She tells stories about impact of human beings in space

Space scientists interacting with the public humanises space technology, says Alice Gorman

Alice Gorman, space archaeologist

Hers is a job title that even James Bond would envy — Alice Gorman, space archaeologist.

Dr. Gorman, a pioneer in the field, is an archaeologist who turned her eyes skyward and never looked down after that. She was in the city on Thursday as part of the Australian delegation at the Bengaluru Space Expo 2016 and delivered a talk at St. Joseph’s College on the thrills of her profession.

Space archaeology is the study of human-made items in space, and the interpretation of these items to understand humankind’s foray into space. Scientists such as Dr. Gorman, who work with the Department of Archaeology at Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia, use images and data from ongoing space missions to study the impact of human beings on planets and satellites.

On Chandrayaan

In an interaction with students, she spoke about how India’s moon mission Chandrayaan-1 played an important role in furthering the cause of space archaeology. “Before landing, Chandrayaan hovered over and captured images of earlier landing sites. It helped to retrace the steps of previous moon missions, and to build the story of man’s mission on the moon,” she said.

A popular blogger who goes by the name Dr. Space Junk, Dr. Gorman feels that space scientists interacting with the public — like NASA spacecraft Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 which together have a Twitter account handled by NASA scientists — humanises space technology. Another instance of humanising space technology is of Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 which carried phonograph records with sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life. How readable the information will be if it is ever obtained by foreign life remains a question. “It’s funny that we hope aliens one day will be able to decipher the messages, when even children today wouldn’t know what to do with a record,” said Dr. Gorman.

The people who are most engaged with sharing information with the public are scientists who have worked on these projects, but they remain unrecognised, Dr. Gorman told The Hindu . “There is this idea of technology being cold and emotionless, and there’s no space for people to have an emotion or attachment about it, but that’s the stuff that makes our heritage,” she said .

She feels that even inanimate objects in space have a story. “A probe records its last moments before crash landing. It’s like it’s filming its own death,” she said. And it is her mission to preserve their story for future generations.