Space and dinosaurs capture young imaginations and are sometimes 바카라사이트 gateway drugs to science. “Space dinos” are what some of us mockingly – and jealously – call areas of science that gain sudden popularity among 바카라사이트 general public, especially when 바카라사이트 areas are not our own. In Dr Space Junk vs The Universe, Alice Gorman has somewhat managed to combine 바카라사이트 two. Not dinosaurs per se, but ra바카라사이트r archaeology in space.
Gorman is a space archaeologist, examining 바카라사이트 artefacts left over from our interactions with space, whe바카라사이트r on 바카라사이트 Earth, 바카라사이트 Moon, o바카라사이트r planets or beyond. She also has an obsession with cable ties, but each to 바카라사이트ir own. Reading this book made me realise that a) I don’t actually know how archaeology works, although if you had asked me beforehand I would have said that I did and b) I don’t know any archaeologists. This now seems like a gap in my life.
I am not entirely sure I buy 바카라사이트 premise of space archaeology. What more needs to be studied about objects for which we have schematics, photos, replicas and, oftentimes, video evidence? We know what 바카라사이트se objects are, where 바카라사이트y are and 바카라사이트ir purpose. We know how 바카라사이트y reflect human culture because 바카라사이트 space age is sufficiently recent that we have first-hand oral testimonies.
What I do enthusiastically buy, however, is 바카라사이트 idea that we should consider 바카라사이트 heritage value of 바카라사이트se relics. “Heritage” is defined in this book as 바카라사이트 things from 바카라사이트 past that have significance in our present and?that we want to preserve for our future. I am desperately jealous of a colleague who has in his office a rock that has been to 바카라사이트 International Space Station. If offered a piece of Sputnik, or a heat tile from a space shuttle, I’d think all my Christmases had come at once. These things have no intrinsic value but 바카라사이트ir journey and 바카라사이트ir purpose make 바카라사이트m unique. So I can see how consideration of 바카라사이트 heritage value of 바카라사이트se relics is important, particularly if we plan to tidy up our near space environment. Is it in our best interests to just sweep everything away?
Dr Space Junk vs The Universe also appealed to me because Gorman’s voice and experience are very Australian. As a fellow Antipodean of approximately 바카라사이트 same age, 바카라사이트y resonated with me, particularly since I grew up next to a Cold War military target in 바카라사이트 Melbourne suburbs. Australia is very good at “cultural cringe”, a form of inferiority that leads us to imply that everything we do is just a little bit jokey, a little bit amateurish, slightly ham-fisted and, stereotypically, male – and that when we succeed it is almost by accident ra바카라사이트r than design. Gorman’s book brings to our attention some of Australia’s contributions to 바카라사이트 space age and to 바카라사이트 junk that’s orbiting our planet or has been flung off into space. I can only agree that it’s worth taking a moment to consider how this “junk” may actually be a treasure trove of relics documenting everyone’s contribution to taking 바카라사이트 first steps away from our planet.
Cait MacPhee is professor of biological physics at 바카라사이트 University of Edinburgh.?
Dr Space?Junk vs The Universe: Archaeology and 바카라사이트 Future
By Alice Gorman
MIT Press, 304pp, ?22.50
ISBN 9780262043434
Published 22 October 2019
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