little game that lets you practise landing something back on Earth from the International Space Station, using a hypersonic inflatable aerodynamic decelerator (HIAD). I didn’t know much about these before, but this engaging little app is giving me an appreciation of how they can be used and the importance of timing your de-orbit burn to get you close to your landing site. It’s a shame this doesn’t have a catchier title, it’s a really nice app and I’m enjoying playing with it and learning something at the same time. Check out this NASA microsite for the latest on HIAD development.

ESA Apps

Herschel Quick Look
This app apparently gives you access to the  ”latest processed quick look image and meta data” from Herschel. If you get further than downloading it and getting errors let me know. Looking at Play Store reviews it’s either great, or doesn’t work. Sadly for me, it’s definitely the latter.

Useful Apps

ISS Detector
ISS detector uses your phone’s geolocation data to give you a handy list of when the space station will next be flying (visibly) overhead. The added bonus is that you can set it to make a noise at a specified time before a sighting. I chose ten minutes since that is long enough for me to grab my camera and dash outside. Don’t worry about it disturbing you in the night, it will honour any “silent time” settings on your phone. In addition you can select information on Iridium flares. To remove ads you can donate one Euro ($1.40) to say thank you to the developer. There are also a range of extensions that you can purchase that will enable detection of amateur radio satellites, famous objects (eg Hubble) or comets and extensions. Useful little app this one, especially since @Twisst has gone quiet for me.

Satellite AR
This app, created by AGI, the folk behind the professionally used STK orbit simulation software appears currently to be available only on Android (take that Apple fans!). It is an augmented reality app that allows you to see which satellites are fly above you. You can choose what you want it to show, the ISS, potentially visible objects, amateur satellites, recently launched objects, or, if you want to be amazed, try “all active satellites, including Geostationary belt”). You can also search for particular satellites that you might be interested in, such as the UK’s first Cubesat, STRaND1. If your chosen satellite is not currently visible, click “Lookup” and it will link you to a bunch of information sources and the option to display the groundtrack. The groundtrack of the satellite is basically a line over the world that shows where over the world the satellite has passed, and where it currently is. Pretty nice to be able to look at a world map and say “ooh, the ISS is over the West Coast of America” etc. This is free, informative and even if like me, you’re more into human spaceflight than satellites, it’s pretty eye-opening to see just how much stuff is up there.

Other Apps

Solar Max Lite
This is the free version of a fuller app. It uses realtime data from SDO, STEREO and SOHO. You can select the number of frames, the resolution and time between each frame, though I haven’t quite worked out what difference this makes! What this app does have, which makes it more user-friendly for non-experts, is the ability to click on a question mark and find out a bit about the spacecraft/image data/instruments. Once again, even if you don’t know much about what it all means, real-time images of the sun are COOL.

NASA Sounds
Not created by NASA, this app gives you a collection of sound clips that range from the famous Apollo moments (“Houston, we’ve had a problem”) to the comments made when the final shuttle missions STS135 landed. It also has Sputnik’s beeps and Saturn radio emissions. If you hold down on any sound you have the option to make it into a ringtone or notification sound, though I’ve not found anything that I consider suitable for this myself. I’m a sound geek as well as a radio geek, so this appeals to me. That said, the selection of sounds is limited, and they could have perhaps been edited a little more smartly.

Space Simulator
This app simulates the orbits of planets or “particles”. It could be quite a useful tool if you were learning about the effect of gravity on variously sized objects, but it’s not very user friendly. You can add different sized objects, trace their paths and watch as they smash together, but there’s little text to tell you what all the icons mean and you feel somewhat thrown in the deep end. I played around for a bit, but I think this is one for the uninstall pile for me. If you do get the hang of it, there is the option to purchase dust clouds etc, but it’s not for me.

Space Mapper
This actually isn’t about space in the sense of outer-space, but it’s an academic study from Princeton that I thought I would mention. Nice to be able to help some scientists with their research after all. The research is into human movement and spatial segregation and the researchers want to collect information about your movement over the course of the week. Past this point you will be able to collect the information for yourself (and keep it private) if you wish. There’s a consent form and information about anonymising your data. I’m game… are you?

A bit of fun

The Space Race
A bit of fun, this quiz gives you 50 questions about the US/Soviet space race mixed with a few other space-related questions. The app design is a bit horrible and it will offer you a bunch of other quizzes, but the questions themselves are pretty good. You actually need to have some knowledge to answer them so if you want to test your space-geek credentials give it a go. You can always uninstall it afterwards (or perhaps try the science and engineering week quiz?).

Angry Birds Space
You don’t need me to tell you about Angry Birds Space – developed with input from NASA the birds are beholden to the gravitational pull of various objects and have to smash the green piggies as usual. With a launch from the Space Station, by astronaut Don Pettit, it’s worth a little play. Nice thing is, on Android, Angry Birds is free. Bazinga!

]]> http://spacekate.com/2013/soyuz-to-station-in-record-time-its-iss-expedition-35/feed/ 0 http://spacekate.com/2013/its-esaaurora/ http://spacekate.com/2013/its-esaaurora/#comments Mon, 18 Mar 2013 20:05:28 +0000 SpaceKate http://spacekate.com/?p=378 This is not my usual style of blog post, but I thought I’d have a play and try to capture some of the moments of my latest #SpaceNomad adventure – a trip to Finland for an ESA Space Weather Seminar and a chance to see the northern lights.

It’s wearing everything that won’t fit in your suitcase. It’s meeting new people in a tractor themed restaurant. It’s snow-closed airports and “wish you were here”s. It’s Norwegian Air and how to pronounce 6,000th.

It’s Santa Claus’s airport and snow glistening like diamonds. It’s clear skies and below zero temperatures. It’s thermals, tog-rated socks, space t-shirts, retro woollen jumpers, wind-proof fleece, body warmer and then struggle to zip up your coat. It’s turning down “the most northerly MacDonald’s” and having burritos instead.

It’s seeing old friends and making new ones. It’s Arktikum and cloud berries, ice-sculpture and Arctic foxes.

It’s walking on a frozen river and looking at the cracks. It’s overheating when you get back inside.

It’s cloud berry liqueur and sautéed reindeer. It’s “I’m 26″ and “you can call me Jake”. It’s midnight aurora hunting in Rovaniemi and frozen hair.

It’s cold but exciting. It’s first glimpses and shared experience. It’s reindeer for breakfast. It’s Arktikum and architecture. Intricate colourful traditional costumes and Saami shamen. It’s studying the Arctic and finding out where the Arctic circle is. It’s “hooray there’s wifi” and time to tweet. It’s space weather and what causes it. It’s black outs and damaged satellites.

It’s Don Pettit and photography from space. It’s “ooh”, “ahhhh”, “amazing!” and “wow, just wow”. It’s beauty that makes your heart race and leave you speechless. It’s aurora set to “walking in the air”.

It’s the cutting edge of computing and star-mapping. It’s RTs and conversation.

It’s postcards for Christmas and Christmas in March. It’s one foot in and one foot out of the Arctic circle. It’s Santa’s house and let’s go meet him. It’s “how did he know that?” and okay we’ll buy the pictures.

It’s grinning until your face hurts and running for lunch in a cafe. It’s reindeer hot-dogs and “I don’t think there is any reindeer in this”.

It’s bus rides and great conversations. It’s Sodankylä and the Finnish Meteorological Institute. It’s space situational awareness including space debris. It’s a 32m satellite dish and the all-sky camera. It’s squeaky snow that lets you know how cold it is. It’s sparkling wine with wooden cup holders and “Eating someone else’s reindeer”. It’s delicious warming soup. It’s wine and coffee and the “let’s go aurora hunting”. It’s the aurora house and a chair for a queen. It’s stories of fox fire and dead ancestors playing football with a walrus skull. It’s the science of space weather and its beautiful results.

It’s “time for *all* your layers” and “wow, look at that!”. It’s 25 second exposures and excitement at the results. It’s a helping hand in the snow and “look! look! look!”. It’s a warming fire and very warming drinks. It’s Lappish wooden cups and limited edition space vodka. It’s connecting, friendship and toasting a new space station commander. It’s arcs of aurora and sinking into snow. It’s clear skies and awe. It’s magical, special, humbling and wonderful. It’s feeling alive and being glad to be the SpaceNomad. It’s indescribable, it’s breath-taking, it’s real, it’s “thank you all for being part of this” and “can’t wait until next time.

Want to learn more about Space Weather and ESA’s Space Surveillance and tracking? Listen to these interviews:

Follow @SpaceKate for more adventures.

It was a wet February evening as I set out to hear British astronaut Maj Timothy Peake address a packed house at the British Interplanetary Society (BIS). Introduced as the first truly British non-commercial astronaut, a subtle smile creeps onto his face when it is mentioned that the UK government is paying for him though their contribution to ESA – a somewhat controversial point since at the time of his selection, the UK didn’t contribute to any part of the ESA human spaceflight budget.

One of the lucky (and extremely talented) few from 8,500 people who applied, Peake is now a full fledged member of the astronaut class informally known as “shenanigans”. Also in this class are Italians Luca Parmitano and Samantha Cristoforetti who have both been assigned to ISS flights in the coming years.

“Shenanigans” is not necessarily the first word you’d think of in relation to Tim Peake. His quietly polite enthusiasm, obvious dedication to his military career and measured tones are so quintessentially “British”. But there’s more to this gent than his (at times) reserved tone might suggest.

During his talk, Peake explains that the international space station is the current focus for space agencies, adding that he thinks it likely the ISS will be extended to 2025 (current plans see funding only up to 2020). This is something he’ll surely be hoping for, since ESA places on station are limited and the longer the ISS is functional, the higher his chances of being assigned to a mission.

In addition to his astronaut training, Peake has been working as Eurocom, the European version of NASA’s Capcom, relaying information to the ISS crew from one of the many international control centres. “International collaboration is great” he says, “it brings stability”, but with centres all around the world it is also very complex.

As he continues his talk, little flickers of his personality start to shine through – the intimate space at the BIS allowing him to relax a little. Peake explains that they have Soyuz training in Star City in Russia. The European seat is traditionally the left seat in the cramped capsule, while they joke that the right-hand seat is the “tourist” seat. “It’s a wonderful mix of new and old technology” he says of the Soyuz, though he adds that it’s “an ergonomical nightmare!”. “Their spacecraft are like their helicopters” he says of the Russian tech, “they’re solid”. Given that the Soyuz capsule comes hurtling back down to Earth at the end of the mission with a precious cargo of astronauts, being solid is not something to be knocked.

He talks about EVA (extra-vehicular activity – “spacewalk”) training, first in Cologne, then Russia, then at the enormous Neutral Bouyancy Lab facility in Houston. Astronauts do their spacewalk training underwater to simulate weightlessness and to get used to moving in the large space suits. “I really really love this training” says Peake, “I was surprised by how physically and mentally challenging it is – you certainly sleep well after six hours in the suit!”.

Peake speaks diplomatically about his selection to the ESA astronaut corps, a decision that may have put a few noses out of joint since the UK had not contributed the human spaceflight budget when he was selected. He was ready for a negative atmosphere when he joined, but didn’t find it. He says ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain is very good at understanding that countries contribute to different pots of money at ESA, describing this attitude as “refreshing”. “The real test will be flight assignment” he says, knowing that positive sentiments are one thing, and confirmation of a spaceflight another.

Could the recent decision for the UK to put money into the Orion/ATV project help him get into space? “The ESA ministerial council was very good, for now, and for the future” he says, “I really hope that we get a European astronaut on Orion”. He continues “I would love it if it were me, however France and Germany paid a lot in too”. Peake reiterates his hopes for a European astronaut to get place on Orion, saying that it will be hard won since there are only four seats and there will be fewer missions. I note that despite the excitement in the room about the potential for a British astronaut, Peake repeatedly says “European”. Is this due to his training, his modesty, his diplomacy – or are we finally in a position to be proud of our involvement with ESA? It’s probably a mix of all those things, and I think that this international spirit should be embraced.

After the talk there is a rush for people to shake his hand and ask him to sign things. Peake takes this all in his stride, smiling as each new person reaches the front of the queue. I present him with the official patch of the Space Tweep Society in recognition of his engaging tweets. After half an hour of this it’s time to retire to the pub and I’m pleased that he joins us to continue the conversation in a more informal setting.

There’s a definite sparkle in his eye as he tucks into his steak and ale pie, answering questions from all angles between mouthfuls. I like this more relaxed side of him, and I hope that it won’t get too lost under the need for protocol and decorum in future. To coin his phrase: “The real test will be flight assignment” – I think we all agree that that’s one time it would certainly be okay to lose the stiff upper lip.

It all started with this post in which I outlined why I thought the Lynx/Axe Space Academy competition was damagingly sexist. The post ruffled a few feathers and was amplified via Twitter and Facebook. Since the issue made me so cross, I phoned the Lynx press office in the UK to get their thoughts on the matter. I also emailed NASA Administrator Charles Bolden to bring it to his attention. The statements on behalf of Lynx and NASA are worth comparing. I’ll let you guess who took the matter of media stereotypes more seriously.

A tip-off from Carmen Victoria from Mexico pointed to an even bigger problem, that not only were the adverts and images reinforcing out-of-date stereotypes, but that in her country, being male was a requirement for entering the competition.

Some sleuthing by Remco Timmermans uncovered that this wasn’t just the case in Mexico. In fact according to the terms and conditions for the competition, ladies in Russia, Mexico, Ukraine, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and the UAE were not eligible to take part, purely on the basis of them having two X-chromosomes.

Russia sent the first woman into space, and yet in the 50th anniversary year of that flight, Russian women were not allowed to enter for a chance to win their own ticket to space! The Russian-based international news agency RIA Novosti picked up on the story.

What began as a small ripple was beginning to form waves…

The US Super Bowl brought the Axe Apollo Space Academy advert to the screens of millions of Americans. Maha Atal, who writes for Forbes, had read my post about the inherent sexism in the UK version of the advert and decided to write a piece about the US advert for their website. “The sexism of the advert is offensive and damaging” she said, before adding that “this campaign also fails as advertising”.

Ian O’Neill also picked up on it for Discovery News in his round-up of space-related Super Bowl commercials. Citing a post on Wired, he said “The assumption has been that the Axe competition is only open to guys, but it’s not”.

At this point I’d like to thank Ian and Maha for linking back to my original post and helping to bring the issue to more readers,and also the #astrogrrls on Twitter who have been sharing links and providing moral support. The Campaign for Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) invited me to summarise my original post for their website and newsletter and I was invited to speak on BBC Radio 4′s Woman’s Hour about why I thought this was an issue.

On Tuesday we got some response from the official Lynx Twitter account, who apologised for offence caused and said that the competition wasn’t meant to exclude anyone. Which seems a bit odd in light of the fact that in several countries, the competition explicitly does just that.

The question had to be asked: is it legal to prevent women for applying for the contest? To find out, you’d have to ask some lawyers that are familiar with the legal systems of the countries involved, and that’s exactly what Maha did. Writing again for Forbes, she discovered that “Several of those countries explicitly prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, as does Axe’s parent company, Unilever”. Maha put this to the Axe, and they’ve been forced to have a rethink. In their response they state:

“Unilever has communicated to all markets in all regions, that the contest is open to both men and women. Upon review, certain markets are currently revising their terms & conditions to reflect this directive”.

We made a difference! We made ripples into waves and we made a difference. I can’t tell you how excited and proud that makes me feel. After the abuse some people levelled at me when I first spoke up, I can stand tall and say that I helped make Axe back down on a very unfair part of their competition.

It doesn’t change what I think about the adverts themselves and my concerns that they could put young women off considering a science career. This 2012 study into sexism in the lab highlights the effect of “enduring cultural stereotypes”, so there is still more to be done. The comment from Karen James on my original post proves exactly how important it is that we show that women are astronauts too.  “As a woman who has applied to become a NASA astronaut and made it pretty far along in the process, I am particularly offended by the Axe/Lynx campaign. It is precisely because NASA has worked so hard to distance itself from its overly masculine past that I felt I had a chance in the first place.”

In other news, Gillian Finnerty and Lorraine Rodger of the #Astrogrrls have been busily tweeting the people at Lynx to get them to change the text that appears once you’ve voted for someone. Congratulations to them, as it is now gender neutral as opposed to explaining how you can get “him” more votes.

This all goes to show that if you care about something, if you’re brave, if you stand up and speak out, or support those who do, you can make a difference. It’s doesn’t mean it’s easy, but every little bit helps. Today we made a difference. Today is a good day.

Thank you to everyone who’s helped, and everyone who took a moment to vote for me to get to space (and if you haven’t already, now would be a good time!)

If you know me, you probably know how much I want to go to space, so of course I was excited to hear of a competition that might enable that dream to come true.

Indeed I was. I signed up to the Lynx/Axe Space Academy as soon as I could, before it hit the mainstream with adverts and marketing. I begged people to vote for me. Not something I’d normally do, but this is space we’re talking about… all’s fair etc.

As I went to share my entry on Facebook I was offered some pictures to go with my post. Me in an astronaut suit, some generic Lynx Space Academy branding, or pictures of a (presumably) male astronaut with a hot girl swooning. Hmm. Not quite sure that’s what space travel is about. I clicked next, then recoiled in greater horror as the next image consisted of the hot girl’s clothes all over the floor of the again (presumably) male astronaut.

Look, I know that Lynx (Axe in the US), is predominantly a male brand. I know that their advertising generally consists of massive sexual stereotypes, I even understand why they use such tactics. They obviously get results (whether the same can be said of their antiperspirant, I wouldn’t know). But here’s the thing that gets me, advertising and cheap stereotypes aside, you’re messing with SCIENCE now. Don’t do that.

As if scientific disciplines don’t have a legacy of sexism inherent in them already, now we have a global, big bucks advertising campaign to reinforce the idea that science is a male domain. In case you weren’t aware, women are astronauts too – not just drooling airheads trying to bag ourselves a high profile guy in a space suit.

It reminds me of when I first got excited about space and I talked to my neighbour about it. “Oh!” She said, eyes wide, “you want to marry an astronaut?”.

“No.” I replied, somewhat firmly. “I want to BE an astronaut”.

What decade are we living in? Really? Does this brand think it is alright to suggest that men get to be astronauts and women are just eye-candy? Because I don’t think that’s okay. The tag line for the competition is “Leave a man, return a hero”. I’m just wondering which man I should leave.

Jokes aside, the way this competition is marketed is damaging. Not only did it make smart friends of mine assume that only men were eligible to apply, but it adds to an increasing “blokeification” of science.

There are high profile science shows at the moment, Wonders, Sky at Night, Science Club, Infinite Monkey Cage. That’s great – more science! Yay! But when you look at them, it’s all getting very blokey. Where are our female role models? It’s not that smart, engaging women don’t exist, it’s just that they don’t seem to be welcomed into the fold. Mary Beard’s experience with Question Time is enough to make any woman think twice about braving TV. I dared have an opinion about Professor Brian Cox’s Wonders of Life show last night and was instantly dismissed as “just jealous” then told I should front Loose Women because all I do is moan. This doesn’t strike me as constructive, and neither does the Lynx advertising campaign.

The TV spots show a pretty woman who needs rescuing from a fire, cue good looking male fireman to save this “damsel in distress”. Then an astronaut appears, and our fickle beauty changes her affections to him: “Nothing beats an astronaut, ever”.

Well I’d like to see a remake of that advert, but as the astronaut raises their helmet it turns out to be Cady Coleman, Tracy Caldwell-Dyson, Peggy Whitson, Valentina Tereshokova, Sally Ride, Eileen Collins, Soyeon Yi, Samantha Cristoforetti, Nicole Stott… (I could go on) and the fireman goes swooning over to her instead! (In fact, if you’ve some video ninja skills let’s make it happen.) Women are more than sex objects, women can be smart, and women can be astronauts too.

You might think I’m making a fuss over nothing, perhaps say it’s just a humorous skit to sell deodorant. But I think it shows there is still a wider problem in society. If we’re going to encourage women to follow careers in science and engineering we need to stop the undercurrent of “girls are pretty trophies, and boys are brave astronauts” etc.

As for this Lynx competition, let’s make a stand. I’m still in the running and I’d love your vote. Not only because I would cherish a chance to get to space, but also because I’d love to get enough momentum to make the people behind the campaign stop and think for a moment about their sexist stereotypes.

I’m not the only one out there that feels affronted by this. I’ve been contacted by @Scientelle on Twitter who is supporting the #astrogrrls who have entered this competition. So come on, let’s make some noise and get heard.

I thought we’d moved on from the early days of the space programme when only macho male military test pilots got to be astronauts – let’s not step back again.

—–

UPDATE

Statement from Lynx UK (January 29th, 2013)

As was suggested by a commenter on this post, I got in touch with the press office of Lynx UK. The lady I spoke to seemed genuinely shocked at the idea that people might find elements of the campaign sexist (which in itself stuck me as a little odd), but was quick to point out that the competition had gone through their legal department. She provided me with the following “brand response”:

The Lynx Apollo campaign is meant to be a humorous play on mutual attraction illustrating the impact the product will have on the opposite sex.   It is designed to be exaggerated and light hearted and is absolutely not designed to demean women in any way.

As an advertiser we strive to be responsible, the competition adheres to strict internal and external guidelines.  Women can enter this competition, if they were to make it through to the second round they would not be at any disadvantage.

Personally I’m not sure that saying it’s “meant to be light-hearted” is enough to excuse it. Light-hearted sexism is still sexism and still feeds into what society as a whole deems acceptable. I’m really uneasy with a global advertising spend that gives the impression that women are just pretty things to be won. For those of you who say “it’s aimed at men, a female brand could run its own competition”, that’s quite right, but I can’t think of any brand that would promote something for women so obviously at the expense of men. Can you?

Statement from NASA (30th January, 2013)

I genuinely feel strongly about this issue so I brought this post to the attention of NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden. I know that NASA put a lot of effort into ensuring their education and outreach programmes reach people from diverse backgrounds. He read my email with concern and put me in touch with the Rebecca Keiser, the NASA representative to the White House Council on Women and Girls who kindly provided me with this statement from NASA:

“Even today in 2013, many images of women (and stereotypes of men) in the media show that we still have a lot of work to do regarding the role of women and their importance to fields like STEM.  We need to do as much as we can to project a much more realistic and positive image of women, as well as encourage more girls to enter into STEM fields.  We are working hard at NASA on this effort and we hope to do even more.”

Well said. I’m pleased (and indeed quite honoured) that Charlie Bolden took my email and this issue seriously. Perhaps Lynx could learn something.

UPDATE (05/02/13): National Restrictions and the Super Bowl advert 

Men Only

My friend (and fellow ISU alumnus) Carmen Victoria from Mexico pointed out that in the Mexican version of this competition only men are allowed to apply. This points to two problems in my mind. Firstly, that given the opportunity to exclude women, Axe/Lynx would choose such a course and secondly, that some countries don’t have the same rules to protect against discrimination that we have here in the UK. 

A bit of further sleuthing from good friend and space advocate Remco Timmermans showed that this male only restriction was not limited to Mexico. In fact Russia, Ukraine, Kuwait, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates join Mexico in making this a male only opportunity. Wow. Russia. Let’s just pause to think who put the very first woman in space – yep, Russia. What an awful step backwards. Thankfully this is not the case in the real Russian space programme where a new female cosmonaut candidate was selected at the end of last year.

The Russian International News Agency, RIA Novosti have written an article on their Russian language site about the fact female Russians are barred from entering this competition. With a bit of Google translate magic, the Russian Axe spokesperson can be roughly translated at this:

“In the offices of the company in different countries slightly different policy for selection of applications for the competition, but in Russia, the application of the girls are not accepted. Same situation in Ukraine, Indonesia, Mexico, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. Globally, no such limit, but must be borne in mind that the AXE – a male brand”

Again, we’re back to this argument that I keep hearing “but it’s a male brand, what do you expect?”. In answer, I expect marketers to be smart enough to come up with original, interesting ideas, that don’t have to perpetuate old-fashioned stereotypes of women. I don’t think that “we’re aiming it at men” is an excuse for sexism. It’s a bit offensive to men to assume that the only successful way to market at them is to belittle women, isn’t it?

Super Bowl

As the Ravens and the 49ers battled it out on the field, millions of Americans settled down to watch the big game on television. When I was in the States when the game was on I remember there being a tangible level excitement not just about the game itself, but the adverts. Costing upwards of $4 million for a 30 second spot, companies pull out all the stops to make an impression. Axe knew this would be a great time to get an audience for their Space Academy contest, and of course had an advert for the occasion. Similar to the UK version, a helpless girl needs rescuing (this time from a shark), dotes over hunky male lifeguard, then ditches him for male astronaut. It doesn’t show the Axe product being used like their usual adverts would. There’s no reason they couldn’t have challenged existing stereotypes and still combined this with a space angle. How about having a female astronaut who picks the guy that just doused himself in Axe/Lynx? At least that would show their product actually doing something.

Like I said, Americans take their super bowl adverts pretty seriously. Seriously enough to merit posts on both Forbes and Discovery News. Check out the powerful post by Maha Atal at Forbes - who points out this is not just a case of sexism, but of failed advertising – and the super bowl space advert round-up by  Ian O’Neill at Discovery News.

We’ve got this ball is rolling – let’s keep it going.  As a study from 2012 sadly shows, there really IS an issue with “enduring cultural stereotypes about women’s lack of science competence that translate into biases into student evaluation and mentoring”.

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Follow me on Twitter as @SpaceKate and listen to my space flavour podcasts on Audioboo.

Just 10 seconds is all it would take for you to help me get one step closer to space. There’s a competition running at the moment and eventually 22 people from around the world will get sent on a sub-orbital space flight. One of them will be from the UK – I need your help to make sure that’s me.

VOTE HERE – VOTE NOW – PASS IT ON!

Maybe you follow my blog and you know how much this means to me, maybe I cleared your pavement of snow this morning, maybe you just stumbled across this post and you’re feeling generous – whatever the reason you got here, it would mean the world to me if you voted, and passed it on. There’s stiff competition, but surely someone known as @SpaceKate has to be in with a chance?

There’s a lot of fluff and nonsense about “Leave a man, return a hero” – if it takes a sex change I’ll do it – just get me to space! I’ll be writing in more detail about why I think the competition tagline/images are somewhat disappointing in a age when we really need to encourage more people, and that means more WOMEN, into science, technology, engineering and maths study.

For now though, just make my day – VOTE!

Sorry, I mean, commander Chris Hadfield, Canadian astronaut and all round talented guy. He’s also going on a special journey today, but unlike me, he’ll be travelling by rocket, and not train.

Probably around the same time I got up and dressed this morning he will have been getting fitted into his space suit. As I was checking I’d got everything I needed for my brief visit to see Granny, he’ll have been doing his own checks. Of his suit, of his equipment, of his special items like the wedding ring he’s taking up for his wife.

I’m on the London underground heading to my “launch pad” (sounds so much better than train terminus), he’ll be on the way to his. Except it’s the real deal for Chris. His trusty Russian Soyuz rocket waiting to blast then away from the Earthly confines of gravity, into orbit where although he won’t have escaped gravity altogether, the constant state of freefall around the planet will allow him to ‘float’.

Actually, despite a speedy eight minutes to orbit, it’ll be a few days before he gets to fully enjoy microgravity. You see, the Soyuz capsule he’ll be travelling in, with fellow spacefliers from the US and Russia, well, it’s kind of tiny. During launch they’re strapped into “seats” reminiscent of small Victorian tin baths, specially moulded to fit their shape. Once in orbit they still have a few days before the manage to chase and catch up with the International Space Station.

Just think about that for a moment. The ISS is whizzing round the Earth at around 17,500mph. That’s fast. Now imagine you want to dock with it. You’ll need some decent maths skills to work out when to fling yourself into space in order to meet up with it (and not crash into it – which would be really bad!).

That’s what Chris will be doing. Heading up into orbit, then chasing the space station, approaching it and then finally docking with what will become home for the next five months.

My train to Brighton leaves just six minutes before Chris’s launch. I’ll be glued to my mobile phone in much the same way I imagine he’ll be glued to the instruments and checklists during launch. I really hope the 3G signal will hold out enough that I can watch him successfully leave Earth.

I can’t lie, I’ll be terrified. No matter how much training he’s had, no matter how reliable Soyuz rockets are, no matter that given the chance I’d be in his shoes like a shot, there’s still something immense and overwhelming about seeing someone you care about on top of a rocket. I’m proud, I’m excited, of course a little jealous(!), but I’ll be a lot happier when I see their mascot floating in microgravity and I know they’re in orbit.

Then I can relax and get back to wrapping those last few presents for Granny and looking forward to telling her that once again she can boast that she has a friend in space.

Image courtesy of NASA

It’s the ultimate detective story: The case of the missing molecules on Mars. But in this mystery it’s not Sherlock Holmes playing the master detective, but a team of scientists studying the origins of life.

“Our story really begins more than thirty years ago when Viking lands on Mars and tries to detect organics” says NASA’s Dr Chris McKay, the renowned astrobiologist, actively involved in the search for Martian life.

Organics are the building blocks of all life on Earth, and their presence on Mars may provide evidence that the planet could have supported life. Viking carried a very sophisticated instrument able to detect and characterise organic compounds in the soil.

“Much to our surprise what Viking told us was that there are no organics there at all” says Dr McKay.

Even in the absence of complex biological organics, Viking had been expected to detect traces of organic compounds due to meteorite impacts: “It was a real mystery” says Dr McKay, “why weren’t there organics in the soil of Mars?”.

For thirty years the puzzle remained, but much like a criminal cold-case, solved thanks to new forensic techniques, the results from NASA’s Phoenix mission in 2008 shed new light on the case.

Phoenix discovered that on Mars, the element chlorine was not in the form of harmless table salt, but instead in a very unusual type of molecule called ‘perchlorate’. In this form each chlorine molecule is attached to four oxygen atoms making it very stable on the freezing plains of Mars.

With this new finding in mind, scientists re-examined the original results from Viking.

In fact Viking did detect small amounts of an organic compound called methylchloride, but researchers struggling to explain its presence put this down to contamination from cleaning fluids.

To detect the presence of organic molecules, Viking heated-up the Martian soil samples, “like cooking something until it burns and you smell what’s coming off” explains Dr McKay. An unfortunate consequence of technique was that by heating the samples, the perchlorate split into its reactive form and destroyed the organic compounds that scientists were searching for.

Although initially dismissed as contamination, the detection of methylchloride proved to be vital to solving the mystery. When scientists conducted similar tests on Earth, heating the samples as Viking had done, they produced similar results. Adding perchlorate to soil from the Atacama desert in Chile (a Mars analogue site) resulted in most of the organics being destroyed, leaving only the small fraction of methylchloride.

Dr McKay sums up the case in simple terms: “the very thing we’re looking for was burned up by a molecule we didn’t realise was there”.

With this scientific cold-case cracked: how will this knowledge affect future Mars missions? The problem remains that heating samples of Martian soil may have unintended consequences, so a new analysis method is required.

The Mars Science Laboratory, nicknamed ‘Curiosity’, is carrying an instrument that is capable of soil analysis using a liquid extraction system, which means samples don’t need to be heated.

“You might think that we were very clever in deducing that, but no, we were just lucky” Dr McKay says candidly. “We’d planned that liquid extraction for reasons that had nothing to do with perchlorates, and now we’re in a lucky position that we’re going to fly exactly what we should be flying to see the organics”.

Since Curiosity successfully landed in August 2012, there has been much excitement in the astrobiology community about what may be revealed. “Finding organics at all would be ground-breaking” says Dr Lewis Dartnell, an astrobiology research fellow at UCL. “We expect them to be there, but haven’t been able to sniff them out yet. Once simple organics have been detected, follow-on missions will focus on finding firm evidence for life”.

“No one test or experiment will prove Martian life conclusively” advises Dr Dartnell, raising concerns about media sensationalism. Curiosity is not actually designed to find life, only to test whether the red planet could have supported it. So people following current internet rumours of an “earthshattering” announcement from NASA will likely be disappointed.

Despite this, the idea of life elsewhere in the solar system is a tantalising possibility: “I think that the detection of life on another world beyond the Earth would be of profound significance, alongside realising that the Earth isn’t flat and that our planet orbits the sun” says Dartnell.

After all these years of searching, what does Dr McKay think we’ll find? “If I was guessing I would say that the chances of finding anything alive on Mars today, is very small, but the chances that we’ll find evidence that there was life in the past is very high”.

“That’s what I have my sights set on; not finding something alive and squirming in the soil now, but evidence of something that was alive once.”

For now, the jury’s still out on the question of life on Mars, but with new instruments aboard Curiosity, could the wait for evidence it could have been habitable almost over?