In 2003 I began work on a research project that has taken me to places that I never imagined: the cultural heritage of space exploration. Now I am determined to bring to light the secrets at the heart of the Space Age.
It just occurred to me that I have been writing this blog for 20 years. My first post was on July 4, 2004, about the International Space University in Adelaide. I'd heard about this new thing called blogging - short for web logging - and I thought I'd give it a crack. I was unemployed at the time, having resigned from my job the previous year in order to pursue space archaeology, which I'd been plugging away at on the side until that point. I was dirt poor and had no idea what I was going to do to survive.
The tagline of the blog is the original one. Every time I've thought I should update it, something holds me back. It's still largely true! While I've changed the appearance of the blog from time to time, some things have stayed the same.
These are my top ten most read posts, excluding a couple which were attacked by bots who artificially increased the statistics.
At a drunken dinner party, we decided to find out who the patron saint of astronauts is. The answer: St Joseph of Cupertino, and his story is rather interesting!
When the subject came up in online spaces like Twitter, members of the (mostly) male class would just go bananas about how language didn't matter. (If it didn't matter so much, why were they so ANGRY about it?) I tried to explain why it mattered, and how easy it was to do - if you cared enough.
This was about how the apparatus at children's playgrounds - swings, slides, merry-go-rounds, etc, were ways for children to adapt to 1 Earth gravity by learning how not to fall, and the consequences of falling, and to experience higher gravities through the acceleration provided by many of the apparatus. I aimed to foreground gravity rather than assuming it.
I've been obsessed with cable ties for a long time. I and my friend and colleague, Aylza Donald, made a conference poster about how they migrated from aerospace industry to being found in every household across many lands. Catch the #cabletielove and feel welcome to cite us!
Shadows have been another long-term obsession. You can read other posts about them here and here. I think people liked this one because it talks about the uncanny elements of living in space.
I'd always wanted to make a pun on spacecraft! Here is a post with various crafty things and people, and a surprise ending. Or should I say a 'happy ending'?
This was written as part of a writing festival curated by Nicola Twilley at GOOD magazine:
Food for Thinkers is a week-long, distributed, online conversation looking at food-writing from as wide and unusual a variety of perspectives as possible.
I decided to have a crack at space food, stringing together some ideas and facts that had been floating around in my head. I used some of the post later in my book. In case anyone disputes the value of blogs, I have found mine invaluable for testing out ideas that later become highly relevant, even though I didn't know it at the time.
A USB stick lobbed out of the International Space Station was the starting point for some musings about digital artefacts, the burning of space junk, and the anthropological theory of rites of passage.
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So there you go. I know my blog is clunky and terribly designed. Some of it is the limitations of Blogger, a platform which has been around almost as long as blogging itself, but most of it is my lack of ability. Blogger has served me well for twenty years of talking crap on the internet.
I haven't been the most serious blogger, only writing when the mood takes me. Some years this has been very little. But it has been my constant companion as I have developed some of my core ideas in space archaeology.
I have had some small impact I think - the blog is archived as a significant scientific publication by the National Library of Australia.
In my next post I'll list my top ten personal favourites.
In this post I looked at a few weird bot-generated videos (or AI-generated videos? I can't tell!) about space archaeology - they were both slightly alarming but also a bit exciting as they demonstrated that space archaeology has made it! People (and bots) know what it is!
There's a few more of them. I found this one particularly interesting as it's about how you can pursue a career in space archaeology. Let's break it down.
Careers in Astronomy: Space Archaeologist
Today, we're diving into the fascinating world of space archaeology - a unique blend of astronomy, archaeology and history.
Well sort of yes and sort of no. Space archaeology is archaeology, although like any historical archaeology, research in documents and archives are part of your suite of methods. You do also need some understanding of astronomy, astrodynamics and planetary science. It's not a career in astronomy, though. There are some astronomers who call themselves archaeologists because they are looking back in time at earlier periods of the universe. This makes the common mistake of assuming that archaeology is about old things. And I get it - it's in the title and some types of archaeology are about the far distant past. However, the definition of archaeology that archaeologists use is that it's about how humans use material culture to create societies and adapt to change over time - and this means recent time, or the present.
Archaeological theories and methods have a lot of application for how you might identify 'cultural' behaviour from astronomical data, but you'd still need a degree in archaeology to understand how to do this.
Roles and responsibilities
As a space archaeologist, your mission is to uncover the mysteries of the cosmos by analyzing ancient artefacts, spacecraft and debris left behind in space. You're like a cosmic detective, solving the puzzles of our celestial past.
Space archaeology isn't really on a cosmic scale as it concerns the human record of engagement with space. It's not, I repeat not, about alien artefacts. Archaeology shares with SETI the problems of interpretation - to try and understand other minds wether they are aliens or from another culture. You could look at the 1940s and 50s as another culture! The past is a foreign country - they do things differently there, as LP Hartley famously said. I discuss this in my foreword to Speaking Beyond Earth. Perspectives on Messaging Across Deep Space and Cosmic Time so I might as well give it a plug here.
The 'ancient artefacts' could mean ancient asttonomical-related material culture on Earth - how humans imagined, theorised and engaged with the heavens. That's called archaeoastronomy (not space archaeology).
So you're not going to be looking at cosmic or celestial artefacts, but spacecraft and debris left behind by humans. And believe me, there is plenty here to keep you fascinated!
Skills and qualifications
A curious mind, strong analytic skills, knowledge of astronomy, familiarity with space technology, and attention to detail.
Well those are all good things to have, although I'd argue that a curious mind, strong analytic skills and attention to detail are good to have for any job. (They're not qualifications though, see below). Knowledge of space stuff is essential. I spend a lot of time reading engineering documents and articles in space and planetary science journals too. It helps that I have high school physics. chemistry and maths.
Education and training
A background in astronomy, archaeology or a related field is essential. Many space archaeologists hold advanced degrees in these areas.
Yeah, nah. You need a degree in archaeology to be a space archaeologist. Preferably a minimum of honours or masters. I'm sorry to tell you this but you can't be a space archaeologist with a degree in astronomy, as you won't know any of the method, theory, and perhaps most importantly, ethics of archaeology. In the US archaeology comes under the umbrella of anthropology, so anthropology is acceptable. A degree in cultural heritage management, museum studies or conservation is also helpful.
Salary
The salary can vary widely depending on your experience and the organization you work for. It can range from $50, 00 to $100, 000 or more per year.
They don't say what currency of course! I guess this might be true of any entry level job. But you won't find space archaeologist as a category of job because to my knowledge, there is no-one currently employed anywhere as a space archaeologist. If such a job should be advertised, I want first dibs!
All space archaeologists currently work as academics, museum curators, or heritage consultants, but space archaeology is their research area or just a part of their job. I would say we're mostly academics. My job is mainly teaching, for example. The research component is space archaeology. I don't get to work at it all day, although that would be my dream.
Work environment
Christina Koch on the International Space Station, 2020. Credit: NASA
Space archaeologists work in a mix of environments, from labs analyzing dara to observatories observing the skies. You might also have the chance to collaborate with space agencies or research institutions.
You won't be working in an observatory or scanning the skies. You might use data from planetary observation or space junk monitoring though, and you might sit a lab at a computer analyzing data, such as that collected by the International Space Station Archaeological Project. You'll likely be part of a research institution, such as a university. And it's highly likely that you'll have to be talking to a space agency at some point.
Space archeologist
Your work helps us understand the history of space exploration and the artifacts left behind by humanity's journey into the cosmos. It contributes to our knowledge of our place in the universe. Space archeology is a thrilling career that combines history, science and exploration. If you're passionate about uncovering the secrets of space, and preserving our cosmic heritage, this might be the perfect path for you.
Some years ago, I had to make a costume for an International Space University party and thought that I would go as a space archaeologist. I found a yellow fluoro work vest and used a black texta (sharpie) to draw a logo of the fictional Institute of Space Archaeology. Then I made a name tag, using an old plastic sleeve from a conference, and invented the character Tasmania Smith, Director of the lunar office of the Institute of Space Archaeology (ISA). At the bottom of the name tag, I wrote Tasmania Smith's email address:
tsmith@isa.luna
This is possibly the first ever specific lunar domain name.
It was just to add a little authenticity to the character, but when I came across the photo again recently, it made me wonder if provision had been made yet for off-Earth domains. I went looking for academic or industry literature on this topic. I looked in Google Scholar, the NASA Technical Report Server, and Arxiv, and generally puddled around on the internet. As far as I can tell, there is no literature on how domain names would work in space.
Certainly at this stage astronauts just use the email addresses of their countries or employers - there is no specific International Space Station address, for example - crew use nasa.gov, or esa or Russia or whatever. Interplanetary internet connects spacecraft of all kinds with Earth and each other.
But it seems there is no Domain Name System (DNS) for space yet. The Interational Standardization Organiztion is responsible for domain names on Earth. ISO 3166-1 alpha 2 establishes the two-letter country codes. So I suppose they could do the space codes too.
Eventually, each planet or asteroid might have its own suffix. There doesn't seem to be any commonly used abbreviations for the planets, even by the International Astronomical Union. You could make an abbreviation out of the Latin or Greek names, but the trick is to make sure that they aren't duplicating national ones. And yes, celestial body names are an expression of European hegemony and colonialism, as are many country names, but they are commonly understood at least.
So I went though the list of two-letter country-code top-level domains to find those that might be unused and available for planets. A harder task than it seems! Many of the most obvious two-letter codes already belong to a country. What's left isn't always the most intuitive thing to call a planet. However, there are so few planets compared to countries that perhaps a whole word or abbreviation would work. For the Moon and Mars, all the obvious two-letter codes are already in use.
So we might have:
Mercury - He, short for Hermes, the Greek equivalent of Mercury
Venus - Ap, short for Aphrodite
Earth - Ea, or Te for Tellus, or Gaia as a whole word
Moon - Luna
Mars - Mars
Jupiter - Jv, short for Jove
Saturn - Cu, short for Cronus, the Greek equivalent of Saturn
Neptune - Po, short for Poseidon
Uranus - Ur, not taken for any country yet!
Pluto - Pu. the closest available abbreviation
Sun - Sun
For Moons other than Earth's, the relevant planet's domain can be used. Just to be precise, we might define the spatial extent of the domain as the planet's Hill Sphere. It's likely that we wouldn't need anything beyond Mars in any case.
There might need to be special ones for spacecraft moving between different planets. I'm not sure why they'd need one, but perhaps they have human or AI inhabitants. A mobile domain might present its own issues to resolve.
In the early years of lunar habitation, crew or inhabitants will still likely use national or agency domain names. The Outer Space Treaty makes nations responsible for the activities of their citizens in space. The point at which you'll need a lunar domain name is when there is lunar government separate to Earth. One of the first acts of a lunar rebellion might be to assert independence by declaring a new domain with its own code. This may also imply the presence of local servers.
A private corporation providing a domain server might get to apply its code to a planet or moon. So keep an eye on what the space billionaires are doing - this might be a step is asserting political dominance.
Maybe there will also be the equivalent of gmail or yahoo in space. Maybe there will be open source or citizen higher level domains.
Don't ask me how this works in practice, I'm not sure I understand the technical aspects!
