So, what do you do?
I’m a space archaeologist. I study the artefacts and sites that are evidence of human engagement with outer space. I’m interested in how humans use objects to adapt to different space environments, whether that’s through orbital robots or Velcro, which was popularised after it was used in NASA space missions.
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What is space archaeology?
I use archaeological methods and theories to investigate the culture of space exploration. It’s about how space technology changes through time, and how it reflects social and scientific beliefs. While history focuses on the documents, archaeology looks at the material objects.
What kinds of artefacts are there to study?
We have left orbiters, landers, rovers and probes on many celestial bodies in the solar system. Earth orbit is full of junk, like the Vanguard 1 satellite, which was launched in 1958 and is the oldest human object in space. The moon has over 60 landing sites, including the only ones where humans have ever been off-world.
How did you end up working in this field?
I used to be a regular archaeologist. I worked as a heritage consultant with Aboriginal communities in Australia, specialising in stone tools. Once, I was looking up at the night sky and I had a revelation: the space junk orbiting Earth is our heritage too.
What are you working on right now?
I’m looking at with my fellow space archaeologist at Chapman University in California. We are using machine learning to analyse millions of NASA images to show how crew members interact with objects over time.
How has your field of study changed since you started working in it?
When I started out as a space archaeologist, there is no doubt that many of my colleagues thought it was a little cracked. Over the past decade we have made space archaeology a recognised field. And there is now some urgency about it. Even five years ago, all the heritage sites on the moon were more or less safe from disturbance. Now, everyone wants to go back to the moon and damage to these sites is no longer a theoretical concern.
Were you good at science at school?
I loved science, and I’m not ashamed to say I read encyclopaedias and textbooks for fun! I did well in all the sciences except physics, which I passed but didn’t shine in. It was enough to make me feel that a career in astrophysics was off the table. Boys could be average, but girls had to be brilliant to break into these fields back then.
If you could have a conversation with any scientist, living or dead, who would it be?
I’d love to meet Emilie du Châtelet. She translated Isaac Newton’s Principia Mathematica into French and in her commentary reconceptualised the relationship between energy, mass and velocity. Voltaire was her lover and they worked together on experiments. However, I’d argue that she was more brilliant than Voltaire, as she helped him during the day as well as managing the household and her family, and had to work on her own research at night.
Do you have an unexpected hobby, and if so, please will you tell us about it?
I like inventing space cocktails! My favourite creation is the Spider from Mars (in Australia, ice-cream sodas are called spiders): crème de cassis, freeze-dried ice cream, Prosecco and a green jelly baby as a garnish.
How useful will your skills be after the apocalypse?
As an archaeologist, I’m someone you will want to keep around. I know how to choose the right stone to make stone tools, plus a myriad of other ancient technologies that will keep us alive.
OK, one last thing: tell us something that will blow our minds…
There’s an empty experimental space station in orbit, Genesis II – but it’s not quite empty. It was sent into space with a population of Madagascar hissing cockroaches.
Alice Gorman is based at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia. She is the author of Dr Space Junk vs The Universe and tweets as
