“The Future for Space Exploration? It’s Life Jim, but not as we Know IT”

07:15pm   to    09:30pm

Dr Martin Braddock.
Space exploration and colonization by astronauts is challenged by exposure to radiation and the
ergonomics of living and working in an environment of microgravity. The adverse effects of
prolonged exposure to radiation and microgravity can be predicted both by observations in
astronauts and in animals on short duration space flight. Long term space travel to Mars and beyond
will demand countermeasures currently under development in a series of roadmaps from the NASA
Ames laboratory and from space agencies around the glove in a collaborative effort. Developments
in machine-based learning (MBL), a component of artificial intelligence (AI) raise the prospect that
future space exploration may be either semi, or fully automated. This talk will review the effects of
radiation and microgravity on the human body and describe features of AI that ask the question will
future space exploration and colonization be human-based?

Martin is passionate about all aspects of Astronomy, Cosmology and Astrobiology and is enrolled on
the Open University’s MSc degree in Space Sciences and Technology. He is a member of the
Mansfield and Sutton Astronomical Society and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical
Society in May 2015. He is interested in the effects of gravitational extremes on physiology,
ergonomics of space craft design and the development of Space Medicine.