Transcript
013: Alyssa Carson Future Mars Walker

Theresa Christine: Welcome to The Wild and Curious Podcast, a show that's part travel, 

Suzanne Schmedding: Part feminism 

TC: And completely inspired by extraordinary women worldwide. I'm Theresa Christine, 

SS: And I'm Suzanne Schmedding.

TC: At some point, it is going to be an option for like, people to go and actually live on Mars.

SS: Yes. 

TC:Would you want to do that?

SS: I mean, that's, that's a delicate question T.

TC: Your mom gets mad at you when you don't come home for Mother's Day. I think she'd be pissed if you went to Mars.

SS: She'd be so mad. But like, also, I have, you know, I'm just, I'm just like a wee sweet bit of a nihilist. So I'm just like, all of the things that I would miss about Earth, like, you know, the traveling to Europe, or Thailand and the mountains, I'm just like, those are all gonna be gone.

TC: You could go to Mars Europe, though. 

SS: I know. But like Mars Europe is just gonna be, it's gonna be like, red dirt.

TC: I think, you know, the six months to get there and the nine months, the projected nine months to get back, that makes it problematic right now. But, when it's less time to get there and back...I mean, this would be like, who knows how long in the future. But it's very exciting to think that like we're exploring space in this way. And like, thinking of, hopefully very ethically, inhabiting other planets.

SS: Yeah, well, I'll tell you, who actually knows is Alyssa Carson. Alyssa Carson is a future Mars Walker, she has had an interest in space and been training to become an astronaut since she was three years old, and aims to be one of the first people on Mars in the early 2030's.

Alyssa Carson: Obviously, there's so many different ways to become an astronaut, and kind of the, the path that I've chosen or gotten interested in is wanting to be more of like, a mission specialist or some kind of research scientist. So, basically, I'm in school, kind of getting my degree and all which will be useful, of course, in national selection process, but it's almost like building a resume. So, kind of the bare minimum is just having like a university degree and that sort of thing. But, I wanted to have, be able to have extras on my resume to kind of be able to stick out when I get to the point of applying. So, with that, I'm just kind of doing anything that I enjoy, that I think will be anything of a benefit on a resume. So for example, like getting my pilot's license or doing any sort of science or research, to be able to, yeah, put on the resume one day.

TC: And there's certain, I mean, kinds of experiences too. I saw, because obviously, we've researched you and saw some videos with you, one of the things that you do is like, you just went skydiving, right? Is like, are there certain experiences like that, that also hope?

AC: Yeah, you know, the majority of you know, the cool stuff that I'm able to do and relate to, you know, space some way or another. But I mean, totally like, the, the skydiving, you know, one of the ideas behind that is just kind of having like a sense of freefall, you know, there's only certain ways on earth that we can kind of replicate microgravity or any sort of senses, or sensations that you could experience when you go into space, or being in space. So, kind of the idea behind that was just freefall, also just kind of the mentality of like, overcoming some kind of, you know, fear, you know, obviously, everyone's heart is going to race a little bit jumping out of an airplane, 

TC: Just a little. 

AC: So, just kind of getting that experience of doing something kind of like, just full of adrenaline rushing, but I mean, for example, like scuba diving, you know, that's something else that relates to you know, learning that, you know, you have your own oxygen supply, and you have to watch that time to make sure you don't run out, you know, space is the same thing of, you only have so much with you. And so, kind of building those basic skills however, you can with the, with the materials and with the, with the options that we have here on Earth.

TC: I mean, even at 12 years old, you were on this panel with like, another like, other astronauts and people with PhDs and there's like, 12 year old you. Have you struggled with getting people to take you seriously as a very young person and also as a woman?

AC: Yeah, definitely. I mean, throughout everything, especially with my age, in general at the majority of the stuff that I've done. I mean, at times, it can be pretty hard. You know, when I started Project Possum, which is kind of like the resource organization I do, the majority of the realistic research and training with you know, when I started that at 15, you know, it was all about proving myself that I was able to do the same amount of research or contribute to the research equally as you know, some of these adults who, you know, graduate from college, are successful in their own careers, but then at the same time, you know, if, for example, I meet someone in the space community, and I'm trying to kind of like, explain to them what my interest is, and what I do, a lot of the time, they'll kind of like, question, I guess, how much I know or just think of me as like, maybe, you know, some sort of aspiring kid who hasn't necessarily done anything towards working towards that dream. So, at sometimes I guess, like, I'll pull out some big words or something, and make them realize that I have, you know, a good bit of knowledge on what I, what I'm talking about. And you know, just throw out like, 'Oh, yeah, where I do spacesuit evaluations with IVA spacesuits.' And then they're like, 'Oh, maybe, maybe she knows what she's talking about.' So...

SS: I'm definitely going to use that line next time I feel intimidated: 'I do spacesuit evaluations.' And so okay, so, you're actually doing spacesuit evaluations, because you are going to Mars! Which is so exciting. What exactly are you going to be doing? What are the first people going to be doing when they go to Mars?

AC: Yeah, obviously, Mars would be the ultimate goal. So basically, you know, from my perspective, and kind of like what I would want to do on a mission to Mars, and that kind of thing, basically I'm currently studying astrobiology right now. And with astrobiology, it's kind of just like the study of things and living things in space. So you know, you could study anywhere from bacterias, to plants to entire planets, or solar systems if you really wanted to. So there's a huge variety of like, research opportunities, but looking towards Mars, you know, possibly looking at the water samples on Mars, looking for any signs of bacterial life, maybe testing the soil samples, seeing if there's any resources or minerals that we've missed along the way that could be really useful. Trying to learn more about the atmosphere on Mars, see how maybe we can adapt it in some way to maybe be slightly more sustainable, offer more protection while humans continue to visit Mars or even someday, you know, have some sort of civilization there. So really, the first missions are going to be understanding what are the opportunities with Mars? And you know, what all can we actually do with the planet?

TC: Yeah, because, I mean, I dislike this idea of like, 'Oh, we, you know, we're kind of trashing this planet, and then we'd go to Mars', and I would, I would really hope that we don't trash Mars and then have to, like, find another planet, you know, but we are at a point where, like, we need to consider other options and going there to do research is very, very exciting. For, for you personally, what do you envision for kind of this more long term goal for exploring space? Like, maybe even for in the future after like, we're all gone? How do you see space exploration being more part of everyday life?

AC: Yeah, you know, I think that as technology advances, you know, I mean, right now looking at a mission to Mars, it's possible that they're looking at the travel time between Earth and Mars being like six months. And so for, let's say, we have a colony on Mars, you know, six months is just kind of a long trip, you know. You're not, it's not likely to just convince people to up and go to Mars on a six month journey. So I think that as like technology increases and that like, that travel time gets cut shorter, it may be more realistic that people may, you know, maybe want to travel to Mars, or that kind of aspect. But, I do think that in general, a future space exploration, we're definitely not going to stop with Mars, Mars is just kind of that first step. You know, hopefully, after we go to Mars, there's, you know, someone else with the huge aspiration of wanting to go to, you know, a moon of Jupiter, an asteroid, no matter what it may be. But, I do think that, as we continue to want to explore more, you know, we're learning so many things, as well as you know, benefiting off of any sort of new technologies and resources that we gained. But the ultimate goal would be, you know, where humans are able to travel to different places, because it's been said that a single planet species will become extinct. So, you know, we're honing in and we're gaining the skills now to eventually someday, if future generations are forced to go somewhere else, you know, they have the ability to do that, because we've built up that knowledge and technology.

SS: That is, so far beyond what I've been doing this weekend. It's, it's overwhelming. And it's really, really exciting to hear about and, and it's scary, but it's really wonderful to hear about the resources that have you know, that that we are building. What do you think the accessibility is like for training to be an astronaut, so we have more people looking for those resources and how can it improve?

AC: The awesome part about wanting to become an astronaut is that there are so many options and so many different ways to do it. You know, and it all kind of depends on what your personal interests are, you know, you can go into the military, you can be a civilian, you can be a pilot, you can study medicine, you can study any sort of science basically under the sun. So, there's a whole lot of opportunities with that. And, you know, the actual application process, you know, only requires a master's degree and some work experience. And then beyond that, it's kind of up to you. So, you know, I do think that, in general, if someone is looking at becoming an astronaut, it does include a large variety of people. I think that people, that for the most part we're just looking to be, you know, trying to be the best we can be at whatever we choose to go into. But I think a big thing that kind of needs to change along the way, is that the way we've been looking at becoming an astronaut for, basically since astronauts have come about, you know, if you ask, if you ask an old astronaut, you know how they decided to do it, the majority of them are just like they had, they had a job they were working at happily, they happened to see the application process come up, they thought, 'Hey, I have those requirements, why not apply?', and they ended up getting selected, where I think it's very different to kind of have the dream of wanting to become an astronaut. And of course, you know, we're not at the point where you can just go to college and major and being an astronaut. But, you know, although you have that other goal of what the career is, you're looking at getting to, I think it, it speaks a lot to kind of have that ultimate goal of being an astronaut always in the back of your mind and saying, yes, this can benefit me along that way, and always be working towards it. Whereas the majority of astronauts have just kind of added it on to their career as an afterthought.

TC: I think, yeah, hearing you talk about this is so intriguing, because becoming an astronaut sounds like such a mystical career path. You know, and for, for so many people, it's just like, you don't even think about necessarily the steps, I guess. It's just like, oh, being an astronaut. But the fact that you can go down these different paths, and it can be kind of based on your interests is, is really exciting. And talking about, kind of the accessibility, and you know, getting young people, you know, you've been involved and going to space camp, since you were very young. Can you tell us a bit more about the Blueberry Foundation which you started?

AC: Yeah, well, I mean, when I was younger, I went to space camp, just because it was kind of the best resource in place for me to be able to learn about space, since I was so interested, and kind of, you know, get any sort of knowledge I could about space. And so after going to space camp and loving it so much, and then in general Space Camp kind of helped me figure out, you know, what kind of career I would want to go into, I kind of realized that I wanted to be more of a scientist and make possibly, you know, Mission Specialists in the future. But I really realized that I wanted to do more of a scientific path because of space camp. And so I really wanted other kids who kind of had that same opportunity of either, you know, learning more about space or figuring out what they wanted to do. And so that was kind of the idea behind the Blueberry Foundation and getting that started. So these kids could have that same experience. More recently, the foundation has been working a lot with, kind of, the organizing and kind of, explaining a little bit to, kind of, groups of kids, especially in other countries. So having, we've had a group out of Mexico, a group out of Argentina, but just kind of helping them a little bit through the process of figuring out like, how exactly they could bring kids to space camp, what that process would be like, and helping them through that to actually get those kids there.

SS: Oh, that's so great. I love the work that that's, that that's doing. Do you have any other resources that you'd recommend for, for girls who want to get involved in STEM or who want to be able to go to space camp?

AC: Yeah, you know, space camp, they have their, you know, if you're interested in going, they have their own, like scholarship situation where you can, I think it's just writing a short essay, and they have, you know, several scholarship kids go throughout the year, which is really amazing. And then I know, I think their alumni foundation also raised, raises some of their money, but at the same time, you know, if you are interested in STEM, definitely Space Camp is not the only option. There's lots of other ways to kind of learn more about space, and you know, especially in general with the internet and the amount of resources that we have now. But I mean, in general, you know, whether it is just going to a local science museum or anything like that, some of those small tasks can, you know, really go a long way in teaching you some of the basic or initial things, whether it's about space or stem in general. 

TC: Okay. Do you, do you actually enjoy Hollywood space movies, or no, first of all?

AC: I mean, I do watch them, I like, I like to see what they decide to put in those kinds of movies, but I do, I do watch most of the ones that come out. 

TC: Do you have a favorite? 

AC: Probably one of my favorite movies, honestly, is ‘The Martian’. I thought ‘The Martian’ was really good. A really awesome way, got a lot of people like excited for Mars?

SS: Me too! 

TC: Yes!

AC: And, you know, they did a pretty decent job of working with people who work in NASA to make it you know, for the most, part pretty accurate.

TC: That's great. So for those of us who maybe aren't going to, like train to be an astronaut, that's, that is as close as we might come to getting to go to Mars right now.

SS: Speak for yourself. I think they have adult space camp. 

AC: They do, space camp is ages 9 to 99. So everyone can get on board

TC: Seriously?

SS: T, let's go to space camp! I love how she talked about the different resources and avenues of going towards becoming an astronaut, you know, because before it had been something, where it was sort of a fluke, and now there's so many different paths to get to it that you might not even necessarily think of, like, what did she say? You basically just need a Master's. And then, you know, you get specialized in that field, and you apply and, and it makes it so much more accessible, it makes it something to where I feel like I could do it.

TC: Yeah. And I think that's one of the really encouraging things. You know, when we were doing the research about Alyssa, and watching her TED Talks, which any of you listening, should definitely go check out her TED Talks, but she also like talks about other young people and like this, like her Mars generation, like these people who are her age and, and a little younger, you know, going to Mars and, and doing this research and, you know, potentially inhabiting Mars, that is a very real thing.

SS: Yes, it is very real. I don't, again, I don't think I'm going to live there. But I'm excited that people like her exist, to make it a possibility for the rest of us.

TC: Yeah. But also, you know, being so young and so smart, to be able to, like, foster that, that kind of spark for education and for learning is so wonderful, because I think it's easy when you get older to feel like 'Ah, like, I've earned life and like, I've learned so much', but it's like, you, like, you can always do more. And it's, it's really incredible to hear what young people do. 

SS: It is because, you know, like, I'm, I'm definitely getting more and more into pursuing further education for myself and working with education and other countries. But like, I didn't come to that sort of realization that that's what I wanted to do until a little bit later. And like, she's so young, and she's already giving back, like, already strengthening not only her community, but like the generation underneath her and I just... that's so cool.

TC: She is an inspiration for sure. You can learn more and find Alyssa on Instagram. Her Instagram handle is @nasablueberry. If you enjoy listening to The Wild and Curious Podcast and would like to contribute to helping us make this thing run, you can. You can Venmo us at @thewildandcurious or via paypal at paypal.me/thewildandcurious. Anything you send, big or small, will go towards the costs of running a podcast that's dismantling the patriarchy.

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