The 9pm Scruffy Share House in Space with Dr Alice Gorman

Dr Alice Gorman speaks to us from her private space station high above Neptune. (Photo: Daniel Kukec Photography)

We’re joined today by one of my favourite guests, space archaeologist Dr Alice Gorman aka Dr Space Junk from Flinders University.

In this episode we talk about the research she and her colleagues have been doing with the International Space Station. Apparently it’s rather like a share house. We wonder how you might develop a feminist map of the Moon. And as usual we veer off on plenty of tangents.

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  • Alice Gorman (born 1964) FSA is an Australian archaeologist, heritage consultant, and lecturer, who is best known for pioneering work in the field of space archaeology and her Space Age Archaeology blog.
  • The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), ESA (Europe), JAXA (Japan), and CSA (Canada). The ISS is the largest space station ever built.
  • The International Space Station Archaeological Project (ISSAP) is the first large-scale space archaeology project. It is a joint venture led by Dr. Justin Walsh (Chapman University – Orange, CA, USA) and Dr. Alice Gorman (Flinders University-Adelaide, SA, AUS) together with an international team of scholars. We are studying the crew of the International Space Station as a “microsociety in a miniworld.” Our project will have positive effects on the development of long-duration space missions, and it has extended the discipline of archaeology into a new context.
  • Kayla Jane Barron (née Sax; born September 19, 1987) is an American submarine warfare officer, engineer, and NASA astronaut.
  • This is an edited version of an interview with David Attenborough recorded 22 August 1984.
  • [12 September 2017] The researchers used the British version of reality TV show Big Brother to examine how people’s speech changed over a three-month period.
  • [24 October 2024] 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.
  • [19 November 2024] I realised that the top ten posts weren't necessarily my favourite posts, so I decided to make a list of them, which turned out to be far more than ten. So I decided to break it into smaller sections, and here we are. These are my most feminist posts, and if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen! (No stay in it because I want you to read them).
  • [13 October 2024] I'm starting a new thread for the feminist map of the Moon. ? ?
  • The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is a NASA robotic spacecraft currently orbiting the Moon in an eccentric polar mapping orbit. Data collected by LRO have been described as essential for planning NASA's future human and robotic missions to the Moon.
  • The International Astronomical Union (IAU; French: Union astronomique internationale, UAI) is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach, education, and development through global cooperation. It was founded on 28 July 1919 in Brussels, Belgium and is based in Paris, France.
  • The SETI Institute is a not-for-profit research organization incorporated in 1984 whose mission is to explore, understand, and explain the origin and nature of life in the universe, and to use this knowledge to inspire and guide present and future generations, sharing knowledge with the public, the press, and the government. SETI stands for the "search for extraterrestrial intelligence".
  • SETI AIR Program Director. Bettina Forget is an art-science researcher, educator, and visual artist. Her creative work explores astronomy, science fiction, and feminism.
  • Sophia (or Sophie) Thott Lange (née Brahe; 24 August 1559 or 22 September 1556 – 1643), known by her maiden name, was a Danish noblewoman and horticulturalist with knowledge of astronomy, chemistry, and medicine. She worked alongside her brother Tycho Brahe in making astronomical observations.
  • Caroline Lucretia Herschel (/?h??r??l, ?h??r??l/ HUR-sh?l, HAIR-sh?l, German: [ka?o?li?n? ?h???l?]; 16 March 1750 – 9 January 1848) was a German astronomer, whose most significant contributions to astronomy were the discoveries of several comets, including the periodic comet 35P/Herschel–Rigollet, which bears her name. She was the younger sister of astronomer William Herschel, with whom she worked throughout her career.
  • Onboard the Apollo spacecraft, the revolutionary Apollo Guidance Computer helped navigate to the Moon and land on its surface. One of the first computers to use integrated circuits, the Apollo Guidance Computer was lightweight enough and small enough (70 pounds and under a cubic foot) to fly in space. An unusual feature that contributed to its small size was core rope memory, a technique of physically weaving software into high-density storage.
  • Core rope memory is a form of read-only memory (ROM) for computers. It was used in the UNIVAC I (Universal Automatic Computer I) and the UNIVAC II, developed by the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation in the 1950s, as it was a popular technology for program and data storage in that era. It was later used in the 1960s by early NASA Mars space probes and then in the Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC), which was built by Raytheon.
  • [20 December 2019]The suits that kept Nasa’s astronauts alive in the cold void of space were sewn, one painstaking stitch at a time, by a talented team of expert seamstresses.

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Thank you, Media Freedom Citizenry

FINAL WEEK: Photo of a late middle-aged white man with short hair, fat cheeks, and spectacles. It's Stilgherrian! He wears a grey sweater. In the background is a wooden jetty running towards you from a distant beach with Norfolk pine trees and a bright blue sky. The text reads: The 9pm Summer Series 2024.

The 9pm Edict is supported by the generosity of its listeners, and there’s just eight days left to support this season’s crowdfunding campaign, The 9pm Summer Series 2024.

The funding goes towards me making more special-guest episodes of this inappropriate and often disturbing podcast and other projects.

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For this episode it’s thanks again to everyone who supported  The 9pm Spring Series 2024 crowdfunding campaign.

CONVERSATION TOPICS: Peter Viertel, and two people who choose to remain anonymous.

THREE TRIGGER WORDS: Andrew Best, Bernard Walsh, Joanna Forbes, Joanna Forbes again, Paul Williams, Peter Lieverdink, and Rami Mandow.

ONE TRIGGER WORD: Benno Rice, Bic Smith, Dave Gaukroger, Elissa Harris, Emma Cooper, Frank Filippone, Grant Butler, Jamie Morrison, kofeyh, Mark Newton, Martin English, Michael Cowley, Mindy Johnson, Oliver Townshend, Peter Blakeley, Ric Hayman, Ross Floate, and Tom Carding

PERSONALISED VIDEO MESSAGE: One person who chooses to remain anonymous.

PERSONALISED AUDIO MESSAGE: Andrew Wright, Matthew Tayloe, Michael, and one person who chooses to remain anonymous.

FOOT SOLDIERS FOR MEDIA FREEDOM who gave a SLIGHTLY LESS BASIC TIP: Brenton Realph, Brenton Realph again, Charles Gutjahr, Craig Askings, Errol Cavit, Garth Kidd, Gavin C, James Henstridge, Lindsay, Matthew Crawford, Michael, Michael Harris, Peter McCrudden, Sam Spackman, and three people who choose to remain anonymous.

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Series Credits