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MULTI AWARD WINNING NEWSPAPER
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Monday, January 12, 2015
Licensed from 7.45am - 5.45pm Full or Part-time care Vol 44, No 2
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SPACE EXPLORER: The prospect of finding undiscovered life is extremely exciting for Pakuranga College student Sarah Childs, who along with the head of the science faculty, Larraine Barton, will be taking off Times photo Wayne Martin on a Spaceward Bound expedition this week.
Student reaches for the stars By Farida Master
T
HEY’VE got stars in their eyes as their minds orbit the Spaceward Bound expedition sponsored by the Royal Astronomical Society. Year 13 student of Pakuranga College last year, Sarah Childs, and head of the science faculty, Larraine Barton, are two of the 15 people selected from across New Zealand for the week-long programme starting this Friday. NASA’s Spaceward Bound at Rotorua, Tongariro and White Island will cover astrobiology, Earth and space science with astrobiologists and other scientists. The idea is to train the next generation of space explorers by having
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scientists, students and teachers participate in the study of remote and extreme environments on Earth, as analogues for human exploration of the Moon and Mars. Sarah’s face lights up when talking about New Zealand being the most intriguing place on Earth to find life forms that are analogous for possible life in extreme environments. “The fieldwork measuring wind, acidity, extreme heat and the arid cold is super exciting,� she says. “It feels so good to be around NASA scientists and like-minded people looking for evidence of molecules and microbes that thrive in hot, acidic conditions and contribute to life in space. “Some of the molecules they found
on Earth came from comets,� says Sarah, who plans to do a bachelor of engineering degree with a major in mechatronics at Massey University. Though Earth and space science is a relatively new subject, Ms Barton believes it’s had a big impact. “One of the topics we focus on is the possibility of planets outside our solar system [extrasolar planets or exoplanets] having habitable environments,� she says. She’s proud that Pakuranga College is one of the first schools in Auckland to fully implement an Earth and space science course to scholarship level. “We participated in the citizen science search for exoplanets where we analysed data collected by the
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Kepler Space Telescope to contribute suggestions for stars which might have planets orbiting them. “It’s one thing for a star to have a planet orbiting it, just like Earth orbits the Sun, but for that planet to also have suitable conditions like temperature, atmosphere and building blocks for life would be an amazing discovery,� says Ms Barton. “A planet that is twice the size of Earth would have twice the gravity. You’d barely be able to lift your feet. “The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute searches for contact with intelligent life that has managed to construct a means of communication, just like us earthlings,� she explains. “In 2009, when I began teach-
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ing the exoplanets topic as part of a year 13 general science course, there were 375 identified exoplanets. Now there are 1773 confirmed. “That’s huge progress and also makes this whole area of study really current. “To be prepared for the possibility of sending humans to live on another planet like Mars or to explain the existence of life, scientists look for analogues on Earth – environments that are extreme in one or more way – and study the organisms that live there. “We call them extremophiles.� Spaceward Bound is an expedition that studies these environments and their conditions all over the world.
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