Guest: Dr. Alice Gorman. Topics: Space archaeology. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information. In addition, please remember that your Amazon purchases can help support The Space Show/OGLF. See www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm. We welcomed Dr. Alice Gorman to the show for this 1 hour 38 minute fascinating space archaeology discussion. During our first segment, Dr. Gorman explained space archaeology, talked about space debris, cultural preservation, and much more. We talked about archaeological techniques used here on Earth and how they can be applied to space archaeology. We also talked about the fact that most space artifacts are in space so what we often find in museums are replicas or simulated items which are not the same and have a different meaning for the archaeologist. Dr. Gorman then talked about the possibility of artifacts from other cultures or even extraterrestrial life and questioned if we could even recognize what we were looking at or working with since it might be radically different from what we know and work with on Earth. Listener Jonny emailed in to ask what would happen if China went to an lunar Apollo landing site and took some of the items left on the Moon back to be displayed in a Chinese museum. Dr. Gorman did not think that likely, spoke about the Outer Space Treaty and that items are always owned by the launching company, and the NASA heritage sites guidelines they have proposed. Several questions came in regarding growth in the private, commercial, & entrepreneurial segments of the space community and how cultural and heritage protection might work with these nongovernment entities. This led to an interesting discussion about company behavior, culture, early planning, awareness, and even benefit sharing. We had a fun discussion about advertising in space for the ad to be seen back on Earth and we talked about how many of us hold the night sky sacred and do not want it spoiled. In the second segment, Angela asked Alice when space archaeology would come into its own. Alice replied that it already had "arrived" and cited many examples proving this. Kimberly emailed in about the usefulness for archaeological purposes of space settlement garbage. Mars One was the model for this. As we learned, archaeologists learn much from garbage so don't miss what Alice said might result from a Mars One garbage dump analysis. Todd emailed in about pets going to space settlements and if archaeologists would look for pet remains or traces of human pet relationships to learn about a space settlement. We talked about Dark Skies and raising our awareness for specific issues, plus the need for early planning by businesses. As the show was about to end, I asked our guest for the hottest topics in space archaeology. Alice named three topics. The final question asked Alice to look forward five years and describe the field of space archaeology in 2019. Post your comments/questions on The Space Show blog above. Check our Dr. Gorman's blog, Space Age Archaeology, at http://zoharesque.blogspot.com. Her university website is www.flinders.edu.au/people/alice.gorman. Her email address is listed on the page.
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