AHiS 2021 – The setup of the plant growth chamber on the ISS
The plant chamber for basil and starting the experiment. A brief overview of how basil is grown on the International Space Station
Astrobiology origins and whakapapa Māori – a parallel
The First Nation (indigenous) peoples of Aotearoa (New Zealand) are known as the Māori. Māori have an oral tradition of reciting the Whakapapa – the genealogy of human origins back to the beginning of the Universe – recognizing the Sun, the Planets, and other stars as senior progenitors of humanity which, in these stories, included many of the stages in a process that parallels the western hypothesis of the Big Bang.
Hans Huybrighs, Max Planck Institute and European Space Agency (ESA)
Hans Huybrighs from Max Plank Institute is visiting Wellington. He will give a talk for the New Zealand Astrobiology Network in partnership with Milky-Way.kiwi, News from the Galactic Centre talking about water volcanoes on Europa, and what is it like to be tasting an extraterrestrial ocean.
Daniella Scalice, Education and Communication Lead for the NASA Astrobiology Program, visits New Zealand
Daniella Scalice, Education and Communication Lead for the NASA Astrobiology Program is coming to New Zealand in October. In 2005 she and her Diné colleagues co-founded the “NASA and the Navajo Nation” initiative, an ongoing collaboration that has produced classroom materials, teacher trainings, and student summer camps which weave together Western scientific and Navajo Cultural knowledge. We are looking forward to welcoming her to New Zealand.
Angélica Anglés, astrobiologist, visiting New Zealand
Dr Angélica Anglés attended the Astrobiology Australasia Meeting 2018 in June 2018 and also the Synergies in Space Mission to Mars in September 2018. Angélica Anglés completed her BEng at the University of Gävle (Sweden) and University of Valencia (Spain). She completed 3 MSc degrees in Space Geodesy, Astrophysics and Planetary Science at University of […]
Professor Ian Hawes, Waikato University
Like many, Ian came to Astrobiology by accident. A career-long research focus on Antarctic lakes, a network of collaborators and a conversation in a Chicago pub led to the revelation that some of these lakes, where microbes rule, contain analogues of the earliest known communities on Earth. Since then the theme of astrobiology has been […]
Dr Mitch Schulte, NASA
Mitch Schulte is a Program Scientist with the Mars Exploration Program in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. As a Program Scientist, Mitch is responsible for and manages the science content of a number of NASA’s Mars missions. He has visited New Zealand in 2018.
Professor Kathy Campbell at the AM show about NASA MSL rover’s discovery of methane on Mars
NASA MSL rover discovers methane on Mars, what does it mean? Listen to NZAN Professor Kathy Campbell talking on New Zealand’s TV3 AM show about the NASA Curiosity discovery of organic molecules on Mars’ surface.
Europe launches a Virtual Institute for Astrobiology
Europe launches The European Astrobiology Institute (EAI) at the recommendations of the AstroMap Report.
Prof Martin Van Kranendonk PhD, University of NSW
Martin was trained in Canada, receiving his PhD in 1992, and then moved to Australia in 1994 to commence research on the Pilbara. In 1997 he joined the Geological Survey of Western Australia and in 2012 moved to UNSW as Professor of Geology. He is the Director of the NASA-affiliated Australian Centre for Astrobiology at UNSW, Deputy Director of the […]