Montreal Space Symposium 2019

Media can be an ally if you take the time to understand how they do business and what motivates them. As an entrepreneur who has started several for profit and non-profit organizations, I've had to learn on the fly. In this talk I'll share some of what I've learned.

The Voyager Golden Records, the Juno spacecraft, data from radio telescopes, and the ISS; all examples of how humans interact with space. Though typically considered through practical lenses, a cultural lens should also be applied. Such an application demands that human interaction with space be considered in many ways as art in itself. Human-space interaction reflects back on society in many ways: pop culture, space inventions adapted for grounded life, how we look at national borders, in how we see commercial and government enterprises, in what we think is plausible in our lifetimes. The motivation of space activities is another element of cultural significance. For example, the reason why North Americans are racing to send humans to Mars now is far removed from the reasons they sent humans to the moon during the 1960s and 70s. What kind of differing and converging ideas could there be behind the Voyager Golden Records and the spacebound Tesla Roadster? And what do those ideas reveal about us as a culture? When it comes to cultural studies, there are always more questions than answers. Offering new perspectives on how to ask and those questions, and how to attempt to answer them, will hopefully inspire others to do the same.

The Canadian space industry was brought to the attention of the world with the launch of the Alouette I satellite, in 1962. The launch of this satellite and its sister, Alouette II, in 1965 heralded the arrival of Canada as a key player in the burgeoning global space industry. There is increasing concern that expertise and tacit knowledge from previous generations who worked in the Canadian space industry will be lost with the aging of these science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) professionals, and administrative and corporate personnel. Our research is focused specifically on surfacing the gendered histories of Canadian women who contributed to the interdisciplinary work involved in the design, construction, testing, launch and operation of the Alouette I and II satellites. These women’s experiences in the burgeoning space industry must be part of our contemporary and future lexicon in such a way that their experiences are not lost to the past. We specifically look to their discourses, recalling their day-to-day social interactions and their contributions to these two satellite missions. Their stories and narratives are surfaced via fragmented historical genealogies, such as in archives, in present-day interviews with individuals, in photographic images, and in media reports of the time. Our objective is to plausibly retell these gendered histories within the context of Canadian Cold War experiences. To this end, our research includes working on synergies with Concordia University’s EngAGE Centre for Research on Aging as a way to inform the present and future gendered relationships in male-dominated fields of space and of similar industries. We hope to inspire present and future STEM-professional women and corporate/administrative professional women, and to incite them to embrace the rich historical heritage of Canadian women working in space.

This workshop aims to briefly go through what science communication is and to focus on the best practice in the field. Through an activity of science communication speed dating, you will learn about tools to better communicate science with different audiences. Different ways to easily engage in science communication will also to explore.

On May 11, 2019 Astronomy in Montreal was celebrated during the International Astronomy Day festivities at the Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium. Over two dozen Astronomy societies, student clubs, outreach groups, artists and companies partnered to provide 30 free public activities to an audience of 1500 visitors over a scheduled 12 hour period, overlapping with the 24 Hours of Science and Science Odyssey initiatives. This event was first conceived in discussions at the 2018 Montreal Space Symposium and included participation from more than a dozen post-secondary student groups in the Greater Montreal Area.

The Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium and the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC) Montreal Centre co-organized the event and will present the vision, activities, and feedback from this pilot event. An outline of next year’s possible format and theme will be discussed, with areas for returning partners to take the lead and new partners to bring their ideas and activities to this collaborative event.

This presentation will discuss recent, current, and upcoming space advocacy activities in Canada. What is space advocacy? How does the space community engage with government? How can the general public get involved? What role do students play? And what needs to be done? These are all questions that attendees of the Montreal Space Symposium need to think about if they want to have a hand in ensuring that Canada's future in space is as bright as it can be.

The Montreal Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC) is comprised of approximately 175 amateur astronomers. As a group we obviously enjoy observing and exploring the night sky in a socially friendly environment, and as a second component of our mandate for over a century we host events and deliver activities in the Greater Montreal Area to share our passion of astronomy with the public. Over the past decades, these free public events provided by RASC Montreal Centre have been joined by a host of initiatives by other local clubs, organizations, and even private individuals…all with an aim to share our wonder, knowledge and experiences in Astronomy and Space Sciences with the general public. In this talk we will present an overview of the RASC Montreal Centre offerings, as well as a look at some of these various initiatives from outside traditional academia. Whether you call it public outreach or sidewalk astronomy, the net effect has been a rebirth of interest in the night sky within the Montreal region and beyond amongst the general public.