20 August 2020

HOW TO BE A STAR CITIZEN IN SPACE 
PANEL DISCUSSION, FACILITATED BY TORY SHEPHERD
JUST A THOUGHT SERIES

THURSDAY 20 AUGUST,
6PM TO 7.15PM, ACST,
6.30PM TO 7.45PM, AEST

Online Event
Presented by The Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre

Access Video HERE

People are rocketing out into the unknown, talking about colonising Mars, populating the Low Earth Orbit with shiny satellites, and relying more than ever before on data beamed up and back down. Ideas that were once thought purely science fiction are no longer considered unrealistic dreams.

This new frontier sparks ethical questions about what our rights and obligations are as spacefarers, and who is responsible if things go wrong? The truth may be out there, but we have to start talking about the search for it, down here. We owe it to ourselves and generations to come to create a safe, inclusive and ethical future in space. 

Our panel will reflect on the ethical considerations space raises, such as the impact human activity has on ourselves and our celestial neighbours, planetary defence and archaeological preservation. 

PROFESSOR ALAN DUFFY
PROGRAM LEAD FOR SPACETECH APPLICATIONS, DSRI
SWINBURNE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

Professor Duffy creates simulated universes on supercomputers to understand how galaxies like our Milky Way form within vast clouds of dark matter. He is trying to find this dark matter as part of SABRE, the world’s first dark matter detector in the Southern Hemisphere, which is currently under construction in Wantirna to be delivered this year to the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory.

More recently Professor Duffy has become the Project Lead of SpaceTech Applications at Swinburne's Data Science Research Institute, finding novel uses for astrophysical knowledge in aiding business and society on Earth. He is Lead Scientist of the Royal Institution of Australia.

website
Twitter: @astroduff

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR ALICE GORMAN
HERITAGE CONSULTANT AND LECTURER, FLINDERS UNIVERSITY

Associate Professor Alice Gorman is an internationally recognised leader in the field of space archaeology. Her research focuses on the archaeology and heritage of space exploration, including space junk, planetary landing sites, off-earth mining, rocket launch pads and antennas.

She is an Associate Professor at Flinders University and a heritage consultant with over 25 years’ experience working with Indigenous communities in Australia. In collaboration with NASA and Chapman University, she is conducting the first archaeological study of the International Space Station. She is also a mentor in the UN Office of Outer Space Affairs Space4Women Mentor Network. Her book Dr Space Junk vs the Universe: Archaeology and the Future (MIT Press, 2019) won the NIB Literary Award People’s Choice for Non-Fiction and the John Mulvaney Book Award. She tweets as @drspacejunk and blogs at Space Age Archaeology.

Blog: Space Age Archaeology
Twitter: @drspacejunk

DR EVIE KENDAL
SPACE ETHICS SPECIALIST AND LECTURER, SWINBURNE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

Dr Evie Kendal is a lecturer of health promotion at Swinburne University of Technology. She started teaching about space ethics at the Yale Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics in 2015, and has since presented space ethics workshops for various public events including Pint of Science, National Science Week, and Moonshot Space Co's NASA Space Apps Challenge. Evie's publications in space ethics include ‘No Conscience of Its Own’: The Need for Global Space Ethics Review' in Planetary Defense: Global Collaboration for Defending Earth from Asteroids and Comets (Springer, 2019, Nikola Schmidt, ed.), 'Biological Modification as Prophylaxis: How Extreme Environments Challenge the Treatment/Enhancement Divide' in Human Enhancements for Space Missions: Lunar, Martian, and Future Missions to the Outer Planets (Springer 2020, Konrad Szocik, ed.), and an upcoming chapter entitled 'Environmental and Occupational Ethics in Early Lunar Populations; Establishing Guidelines for Future Off-World Settlements' for a new collection focused on Lunar colonisation.

The Conversation, Articles

FACILITATOR: TORY SHEPHERD
JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR

Tory Shepherd is a columnist at The Advertiser, a freelance writer, and the author of On Freedom.

After finishing Honours in Anthropology and a Masters in Communication, she ended up as a ‘mature-age’ cadet at the paper 15 years ago. She is a Walkley Award judge and a Churchill Fellow.

Twitter: @ToryShepherd
Facebook: Tory Shepherd

JUST A THOUGHT SERIES

This event is presented as part of Just A Thought, an exclusive In-Conversation series presented by The Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre with Tory Shepherd. Hear captivating interviews with inspiring contemporary thinkers and change-makers who are shaping Australia’s future. Speakers will share their thoughts on addressing our most pressing issues and discuss how we can have a positive impact on our society. 

Other events in this series:
Senator The Hon Penny Wong
Dictators, Despotism and Democracy
Slaves in the System
Breaking the News