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    News From The Lunar Ark!

    enMay 02, 2021
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    About this Episode

    Andrea Macdonald, founder of ideaXme interviews Jekan Thanga, PhD., Head of SpaceTREx laboratory, Principal Investigator of the NASA-funded ASTEROIDS laboratory and Assistant Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Arizona. They discuss the latest developments at the laboratories. Moreover, ideaXme receives a news exclusive relating to SpaceTREx's proposal to build a "Noah's Ark" on the Moon. Jump to timestamp - 37 minutes to discover that news!

    The Lunar Ark:

    SpaceTREx in collaboration with the ASTEROIDS laboratory has proposed utilization of lunar lava tubes as a modern day "Lunar Ark." These subsurface lava tubes are only 4-5 days journey from Earth and are hypothesized to have been pristine for 3-4 billion years. These shelters could be the ideal location for preserving seeds, spores sperms, eggs, and DNA of Earth's rich biodiversity. They estimate needing to preserve 6.7 million species of plants, animals and fungi. SpaceTREx: The Space and Terrestrial Robotic Exploration (SpaceTREx) Laboratory at University of Arizona's Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Department develop systems engineering design and control solutions for space, planetary and asteroid exploration, using small spacecraft, robots and sensor network devices. Research is focused on developing enabling technologies for extreme environment exploration, interplanetary CubeSat explorers and on-orbit servicing spanning spacecraft constellations, propulsion, power and communications. The laboratory and key personnel have a diverse range of expertise including CubeSat design, development, launch expertise, smart system design and control using bio-inspired and neural network control paradigms, space weather and extreme-environment robotics.

    News relating to the Lunar Ark:

    Jekan Thanga, Head of SpaceTREx: [37:10] In the next week or so at the Interplanetary Small Satellite Conference, we're going to be giving an update to the world about progress that we've been making on the Lunar Ark project. And I can give you an early indication of what that update will entail. We've branched out into two fronts, further exploring and advancing the Lunar Ark concept. One is, we've been looking at how we could start the Lunar Ark project in the near term. In the original idea we talk of preserving six point seven million species. It's going to take a lot of resources. It's going to require advancement in cryogenic. We think it's at least 30 years away. But can we get started now? Can we at least start to see important bio matter there as we speak? And so that's the second thrust that we're looking at. What would it take specifically to go out and explore these lava tubes in one mission and in that second mission? What would it take to take seed samples just like from Svalbard and deploy them into these laboratories? And so we've been doing some early feasibility studies on those fronts. And on a second thrust, we've been trying to we've been identifying the component technologies that are needed for this whole effort of, you know, the Lunar Arc. And one of that means transport of all this bio matter from Earth on at least a five day journey to the Moon under cryo conditions. And so you need some kind of cryo container that can do that for you. And so we've developed a prototype cryo container experiment. And so we'll be sharing details about that in this upcoming conference. And that, too, is another effort to further build up the building blocks necessary for the bigger project.

    Official Bio:

    Jekan Thanga heads the Space and Terrestrial Robotic Exploration (SpaceTREx) Laboratory at University of Arizona. He is the Principal Investigator of the NASA-funded ASTEROIDS (Asteroid Science, Technology and Exploration Research Organized by Inclusive eDucation) Laboratory which is in the process of being upgraded into a research center. Jekan Thanga has 20 years of experience working in the aerospace research sector and is a senior member of the AIAA. He has been an expert reviewer for government agencies including NASA and NSF and has been a Subject Matter Expert on space matters for DoD organizations.

    Jekan Thanga links: https://ame.engineering.arizona.edu/f... https://www.linkedin.com/in/jthanga http://spacetrex.arizona.edu http://spacetrex.arizona.edu/lunarark...

    ideaXme links: https://radioideaxme.com​​​​ https://www.instagram.com/ideaxme/?hl... https://twitter.com/ideaxm?ref_src=tw... https://www.facebook.com/ideaXme/​​​​ https://www.linkedin.com/company/1867... https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast...

    ideaXme is a global network - podcast on 12 platforms, 40 countries, mentor programme and creator series. Mission: To share knowledge of the future. Our passion: Rich Connectedness™!

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    http://www.anthonymccall.com/

    https://www.skny.com/artists/anthony-...

    https://www.galerierudolfinum.cz/en/e...

    https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate...

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    Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com

    Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported https://creativecommons.org/licenses

    Further credits/links:

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    MUSIC: Music: Space Heroes by MaxKoMusic https://maxkomusic.com/

    Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com

    Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported https://creativecommons.org/licenses

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    Voice over for ideaXme introduction: Neil Koenig former Senior BBC @BBC producer and journalist and current ideaXme board advisor and guest interviewer.

    Music for ideaXme introduction: Music: Space Heroes by MaxKoMusic | https://maxkomusic.com/

    Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com

    Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...

    Neil Koenig: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilkoenig/

    https://twitter.com/neilkoenig?lang=en

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    Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...

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    Interview credit: Loredana Sinardo.

    Mme Bineta Diop:

    https://lk.linkedin.com/posts/auwpsbi...

    https://thp.org/board/bineta-diop/

    https://twitter.com/aubinetadiop?lang=en

    Loredana Sinardo: https://ch.linkedin.com/in/loredanasi...

    Credit: Introduction Neil Koenig:

    https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilkoenig/

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    Jan Goetz:

    https://fi.linkedin.com/in/jan-goetz/en

    https://twitter.com/jangoetz6?lang=en https://twitter.com/meetIQM?ref_src=t...

    www.meetiqm.com

    Interview credits, Neil Koenig: 

    https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilkoenig/

    https://twitter.com/neilkoenig?lang=en

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    Centre For Feminist Foreign Policy: A research, advocacy, and consulting organisation dedicated to promoting Feminist Foreign Policy across the globe. https://centreforfeministforeignpolicy.org

    IMAGE CREDITS Portraits of Kristina Lunz: courtesy of the Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy Kristina Lunz: https://twitter.com/Kristina_Lunz  https://de.linkedin.com/in/kristina-lunz

    Neil Koenig: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilkoenig/  https://twitter.com/neilkoenig?lang=en

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    Image credits: Stela Solar portrait: TBA Stela Solar and the National AI Centre CSIRO, Australia and RAIN Links: https://www.csiro.au/en/work-with-us/... https://www.csiro.au/en/work-with-us/... https://twitter.com/stela?lang=en https://www.linkedin.com/in/stelasolar

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    Neil Koenig comments:

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    She has created works in many different forms, from miniatures to animation, sculpture and more. Her first major public art commission, “Havah..to breathe, air, life”, is currently on display in Madison Square Park in the heart of New York City. It includes some dramatic pieces, such as an 18 foot tall sculpture in the centre of the park, and another 8 foot high figure on the roof of a nearby courthouse, where it joins some existing works The show is on view until June 2023, after which it will move on to Houston. In this interview with ideaXme board advisor Neil Koenig, Shahzia Sikander talks about growing up and studying art in Pakistan, her interests in exploring notions of authenticity, assimilation, and “interstitial spaces that are harder to define”, and the role that technology might play in the future development of art.

    Biography

     Shahzia Sikander (Pakistani, b.1969) is an artist based in New York City best known for her Mughal miniature painting as well as her Persian miniature painting. Sikander is also a performance artist, a muralist, a mixed media artist, and an installation artist. Having been taught the art of miniature painting in the traditional Pakistani technique, she adds her own modern take on the pieces, making her art unique. Religion plays a significant role in her work as well as her personal life, due to her Muslim beliefs. Through her work, she explores how Muslim women are challenged by the Western way of living. She has been known to wear a veil in public, though she did not do so prior to her relocation to the United States. She does so as an experiment to study how Westerners are affected by the tradition. Sikander attended the National College of Arts in Lahore and earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1992. She studied at the Rhode Island School of Design, and in 1995 she earned her Master of Fine Arts. Sikander's first solo exhibition took place in 1993 at the Pakistan Embassy in Washington, D.C. Many solo exhibitions followed, taking her to such places as the Whitney Museum of American Art at Philip Morris in New York in 2000 and The San Diego Museum of Art in California in 2004. In addition to the solo exhibitions, Sikander also participated in many group exhibitions, including those held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2005 and Museum Ludwig in Germany in 1999. Sikander received a number of awards, including the Shakir Ali Award/Kipling Award from the National College of Arts, Lahore in 1993, The Joan Mitchell Award in 1999, and the MacArthur Fellows Program in 2006. Sikander continues to impart her personal touch and some political and social views into what may be considered to be an impersonal and disciplined tradition. She continues to exhibit work all over the world and adjust her work to reflect the current status of her culture.