So we didn’t hit our target on Kickstarter….boo! Although it is all about the journey and ultimately educating the public on the possibilities of life outside of the Earth. To this end here is a list of all the wonderful press we got on our project, including a number of articles written by myself on the topic of Mars gardening!
We will not give up trying to get the exhibit off the ground so watch this space… Thank you all for your support xx
Astrogardening on sen.com
Check out a wonderful article on our Kickstarter campaign here on sen.com by the lovely Paul Sutherland.
Still a long way to go to get our funding, please help!!
xxx
AstroGardening in the Press
A lovely blog on our AstroGardening Kickstarter Project by Next Nature…Thank you!
http://www.nextnature.net/2013/05/lets-build-a-garden-on-mars/
AstroGardening on Kickstarter – please pledge!
Hi all,
Well I am not sure how this is going to play out, but today my AstroGardening Kickstarter project went live, which I have created with the wonderful installation designer Vanessa Harden!
We need to raise £10,000 in 29 days…not a small feat!
Take a look here and if you love the project as much as we do, please consider pledging!
Summary: Have you ever looked up at the sky and wondered what it would be like to live on another planet?
If we as humans want to visit or even live on Mars, we will need food. And not just food shipped to us from Earth, but sustainable food that we can grow, live off and cultivate for future generations. We need gardens, and lots of them! And we need the worlds’ first gardening rover! We have designed and will build an exhibit to be housed in some of London’s most beautiful venues, to educate and inspire the next generation of thinkers, scientists and designers.
EPSC 2013 abstract deadline soon!!!
Dear Astrobiology enthusiasts….
The deadline for abstract submission for the European Planetary Science Congress 2013 is now just one week away, on Monday the 6th May! Please consider submitting an abstract to our session:
AB2 Biomarkers of Life within Planetary Analogue Environments
Summary: The search for evidence of life primarily focuses on the detection of biomarkers, either through morphological, mineralogical or chemical signatures. Their identification and characterisation within analogue environments of other planetary bodies on the Earth, provides us with the tools for identifying life on other worlds and helps drive instrument design for future planetary missions.
This is a broad category, and we are hoping to get a range of abstracts to cover as many different analogue environments and biomarkers as possible.
Any questions please don’t hesitate to email louisa.preston@open.ac.uk.
Week one: HI-SEAS
Week One: Mission Support team for HI-SEAS!
HI-SEAS is the Hawai’i Space Exploration Analog and Simulation mission funded by NASA to study the food preparation strategies for long-term space exploration. It is a 4 month mission, that includes many scientific and human-based studies all focused on future space exploration and human habitation of the cosmos!
The NASA Human Exploration & Operations Mission Directorate has identified a number of risks associated with long-term human space exploration. Many of these can be fruitfully investigated in an Earth-bound analog environment – that is, somewhere on Earth that is similar to the target space environment in relevant ways. HI-SEAS is a planetary surface exploration analog site at ~8500 feet on the Mauna Loa side of the saddle area on the Big Island of Hawaii. HI-SEAS is funded for its first season of operation by a grant from the NASA Human Research Program, for research focusing on new forms of food and new food preparation strategies for long-term space exploration. This first mission will involve six astronaut-like (in terms of education, experience, and attitude) crewmembers living in the habitat for 120 days under Mars-exploration conditions (e.g. with communication latencies and blackouts, in close quarters, under strict water-use rules etc.). The crew has been selected from over 700 applicants, and includes as The Mission Commander my good friend and fellow TED Fellow Angelo Vermeulen. You can check out his blog on the mission here!
It has only been a few days so far and my first shift starts on Wednesday evening (8am Hawaii time), so more updates coming soon!
So much exciting Astrobiology happening!
So I have been a bit quiet recently, not solely due to having the flu for the last week, but because I have been so busy! There are a number of things in the pipeline which I can’t discuss just yet….teaser I know….but a few great Astrobiology events are coming up!
Monday 15th April myself and Natalie Starkey will be doing ‘Take 2′ of our Reading Cafe Scientifique event at the launch of the brand new Cafe Scientifique Milton Keynes run by a few of our very own fantastic Open University PhD students! It is going to be a great event, I love speaking with my work wife Nat, and of course we will be bringing the meteorites! Come on down!
Tuesday 16th April I fly to Edinburgh for the Astrobiology Society of Britain and UK Space Agency conference on ‘Molecules and life in the Extremes‘! This is shaping up to be a brilliant meeting and I, along with others, will be tweeting from all the great talks!
That’s it for now, more news coming soon 
My Parliamentary Début….
Here is a link to the Science and Technology Select Committee meeting yesterday for Voice of The Future 2013…I ask my question at 10.57 ish….and haven’t completely embarrassed myself I don’t think It was a surreal but great experience, I recommend it!
Voice of the Future 2013
So am currently reading up on UK Science Policy before tomorrow where I will be joining other nominated scientists from across the country for Voice of the Future 2013. We will be talking to MPs about the state of science in the UK, and what we can do to make it better! I am looking forward to the discussions, plus getting a sneaky peak inside the Houses of Parliament 
I am also really proud to have been nominated by my university for this, thanks OU! Will let you all know how it goes!
Cambridge Science Festival 2013
My poor boss is sick so I am heading to the Cambridge Science Festival today to take her place for an hour long lecture tonight! I have only had a few days notice, but am still really excited to head over there. The advertised talk “Astronomy by Microscope” will be replaced by “The Search for life in the Universe” I am afraid, but I hope people will still turn out! Wish me luck…this is the epitome of winging it!!
