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Celebrating 10 Years of the Curiosity Mars Rover

Posted on by Oleksandr

WHEN A JETPACK FIRST LOWERED CURIOSITY ONTO MARS, SHE WAS ONLY SETTING OUT ON A TWO-YEAR MISSION TO DISCOVER WHETHER THE RED PLANET COULD HAVE HOMED ANCIENT MICROBIAL LIFE. FAST FORWARD 10 YEARS – THE CAR-SIZED ROVER IS STILL EXPLORING WITH NO SIGNS OF STOPPING.

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Since landing, Curiosity has travelled 17.5 miles and climbed over 2000ft in elevation. You can even track her live location! The rover still has practically full capabilities, with all science instruments said to be working almost just as they were when they landed.

Curiosity has collected 41 material samples, had her data published in 883 scientific papers and captured 494,540 images – including a 1.8-billion-pixel panorama, her largest and highest resolution panorama ever.

A great way to keep up with Curiosity’s adventures is to follow her Twitter account. As of August 2022, she has 4.3 million followers cheering her on.

Launched in November 2011, Curiosity was designed to explore Gale Crater, a 96-mile-wide impact basin with a 3-mile-high rock-layered mountain called Mount Sharp in the centre. This particular landing site was chosen as it has several signs of the historic presence of water. Scientists back on Earth wanted to discover the history of this crater, how it came to be, and what it could teach us about the Red Planet’s history.

After years of exploration, experts concluded the crater was formed around 3.7 billion years ago when a large meteor hit the planet, annihilating the rock below while forming the mountain peak in the middle.

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In alignment with NASA’s Mars Exploration Program, Curiosity’s main science goals are divided into four categories:

• determine whether life ever arose on Mars

• characterize the climate of Mars

• characterize the geology of Mars

• prepare for human exploration

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To mark 10 incredible years of exploration and discovery, we’re looking back over Curiosity’s achievements as one of the largest and most powerful rovers ever sent to Mars.

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DISCOVERING AN ANCIENT STREAMBED

Only seven weeks after landing, Curiosity discovered smooth, rounded pebbles that experts believe likely rolled downstream for miles on an ancient streambed. The varying sizes and shapes of these rocks allowed experts to calculate the speed and depth of the water that once flowed there.

“At a minimum, the stream was flowing at a speed equivalent to a walking pace – a meter, or three feet, per second – and it was ankle-deep to hip-deep,” said Rebecca Williams of the Planetary Science Institute.

Since life thrives around water on Earth, this first discovery suggested that parts of Mars may well have been habitable billions of years ago.

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DRILLING SAMPLES FROM MARTIAN ROCK

Curiosity later drilled her first sample from an ancient network of streams flowing from the rim of Gale Crater. Vital chemical ingredients for life such as nitrogen, sulphur, oxygen, carbon, hydrogen and phosphorus were discovered in powder from the sedimentary rock. Layers of mudstone, nodules, and veins were also found in the ancient bedrock, indicating that the planet experienced multiple periods of wet conditions. After studying the sample further, scientists found that clay minerals made up at least 20% of its composition – these minerals form when fresh water reacts with igneous materials. Experts concluded that rivers and lakes existed in Gale Crater for a million years, if not longer.

“The range of chemical ingredients we have identified in the sample is impressive, and it suggests pairings such as sulphates and sulphides that indicate a possible chemical energy source for micro-organisms,” said Paul Mahaffy, principal investigator of the SAM suite of instruments at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

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DETECTING ACTIVE AND ANCIENT ORGANIC CHEMICALS

After discovering the historic presence of water and life-supporting chemistry, Curiosity went on to measure a tenfold increase of methane – an organic chemical – in Mars’ atmosphere over a two-month period. This was a huge discovery as methane is produced both by chemical reactions and by living organisms – this means that present-day Mars is an active environment.

“This temporary increase in methane – sharply up and then back down – tells us there must be some relatively localized source,” commented Sushil Atreya of the University of Michigan, a member of the Curiosity rover science team. “There are many possible sources, biological or non-biological, such as interaction of water and rock.”

 

ASSESSING RADIATION LEVELS

Aside from discovering about Mars’ past, Curiosity has taught us about our potential future on the planet. The rover has been measuring and assessing the planet’s radiation levels with her Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD), helping scientists understand potential risks to human visitors.
While Earth has a magnetic field to shield it from high-energy particles, Mars does not. This kind of radiation can cause serious problems both for health and for astronaut’s life support systems. However, data from Curiosity’s RAD suggests that natural Martian elements like sediment and rock could shield astronauts from this harmful radiation.

In 2019, Curiosity was parked by a cliff in Murray Buttes from September 9th to 12th. During this time, RAD reported a decrease in overall radiation of 4%, and a decrease in neutral particle radiation of 7.5%. These findings sparked new areas of research, one of which involved Curiosity’s counterpart, Perseverance, being sent to Mars with spacesuit samples to see how they fare against the planet’s radiation.

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So, there you have it. After 6686 Martian days, Curiosity’s incredible journey and discoveries like these have led to some ground-breaking conclusions about the Red Planet’s history, as well as our future there.

“A fundamental question for this mission is whether Mars could have supported a habitable environment,” said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA’s Mars Exploration Program at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. “From what we know now, the answer is yes.”

Thanks to Curiosity, scientists have pieced together the history of Mars’ evolution. Now we’ve answered this essential question, it seems we still have a lot to learn.

On her 10th birthday, we’re wishing this curious robot many more on Martian soil as she continues to fuel our understanding of the planet.

NASA’s Orion Spacecraft Ready for Deep Space Tests

Posted on by Oleksandr

NASA’S SPACE LAUNCH SYSTEM (SLS) AND ORION SPACECRAFT ARE READY FOR AN UNCREWED TEST FLIGHT AROUND THE MOON ON MONDAY.

This is the first in a series of increasingly complicated tests under the Artemis 1 mission, working towards getting humans back on the Moon and eventually onto Mars.

Monday’s launch will be NASA’s first moon rocket test flight since 1967. For the first time in a generation, this human spacecraft designed for deep-space missions will usher in a new era of space exploration. If Orion returns from the Moon as planned, astronauts could be setting off on their own mission around the Moon in 2023 before actually landing there in 2025.

“We are go for launch, which is absolutely outstanding. This day has been a long time coming,” commented Robert Cana, NASA Associate Administrator. “I’m a product of the Apollo generation, and look what it did for us. I cannot wait to see what comes from the Artemis generation because I think it’s going to inspire even more than Apollo did.”

The entire spacecraft stands at 322 feet, which is almost as tall as The Shard in London. SLS, which will catapult the Orion capsule into space, has been dubbed the most powerful rocket ever built.

NASA has now extended Orion’s initial 21-day mission to 42 days. Once the spacecraft has orbited the Moon, it will have travelled around 40,000 miles beyond the far side of the Moon – further than any crewed spacecraft has travelled before. The craft will spend around two weeks in orbit before returning to Earth for an ocean splashdown.

“We are pushing the vehicle to its limits, really stressing it to get ready for crew. It is incredibly risky,” said NASA Associate Administrator for Exploration Systems Development, Jim Free.

Launch is set for Monday 29th August from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, 8:33am local time (1:33pm in the UK). While many space-enthusiasts will flock to watch liftoff in person, you can also catch it on NASA’s website, their app and or their YouTube channel.

NASA’s Artemis 1 mission heralds a huge leap in space exploration. This is an incredibly exciting time not just for the space community, but for the whole of humanity. As NASA prepares for this mission milestone, we can’t wait to see where this extraordinary project takes us.

NASA Record Supermassive Black Hole’s Song

Posted on by Oleksandr

FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, NASA HAVE MADE SOUNDWAVES FROM A SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE AUDIBLE.

The eerie wails wouldn’t sound out of place in a horror film, with some comparing it to a whale’s song or a Pink Floyd track.

While this isn’t the universe’s first celestial melody, we’ve only recently developed the technology to hear them. Astronomers first detected acoustic waves transmitting through the gas surrounding this black hole in 2003.

Principle investigator of the NASA sonification project, Kimberly Arcand, commented, “The idea that there are these supermassive black holes sprinkled throughout the universe that are… belching out incredible songs is a very tantalising thing.”

The sound waves originated from the centre of the Perseus galaxy cluster, which is essentially a giant gas cloud. Pressure waves sent from the centre of the black hole have caused the cluster’s hot gas to ripple, with the cluster containing so much gas that it allows some sound to travel.

The Perseus galaxy cluster is one of Earth’s closest clusters. It’s so full of galaxies, experts assume it to be one of the most enormous objects in the universe.

“The misconception that there is no sound in space originates because most space is a vacuum, providing no way for sound waves to travel,” commented a NASA spokesperson. “A galaxy cluster has so much gas that we’ve picked up actual sound. Here it’s amplified, and mixed with other data, to hear a black hole.”

NASA’s experts amplified the noise – translating astronomical data into sound – to give the rest of the world a peek into the unknown. The original sound is 57 octaves below middle C, making it inaudible to humans.

“Another way to put this is that they are being heard 144 quadrillion and 288 quadrillion times higher than their original frequency,” a NASA spokesperson commented.

Black holes are one of the universe’s greatest mysteries. Even after decades of research, there’s still a lot we don’t know.

A black hole’s gravitational field is so strong that no light can escape. We can’t directly view them with any light we are able to detect, or observe them directly with telescopes detecting x-rays or other forms of electromagnetic radiation. We can only deduce their presence by observing their effect on nearby matter. NASA’s astounding discovery triggers new questions about black holes and potential areas of research to better understand them.

This audio clip is a portal into corners of the universe many never dreamed they’d reach. NASA have shed some light on the mystery surrounding black holes – what will be discovered next?

SpaceX Starlink Satellites Threatened by Russian Space Junk

Posted on by Oleksandr

SPACEX RECENTLY REPORTED THAT RUSSIAN SPACE DEBRIS WAS ON A COLLISION COURSE WITH SPACEX STARLINK SATELLITES. RESEARCHERS DOCUMENTED OVER 6,000 NEAR-MISSES.

The debris was created in 2021 when Russia used an anti-satellite weapon (ASAT) to destroy the defunct 2,000kg Cosmos 1408 satellite, launched in the Soviet era. The explosion created around 1,500 pieces of space debris, now orbiting between 300 and 1,100 km above Earth. According to the US Space Command, this debris “will likely generate hundreds of thousands of pieces of smaller orbital debris over time.”

The near collisions were discussed at the Small Satellite Conference in Utah last week. Dan Oltrogge, chief scientist at COMSPOC, reported that debris from the destruction of Cosmos 1408 is causing an increase in close approaches, or “conjunction squalls.” COMSPOC tracked over 6,000 squalls within 10km of Starlink satellites, threatening 841 of their 2,748 satellites in low-Earth orbit.

Russia made headlines again earlier this year when from the same debris “endangered” the International Space Station (ISS), resulting in an avoidance manoeuvre. The ISS crew had to take cover in their escape capsule as the debris cloud passed.

It must be noted that SpaceX’s hands aren’t exactly clean when it comes to space debris. Earlier this month, a sheepherder in rural Australia discovered a large piece of space debris from SpaceX’s Crew-1 Dragon spacecraft. The debris was said to be from the spacecraft’s trunk, which transports the spacecraft’s solar panels and allows unpressurized cargo to be transported to the ISS.

Space debris, also known as ‘space junk’, is a growing problem in the space sector. As of April 2022, the European Space Agency reported over 30,000 pieces of debris with a mass of over 9,000 metric tons. Debris collisions have already caused significant damage to important satellites, and with more launches taking place than ever before, the probability of collisions is increasing. The probability of any satellite in low Earth orbit colliding with a piece of debris over 1cm is now 50% in a year.

With close calls like this becoming a more regular occurrence, it’s clear that something needs to be done about the space junk problem. Experts are currently developing innovate methods to clean up space with exciting projects like Astroscale’s ELSA-d, a spacecraft that uses a magnetic capture system to capture debris, already reporting successful tests.

As the threat posed by space debris becomes greater, the sector looks to these companies for a solution before it reaches breaking point.

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Shaun the Sheep recruited as NASA’s latest astronaut

Posted on by Oleksandr

IN A WONDERFULLY SURPRISING TURN OF EVENTS, SHAUN THE SHEEP WILL BE FLYING ON NASA’S ARTEMIS 1 MOON MISSION, SET FOR AUGUST 29TH.

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Artemis 1 is the first in a series of tests that will allow humans to explore the Moon and Mars. Through the Artemis program, NASA aims to jump-start its exploration plans by over four years, establishing sustainable exploration by the end of the decade. The program also hopes to send the first woman and person of colour to the Moon.

The European Space Agency (ESA) is working in partnership with Shaun’s creators, Bristol-based Aardman Animations, to send the sheep – in doll form – on an adventure beyond the stars.

A long way from Mossy Bottom Farm, Shaun is set to fly beyond the Moon aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft, returning to Earth after the month-long flight. This will be a solo mission for Shaun, the spacecraft’s only passenger.

The stop-motion star will be flying past the Moon, where the spacecraft will use lunar gravity to propel itself another 70,000km. This is further than man or sheep has gone before.

“This is an exciting time for Shaun and for us at ESA,” said David Parker, ESA’s director for human and robotic exploration. “We’re woolly very happy that he’s been selected for the mission and we understand that, although it might be a small step for a human, it’s a giant leap for lambkind.”

Shaun is currently preparing for his mission, undertaking astronaut training around the world and becoming familiar with the Orion spacecraft. He even flew aboard the Airbus ‘Zero G’ A310 aircraft, which creates a minimal-gravity experience similar to in space.

Aardman’s marketing director Lucy Wendover said, “Aardman is excited to be joining ESA in making history by launching the first ‘sheep’ into space. As one of the first astronauts to fly an Artemis mission, Shaun is leading the way in lunar exploration, a great honour for our woolly adventurer! 2022 marks the 15th anniversary of Shaun’s first TV series, so what better way to celebrate than by travelling farther than any sheep has gone before.”

We’re wishing Shaun the best of luck on his biggest adventure yet.

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Image: Shaun the Sheep at the Bullring

Credit: Elliott Brown

Star Trek’s Nichelle Nichols – TV Icon & NASA Recruiter

Posted on by Oleksandr

NICHELLE NICHOLS, MOST FAMOUS FOR HER ICONIC ROLE AS COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER LT. NYOTA UHURA IN THE ORIGINAL STAR TREK SERIES, HAS DIED AT THE AGE OF 89.

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Nichelle’s son announced her death on Facebook last Sunday morning,

“I regret to inform you that a great light in the firmament no longer shines for us as it has for so many years. Her light however, like the ancient galaxies now being seen for the first time, will remain for us and future generations to enjoy, learn from and draw inspiration.”

Nichelle was a true pioneer across both the television and space industries. As Lt. Uhura, she pushed boundaries as the first Black actress to be cast in a continuous co-starring role. Not only this, but she featured in US television’s first interracial kiss with William Shatner.

Nichols’ influence spread beyond film and television – she even managed to incorporate her life-long fascination with space travel. She was a passenger on NASA’s C-141 Astronomy Observatory, which conducted an eight-hour high-altitude mission to study the atmospheres of Mars and Saturn. A decade after Star Trek ended, she was even hired by NASA to encourage more women and Black Americans to become astronauts. Check out her 1977 recruitment video.

Many of NASA’s employees referenced Nichols’ performance in Star Trek as their inspiration to join the agency. With her involvement, they went on to recruit Guion Bluford, the first Black American in space, Mae Jemison, the first Black woman in space, and Sally Ride, the first American woman in space.

At Nichols’ 85th birthday party, Jemison recounted seeing Lt. Uhura on her television as a child and knowing her dream was within reach,

“How we think about the world is shaped by our fantasies. Star Trek’ happened to be a really great fantasy. Nichelle represented the fact that we had inclusion everywhere, and it so much has influenced how people think of a hopeful future. What we have to do today is get back to that.”

Following Nichols’ death, Jemison tweeted,

“@NichelleIsUhura is forever for me the embodiment of grace, daring, intelligence, fun, inspiration, beauty, talent & the future. Today I am heart-sad at her passing. I consider our dearest friendship a great treasure & privilege in my life.”

Alongside Jamison, Sally Ride thanked Nichols for inspiring her career,

“I think it’s been one of the most remarkable things in my career … that this one character that was a gift to me … became this iconic image and inspired and impacted so many people’s lives in positive ways.”

Nichelle Nichols’ influence will transcend her lifetime. Her performance fuelled a generation’s fascination with space, standing as testament to the countless influences that have shaped the space sector as we know it. She inspired us to strive for more, regardless of social constructs.

In what was still a segregated time, the representation of a Black female on television – a sci-fi series no less – was groundbreaking. Legends like Nichols paved the way for a more sustainable space industry through diversity, inclusion, and inspiration. As she exemplified so perfectly, space really is for everyone. Representation like this is what will continue to drive the sector into the future, allowing it to progress and thrive alongside humanity.

In light of her passing, the world celebrates the life’s work and accomplishments of a true icon.

Image: Nichelle Nichols speaking at the 2013 Phoenix Comicon at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona.

Credit: Gage Skidmore
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Earth completes its fastest ever rotation – what does this mean?

Posted on by Oleksandr

ON JUNE 29, THE EARTH EXPERIENCED ITS SHORTEST DAY ON RECORD. IT COMPLETED ONE ROTATION IN 1.59 MILLISECONDS UNDER ITS USUAL 24 HOURS.

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IT MAY SEEM INSIGNIFICANT, BUT THE POTENTIAL IMPACTS HAVE BEEN CALLED ‘DEVASTATING’.

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Typically, Earth’s average rotation decreases sightly over time. This has led to 27 ‘leap seconds’ – an extra second to keep our clocks in sync with solar time – to be added to the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). We last added a leap second on New Year’s Eve 2016. Midnight struck twice worldwide as clocks paused for one second, allowing the Earth’s rotation to catch up with us.

Contrastingly, the speeding up of Earth’s rotation could require a ‘negative leap second’. This means that for the first time in history, timekeepers may need to speed up clocks worldwide and effectively remove time. The potential effects of this could impact some key components of modern life.

If this continues, our satellite communication and navigation systems could be compromised as they rely heavily on time’s consistency with the usual positions of the sun, moon and stars. Not only this, but various IT systems and software that depend on schedulers and timers could be seriously affected. Such systems could experience large-scale outages if their internal clocks were to be moved backwards. Experts have called the potential consequences ‘devastating’.

Scientists have speculated on the possible causes of this record-breaking rotation. One explanation could be the Chandler Wobble – movement in Earth’s axis of rotation that causes latitude to vary. Dr. Leonid Zotov, of the Sternberg Astronomical Institute, noted that, “The normal wobble amplitude is about four meters at Earth’s surface, but from 2017 to 2020 it disappeared.” Without this wobble, Earth is completing its rotation faster than usual.

Another potential cause could be climate change. Rising sea levels are impacting the Earth’s distribution of mass, bringing it closer to its rotation axis and speeding up its rate of rotation. This process has been compared to an ice skater pulling their arms in while spinning to increase speed.

Processes taking places in the planet’s inner molten core could also be to blame. Experts discovered that the Earth’s core is in fact rotating slightly faster than the planet itself. Over the past 100 years, this has resulted in the core gaining a quarter-turn on the rest of the planet.

While the exact cause is undetermined, it may well be a combination of all possibilities.

Following this record-breaking rotation, only time will tell the measures experts may take to keep our clocks in check.

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Nancy Grace Roman – NASA’s Next-Generation Space Telescope

Posted on by Oleksandr

IMAGES FROM THE JAMES WEBB TELESCOPE LEFT THE WORLD STARSTRUCK. THANKS TO ITS STATE-OF-THE-ART TECHNOLOGIES, WE WERE ABLE TO GAZE FURTHER INTO DEEP SPACE THAN EVER BEFORE – UNTIL NOW.

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NASA’S NANCY GRACE ROMAN SPACE TELESCOPE, SET TO LAUNCH IN 2026, WILL TAKE US EVEN FURTHER.

This next-generation space telescope promises to be an extremely powerful tool, allowing us to study the cosmos and its many galaxies from a brand new perspective.

NASA recently announced a $255m partnership with SpaceX for Roman’s launch. Liftoff will take place at the Kennedy Space Center aboard a Falcon Heavy rocket.

Roman, which cost $4.3 billion in total, will combine tried and tested technologies with state-of-the-art additions.

With a Hubble-sized mirror and 18 newly developed HgCdTe 4K × 4K photodiode arrays, the Roman Space Telescope will take infrared images of the sky to observe dark energy, stars, exoplanets and galaxies. It will measure the positions and shapes of hundreds of millions of galaxies, the light curves of thousands of supernovae, and the microlensing signals of over a thousand exoplanets toward the galaxy’s bulge.

Roman will have a panoramic field of view 200 times larger than the Hubble Telescope’s, allowing it to create the first wide-field maps of the universe. The telescope is comprised of a 2.4-meter telescope with a Wide-Field Instrument (WFI) – a 300-megapixel infrared camera – and a coronagraph. It’s Hubble-like, but with the added benefit of 30 years’ technological development.

All these instruments working together, and in collaboration with hi-tech future telescopes, will herald a new era of space exploration.

The Roman Space Telescope will survey billions of galaxies, capturing the light of stellar explosions. Its powerful WFI can capture thousands of objects from a single observation. Scientists are hoping to solve the mystery of dark energy, which is causing the universe’s expansion to accelerate. Roman’s sky scans will reveal thousands of exoplanets beyond our solar system, including planets that have never been studied before.

The telescope’s mission lifecycle also promises to shed new light on the heyday of star formation. Astronomers will be able to study a galaxy’s spectrum to learn about its stars’ ages, star formation history, the number of heavy chemical elements it contains, and much more. By doing this for multiple early galaxies, we can learn about the processes that began and eventually ended this period of rapid growth.

Keep your eyes to the sky as NASA prepares for this mind-blowing mission.  

Britain’s £22.7m Mars Rover Mission Scrapped

Posted on by Oleksandr

NASA AND THE EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY (ESA) HAVE ABANDONED A BRITISH-BUILT ROVER THAT WAS SET TO COLLECT SAMPLES FROM MARS AND RETURN THEM TO EARTH. THE PROJECT HAS ALREADY COST THE UK £22.7 MILLION.

The rover was a critical element of the Mars Sample Return mission, which aims to retrieve Martian soil and rock for study on Earth in the 2030s. Scientists are hoping to prove once and for all whether life has ever existed on the Red Planet.

This surprise cancellation follows four years of design work by Airbus engineers in Hertfordshire.

NASA and ESA announced the project’s termination at a press conference last week. In a surprising turn of events, they plan to repurpose the Perseverance rover, already stationed on Mars, to complete the mission. Perseverance has been drilling into the site of an ancient lake, searching for signs of bygone microbial life. The rover is gathering and storing samples in titanium tubes for return to Earth.

Two new helicopters will also be launched as a backup. They will leap into action should Perseverance fail to break down and store samples. NASA’s jet propulsion lab has been testing whether the helicopters will be able to pick up the rover’s tubes if required.

NASA attributed this change of plan to a re-evaluation of Perseverance’s lifespan. However, it’s speculated that NASA and ESA had no choice but to cut costs after Russian space agency withdrew from several missions due to the Ukraine war.

Russia has also announced that it will be withdrawing from the International Space Station in 2024, six years earlier than anticipated.

The Mars Sample Return mission is vital in our quest to understand Martian history. Following this roadblock, we hope NASA and ESA will be able to answer once and for all – is there, or has there ever been, life on Mars?

THE SPACE WORKFORCE OF 2030

Posted on by Oleksandr

THE SPACE WORKFORCE OF 2030

2021 and 2022 has seen huge sectors and companies like HP committing to 2030 diversity and inclusion goals and the space sector has now committed to its own pledge for the future of its workforce. Signed at the 37th Space Symposium by 23 executives, the pledge seeks to increase underrepresented genders, races, religions, cultures, and ethnicities.

EVONA’s own research from a recruitment perspective of hiring women in space, highlighted that whilst 38% of our placements into C-level roles were women, across the rest of the industry this was only 17%. Furthermore, only 12% are founders and CEO’s, one of them being Melanie Stricklan who is taking a front seat in the plans for diversity and inclusion in space alongside Steve Isakowitz and Roy Azevedo.

EVONA’s Research on Gender Diversity in the Space sector 2021

We were really grateful to speak to Melanie on our podcast, EVONA Origin Stories, speaking about her journey into the space sector and insights into the need for diversity to progress the industry.

 

 

EVONA Origin Stories Episode 5
“WE DON’T NEED PEOPLE THAT THINK LIKE US, RIGHT? WE DON’T NEED PEOPLE THAT COME FROM THE SAME BACKGROUND AS ALL OF US. WHAT WE NEED IS DIVERSITY AROUND THE TABLE THAT ARE ABLE TO RISE TO THE OCCASION AND BRING US TO OUR FULL POTENTIAL AS INDIVIDUALS AND AS A TEAM.”

– MELANIE STRICKLAN

You can listen to the whole podcast on our Spotify Channel here.

 

WHAT WILL THE PLEDGE DO?

The space workforce 2030 pledge commits those that have signed to reporting data on diversity and inclusion annually and working with universities to grow the numbers of diverse and underrepresented students in technical degrees that are crucial in the industry.

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The specific goals Include:

  • Substantially boost the number of women and employees from underrepresented groups in our collective technical workforce
  • Significantly escalate the number of women and employees from underrepresented groups who hold senior leadership positions in our collective technical workforce
  • Work with universities to increase the percentages of women and students from underrepresented groups receiving aerospace engineering degrees to levels     commensurate with overall engineering programs
  • Sponsor K-12 programs that collectively reach over 5,000,000 underrepresented students annually

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The 24 executives also agreed to:

  • Aggregate the numbers on the first two bullet points for annual reporting and hold themselves accountable by annually reviewing the progress against these goals
  • Allow group-level results to be shared at the annual Space Foundation’s Space Symposium, while highlighting achievements and best practices to promote     shared success
  • Meet twice a year at the working level to exchange best practices on strengthening diversity recruitment, STEM education outreach and representation at leadership levels
  • Seek like-minded leaders and organizations to join this effort

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The Leaders and relative companies that have agreed to the Space Workforce 2030 pledge are:

  • Roy Azevedo, President Raytheon Intelligence & Space
  • Payam Banazadeh, CEO at Capella Space
  • Peter Beck, CEO at Rocket Lab
  • Tory Bruno, CEO at United Launch Alliance
  • Jim Chilton, Senior VP of Space & Launch at Boeing
  • Michael Colglazier, CEO at Virgin Galactic
  • Tim Ellis, CEO at Relativity Space
  • John Gedmark, CEO at Astranis Space Technologies
  • Steve Isakowitz, CEO at The Aerospace Corporation
  • Larry James, Acting Director at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
  • Daniel Jablonsky, CEO at Maxar Technologies
  • Robert Lightfoot, EVP of Lockheed Martin Space
  • Dave Kaufman, President at Ball Aerospace
  • Chris Kemp, CEO at Astra
  • Will Marshall, CEO at Planet
  • Dan Piemont, President at ABL Space Systems
  • Peter Platzer, CEO at Spire Global
  • Melanie Stricklan, CEO at Slingshot Aerospace
  • John Serafini, CEO at HawkEye 360
  • Amela Wilson, CEO at Nanoracks
  • Tom Wilson, President Space Systems at Northrop Grumman

 

THE PROBLEM STARTS WITH YOUNG PEOPLE

Collectively tackling the issues now will make a difference for future generations, however, it’s understood that the problem begins before workers even enter the sector. The pledge not only recognises gender and race as a diversity and inclusion issue but also students graduating and hoping to enter the workforce, hence the two bullet points focusing on universities and K-12 programmes.

Referring back to our research on women in space, in Engineering alone it’s noted that only 31% of engineer graduates in 2020 were women with only 24% of individuals in an engineering profession as of last year identifying as female, decreasing even further for those entering into a career in space.

Over the past few years EVONA have also recognised the issue surrounding students, facilitating education workshops to inspire them to join the space sector through our space spectra webinars. Recently we contacted local STEM students to gather a further understanding of the barriers STEM students have when considering a career in space.

The main issues noted were that most STEM subjects don’t have space content as part of their syllabus, many have a lack of information about the sector and believe their skills are not relevant.

Copyright of D.Doran (2022) – work cannot be replicated

‍Previously UKSEDS have noted that “students need to be made aware of potential career paths they can work towards… encouraging them to consider a career they wouldn’t have known about otherwise, fostering interest in particular subjects, making it more likely for them to invest time in developing skills needed within the sector.”

These issues present a demand for the key points of the pledge and could make a real difference to the future of the space workforce for young people, solving diversity and inclusion issues from the bottom up.

 

 

INSIGHTS FROM A RECRUITMENT PERSPECTIVE

Workplace diversity is important in all sectors and studies show that currently 57% of recruiters have strategies to attract diverse candidates. Achieving greater diversity has a multitude of benefits, as including a range of perspectives improves problem solving, enhances innovation and creativity, reduced employee turnover and improved hiring results to name a few. Not only does it have internal benefits, companies with higher levels of diversity and inclusion are proven to outperform their competitors by 35%.

Whilst the issue as a whole is complicated, not all solutions have to be. There are a number of simple and creative ways to champion this cause within your recruitment strategies!

 

Ways to improve Diversity:

· Recruitment teams need to actively strategize how to advertise jobs in order to maximise the audience they appeal to, specifically those of underrepresented groups.

· Family friendly policies like part-time, flexible working, parental leave and onsite nurseries are a great way to indicate the company is inclusive for those with children

· Championing for causes than resonate with underrepresented groups with partnerships/ donations/ fundraising demonstrates the inclusive culture and diversity ethos.

· Using anonymous profiling or software like PitchMe to remove bias from recruitment practices and only hire those with the right requirements for the role

· Belonging to an advisory group to assist with implementing company strategies, policies, and initiatives. 

· Offering internships or mentoring for underrepresented groups

· Showing people from underrepresented groups in leadership positions and on the boards