thank you this is a great opportunity I
appreciate the opportunity to speak with
you and one of the questions I’m curious
about hearing an answer from yous what
do you think of when you think of North
Dakota cold winter small communities
family lifestyle agriculture ancestors
who made one-way trips from the old
world to the new world believe it or not
I believe that North Dakotans and people
in this part of the world are actually
well suited to make the next journey to
colonize the Moon and Mars because we
have it in us both ancestrally but also
because of our experiences here in North
Dakota to make that journey and I would
argue that North Dakota culture is
really what we need when we take that
next step and I just sort of got
involved with this as a farm kid here in
North Dakota and it was in a moment like
this when I had a big Wow one of the
things we do in North Dakota is you know
raise cattle and in North Dakota it’s
very cold and so if you don’t have a
heat source for your water it freezes
and you have to chop water to water your
cattle and when we were doing this I
remember as a kid my dad and I we
chopped a hole in the ice and all of a
sudden this is a very cold day frogs
were blending up to the surface and I
thought they were dead but then all of a
sudden they started wiggling and I
thought wow this is weird
it was from that moment on that I was
really inspired to explore our
understanding of the potential for life
to exist elsewhere in the universe and
to even dig a little deeper and look at
places here in North Dakota that can
tell us how to do this exploration
whether it’s the people or the things
that we’ve built or the technologies
we’re working on there’s lessons to be
learned here in North Dakota and I took
this picture
New Year’s Eve last year and it was
probably one of the coldest days of the
year 20 or so below I would challenge
you to go out to the fort Lincoln State
Park and take a look
get the Native American villages that
live that exist out there where people
lived in these harsh environments they
were connected to the earth and they
were connected to using the resources
around them in a minimalistic way that
allowed them to survive in these extreme
environments and it’s this kind of
thinking and technological development
approach that we really need to do when
we take steps to the Moon or Mars
and it’s interesting there’s parallels
between the earth lodges in mandem and
what our partners in ISA as well as NASA
are working on in developing so it’s
really quite interesting to see how
these technologies are informing the
development of future technologies for
lunar and Mars exploration and it’s not
just the ones that are staying put it’s
also those that are movable teepees and
so on our exploration shelters that
we’ve adapted in polar environments in
our exploration of Antarctica and I
would argue that this kind of technology
is something that we’re going to need in
some other more refined in
higher-fidelity state for lunar and Mars
exploration when we’re exploring these
worlds and so why are we exploring these
worlds well I’m interested mainly
because I’m curious whether or not life
existed on the moon on Mars or Enceladus
or on Europa and to explore the moon
before its energy resources and so on
and so we know that life has been on the
earth it certainly has been on the moon
because of the astronauts but we don’t
know if it exists elsewhere and that’s
probably one of the main tasks that
people are going to be engaging in when
they explore Mars and colonize this
place and it gets back to the types of
people that are going to be involved in
doing this and I would argue that North
Dakotans and cultures that existed here
when the first peoples were coming from
the old world to the new world to settle
here they took advantage of their local
resources to build facilities and homes
and they didn’t have much the same thing
is going to be true of people that make
the trip from Earth to Mars in the next
few generations and so while this is
just an analogy this
the same kind of experience that people
will will have when they colonize those
places well what are they going to where
are they going to go what are they going
to look for well if we’re searching for
life we’re going to be exploring
environments that have evidence of the
presence of water whether it’s the past
or presence and believe it or not in
Mars there’s a lot of evidence of
ancient liquid water that had dominated
the surface at different periods right
now there’s a lot of ice and glaciers
and so on and in fact there are features
like this esker here that are thought to
be remnants of flowing rivers that were
ice walled or something very similar to
what existed in eastern North Dakota
this digital elevation model model shows
where large glaciers were pushing down
from Canada and have resurfaced Eastern
North Dakota and believe it or not we on
a couple of different expeditions went
to a couple of different features in the
Red River Valley eskers that are in some
clays places very accessible to explore
them and to dig into them and to
understand what kind of microbes are
there and see how this can inform us for
developing missions to explore Mars and
if you want to get a sense for what
eastern North Dakota was like you have
to go a little further north this is
picture we took in Iceland the ice
sheets are massive but they’re not miles
and miles thick they’re in this case
this one’s retreating but just to give
you a sense this is a bus and about 25
or so snowmobiles these things are
gigantic and these kinds of features
dominated eastern North Dakota and in
some places are also operating in the
surface of Mars but perhaps the most
interesting analogue environment on
earth that we can really test
technologies that’s even colder than or
colder than North Dakota’s Antarctica
and the base that I spent some time at
was the amundsen-scott South Pole
Station and it was here that I sort of
expressed my North Dakota agricultural
experience in growing crops this is what
crop growth is going to look like on the
Moon or Mars it’s not going to be
initially growing as soils it’s going to
be hydroponic so for those of you who
are interested
and getting involved hydroponic growth
systems is probably the going to be the
technologies that will be used to feed
the people in these harsh environments
of the Moon and Mars and another
interesting thing about not just
agriculture but sort of linked to it is
the technology that is needed in in
these exploration environments this is
the South Pole Traverse where there was
a large number of tractors dragging
supplies from McMurdo base to South Pole
so that we could stay warm and believe
it or not the tractors that were used in
this area were built in Fargo these are
large Quadra tracts that our North
Dakota technology and I would invite and
entrepreneurs to work with the companies
that are developing this technologies to
adapt them for use for flight in lunar
and Mars applications that sounds wild
but it’s heavy technology like this that
we’re going to need and not just heavy
technology we’re gonna also need
spacesuits and believe it or not
University of North Dakota right now is
leading the way in many different
aspects of human space exploration this
is a flight suit it is a prototype but
it is something developed and designed
by students and teachers at University
of North Dakota for subjects to wear
during flight applications this is
something that would be worn when you’re
launching or reentering the earth and we
actually tested this thing under a
launch profile that simulates a rocket
leaving the earth and then a rocket
coming back to earth and it worked it
stayed pressurized it was a really
interesting experience to see something
from North Dakota tested in a NASA
centrifuge and then it worked and this
is direct space applications well not
just spacesuits are needed but we also
need a place to live this is what a home
on the Moon or Mars might look like it’s
a modular approach it contains modules
that would be individually sent to the
surface that you’re exploring and then
assembled on site it contains a variety
of components which include a habitat an
exercise module a place to do work with
rocks an Eevee a room and we’re all
familiar with this in North Dakota
we don’t call it an Eevee a bruh we call
it a mudroom right it’s that part of
your home that you reserve for coats and
boots and mud and dirt and all that
stuff that’s what an Eevee a broom is
and there’s another example how you
already know what it takes to live in
one of these also we have a plant growth
module and we have a rover that is being
developed as well in fact this was
notional a few years ago but as of today
we’re actually getting closer to
completely constructing this thing again
this is a facility that is designed to
train people how to live and work in
these isolated and confined environments
this is literally going to be a small
base that’s like a very tiny town that
people will be exercising growing plants
and then leaving the habitat to go do
work outside and in some of the initial
tests that we’ve done a demonstrated
that people can interact with the
spacesuits and the rover and the tunnels
that go between the different modules is
and it’s very interesting that most of
the people that are involved in this
really enjoy it because it gives you a
sense for what it’s like to live and
work in these very unusual environments
and again this is in Grand Forks it’s
not something that is in a desert so
we’re testing it in North Dakota first
and one of the features that I’m really
interested in is being able to have
people go outside and do work in frozen
cold conditions there’s no other habitat
that’s like this because this one is
actually partially pressurise Abal so it
adds an element of fidelity that is even
more space like as compared to other
unpressurized habitats this is what the
rover looks like you can see that it has
a small docking port that allows the
people to transfer between the habitat
into the rover and you’ll notice that
there’s a couple of space suits hanging
on the outside this is kind of like a
mobile mudroom I like to think of this
as a mobile dust room because it’s not
mud that’s going to be a problem on the
Moon and Mars it’s going to be dust and
if you figure out a way to manage the
dust you’re gonna have a healthier
lifestyle and so people crawl through a
port inside the module or inside the
rover to get inside of the spacesuits
and then they
attach themselves to go do work outside
and again this is all prototype
technology designed to both develop the
tools and techniques and to train the
people of how to live and work in these
unusual environments but we’re taking it
a step further with the higher fidelity
spacesuit technology that’s being
developed this is the nbx one in fact
there’s one of one very similar to this
that’s on display here in the Heritage
Center this thing was tested recently in
the Kennedy Space Center in the lunar
regolith bin to see how the person using
the spacesuit would interact with a very
dusty environment so we’re starting to
think ahead here we’ve also tested this
spacesuit in some of the most
interesting geologic formations on earth
this being the western Pilbara of
Australia these this area contains the
most ancient fossils on earth and the
reason why we’re interested in that is
because we want to know if a suited
Explorer if they’re on Mars if they’re
going to be able to even see a fossil
that has evidence of life in it and so
we tested that in the Pilbara with with
spacesuit subjects looking for this is a
modern-day equivalent of ancient
fossilized stromatolites very
interesting opportunity but we’ve we’ve
also done more than just spacesuit
testing we’ve demonstrated operations to
drill and collect samples from the
subsurface this is a demonstration of
the spacesuit from University of North
Dakota in Antarctica where we were
collecting samples and using a drill to
dig into the subsurface to collect
samples of ice rich rock to be able to
look for microbes in those soil samples
and drilling is something that we are
very interested in not just with human
explorers but we’re also interested in
robotic ly we went to the Atacama Desert
a few months ago and tested a small
Rover that’s designed to robotically
drill about a meter in the subsurface
and it’s a very interesting device that
and you can see the drill string here
has the capability much like a
jackhammer or a impact drill to
penetrate even rocks and hard subsurface
material to pull up samples that can
then be aliquot to different instruments
that will look for signs of past life
whether its amino acids or other kinds
of bio signatures this prototype Rover
is one that we’re trying to develop to
look for evidence of past life on Mars
but I would argue that a device like
this as functional and interesting and
useful as it may be we’re gonna actually
have to go a lot deeper than a meter we
will learn a great deal about Mars if we
can deploy a rover like this but we’re
gonna have to go perhaps 500 feet maybe
a thousand feet maybe even a mile
because recently we’ve discovered on
Mars
our European colleagues have discovered
a a subsurface liquid water lake that
exists in the South Pole region of Mars
we have no idea what the extent or
what’s in it but there’s a signature
from a geophysical survey that has just
revealed this and so we’re going to have
to rely on people and technologies that
know how to go very deep into subsurface
and I would argue that even here in
North Dakota there are technologies and
approaches and operational capabilities
that we should work on adapting for
lunar and Mars exploration and it would
be the type of technologies that we’re
using in the Bakken right now that would
be very useful and on that same token we
see of course the flares North Dakotans
are really good at terraforming we’ve
terraformed a huge amount of the state
into an agricultural landscape and we’re
terraforming the atmosphere as well by
releasing huge amounts of co2 and
methane and so on and I would argue that
even though that might not be good for
the the the earth that might be just
what the doctor ordered for Mars if we
want to warm Mars up to be able to have
it be somewhat habitable like Earth so
these kinds of technologies are exactly
what we will need on Mars to make it
more habitable and just as an aside
there are other places in the solar
system that have huge reserves of
hydrocarbons Titan this moon of Saturn
is shrouded in a nitrogen rich
atmosphere but on its surface our lakes
and
seas of pure liquid methane and ethane
so I would challenge the energy sector
to consider extraction techniques on
this place if that could ever be
warranted somewhere down the road so if
we were to summarize then our the story
here is that if we were to really
envision humans on Mars it’s going to
take a collection of a variety of
techniques and tools operational
approaches people and culture to be able
to make this journey to the new world
and I would say if we’re going to really
take it to the next level where we’re
going to level up and enable humans to
actually colonize the Moon or Mars we’re
going to have to look within both to our
our selves here in North Dakota but also
the companies and the entrepreneurial
spirit that is required to be able to do
this it’s not just people that will make
this happen it will also be businesses
because we need a culture an ecosystem
similar to what we have on earth to
operate on Mars and so with that in mind
I simply would like to make a call to
everybody if you’re interested in this I
would invite you to allow yourself to be
inspired by space exploration and if you
are curious about this to reach out to
NASA to reach out to myself or others
who are involved and share with us your
expertise and experiences because you
might know something or be aware of
something that would be useful for us
that we haven’t thought of yet and so
with that I’d like to finish and just
say thank you for your attention and we
need North Dakota culture in space
[Applause] [Music]
appreciate the opportunity to speak with
you and one of the questions I’m curious
about hearing an answer from yous what
do you think of when you think of North
Dakota cold winter small communities
family lifestyle agriculture ancestors
who made one-way trips from the old
world to the new world believe it or not
I believe that North Dakotans and people
in this part of the world are actually
well suited to make the next journey to
colonize the Moon and Mars because we
have it in us both ancestrally but also
because of our experiences here in North
Dakota to make that journey and I would
argue that North Dakota culture is
really what we need when we take that
next step and I just sort of got
involved with this as a farm kid here in
North Dakota and it was in a moment like
this when I had a big Wow one of the
things we do in North Dakota is you know
raise cattle and in North Dakota it’s
very cold and so if you don’t have a
heat source for your water it freezes
and you have to chop water to water your
cattle and when we were doing this I
remember as a kid my dad and I we
chopped a hole in the ice and all of a
sudden this is a very cold day frogs
were blending up to the surface and I
thought they were dead but then all of a
sudden they started wiggling and I
thought wow this is weird
it was from that moment on that I was
really inspired to explore our
understanding of the potential for life
to exist elsewhere in the universe and
to even dig a little deeper and look at
places here in North Dakota that can
tell us how to do this exploration
whether it’s the people or the things
that we’ve built or the technologies
we’re working on there’s lessons to be
learned here in North Dakota and I took
this picture
New Year’s Eve last year and it was
probably one of the coldest days of the
year 20 or so below I would challenge
you to go out to the fort Lincoln State
Park and take a look
get the Native American villages that
live that exist out there where people
lived in these harsh environments they
were connected to the earth and they
were connected to using the resources
around them in a minimalistic way that
allowed them to survive in these extreme
environments and it’s this kind of
thinking and technological development
approach that we really need to do when
we take steps to the Moon or Mars
and it’s interesting there’s parallels
between the earth lodges in mandem and
what our partners in ISA as well as NASA
are working on in developing so it’s
really quite interesting to see how
these technologies are informing the
development of future technologies for
lunar and Mars exploration and it’s not
just the ones that are staying put it’s
also those that are movable teepees and
so on our exploration shelters that
we’ve adapted in polar environments in
our exploration of Antarctica and I
would argue that this kind of technology
is something that we’re going to need in
some other more refined in
higher-fidelity state for lunar and Mars
exploration when we’re exploring these
worlds and so why are we exploring these
worlds well I’m interested mainly
because I’m curious whether or not life
existed on the moon on Mars or Enceladus
or on Europa and to explore the moon
before its energy resources and so on
and so we know that life has been on the
earth it certainly has been on the moon
because of the astronauts but we don’t
know if it exists elsewhere and that’s
probably one of the main tasks that
people are going to be engaging in when
they explore Mars and colonize this
place and it gets back to the types of
people that are going to be involved in
doing this and I would argue that North
Dakotans and cultures that existed here
when the first peoples were coming from
the old world to the new world to settle
here they took advantage of their local
resources to build facilities and homes
and they didn’t have much the same thing
is going to be true of people that make
the trip from Earth to Mars in the next
few generations and so while this is
just an analogy this
the same kind of experience that people
will will have when they colonize those
places well what are they going to where
are they going to go what are they going
to look for well if we’re searching for
life we’re going to be exploring
environments that have evidence of the
presence of water whether it’s the past
or presence and believe it or not in
Mars there’s a lot of evidence of
ancient liquid water that had dominated
the surface at different periods right
now there’s a lot of ice and glaciers
and so on and in fact there are features
like this esker here that are thought to
be remnants of flowing rivers that were
ice walled or something very similar to
what existed in eastern North Dakota
this digital elevation model model shows
where large glaciers were pushing down
from Canada and have resurfaced Eastern
North Dakota and believe it or not we on
a couple of different expeditions went
to a couple of different features in the
Red River Valley eskers that are in some
clays places very accessible to explore
them and to dig into them and to
understand what kind of microbes are
there and see how this can inform us for
developing missions to explore Mars and
if you want to get a sense for what
eastern North Dakota was like you have
to go a little further north this is
picture we took in Iceland the ice
sheets are massive but they’re not miles
and miles thick they’re in this case
this one’s retreating but just to give
you a sense this is a bus and about 25
or so snowmobiles these things are
gigantic and these kinds of features
dominated eastern North Dakota and in
some places are also operating in the
surface of Mars but perhaps the most
interesting analogue environment on
earth that we can really test
technologies that’s even colder than or
colder than North Dakota’s Antarctica
and the base that I spent some time at
was the amundsen-scott South Pole
Station and it was here that I sort of
expressed my North Dakota agricultural
experience in growing crops this is what
crop growth is going to look like on the
Moon or Mars it’s not going to be
initially growing as soils it’s going to
be hydroponic so for those of you who
are interested
and getting involved hydroponic growth
systems is probably the going to be the
technologies that will be used to feed
the people in these harsh environments
of the Moon and Mars and another
interesting thing about not just
agriculture but sort of linked to it is
the technology that is needed in in
these exploration environments this is
the South Pole Traverse where there was
a large number of tractors dragging
supplies from McMurdo base to South Pole
so that we could stay warm and believe
it or not the tractors that were used in
this area were built in Fargo these are
large Quadra tracts that our North
Dakota technology and I would invite and
entrepreneurs to work with the companies
that are developing this technologies to
adapt them for use for flight in lunar
and Mars applications that sounds wild
but it’s heavy technology like this that
we’re going to need and not just heavy
technology we’re gonna also need
spacesuits and believe it or not
University of North Dakota right now is
leading the way in many different
aspects of human space exploration this
is a flight suit it is a prototype but
it is something developed and designed
by students and teachers at University
of North Dakota for subjects to wear
during flight applications this is
something that would be worn when you’re
launching or reentering the earth and we
actually tested this thing under a
launch profile that simulates a rocket
leaving the earth and then a rocket
coming back to earth and it worked it
stayed pressurized it was a really
interesting experience to see something
from North Dakota tested in a NASA
centrifuge and then it worked and this
is direct space applications well not
just spacesuits are needed but we also
need a place to live this is what a home
on the Moon or Mars might look like it’s
a modular approach it contains modules
that would be individually sent to the
surface that you’re exploring and then
assembled on site it contains a variety
of components which include a habitat an
exercise module a place to do work with
rocks an Eevee a room and we’re all
familiar with this in North Dakota
we don’t call it an Eevee a bruh we call
it a mudroom right it’s that part of
your home that you reserve for coats and
boots and mud and dirt and all that
stuff that’s what an Eevee a broom is
and there’s another example how you
already know what it takes to live in
one of these also we have a plant growth
module and we have a rover that is being
developed as well in fact this was
notional a few years ago but as of today
we’re actually getting closer to
completely constructing this thing again
this is a facility that is designed to
train people how to live and work in
these isolated and confined environments
this is literally going to be a small
base that’s like a very tiny town that
people will be exercising growing plants
and then leaving the habitat to go do
work outside and in some of the initial
tests that we’ve done a demonstrated
that people can interact with the
spacesuits and the rover and the tunnels
that go between the different modules is
and it’s very interesting that most of
the people that are involved in this
really enjoy it because it gives you a
sense for what it’s like to live and
work in these very unusual environments
and again this is in Grand Forks it’s
not something that is in a desert so
we’re testing it in North Dakota first
and one of the features that I’m really
interested in is being able to have
people go outside and do work in frozen
cold conditions there’s no other habitat
that’s like this because this one is
actually partially pressurise Abal so it
adds an element of fidelity that is even
more space like as compared to other
unpressurized habitats this is what the
rover looks like you can see that it has
a small docking port that allows the
people to transfer between the habitat
into the rover and you’ll notice that
there’s a couple of space suits hanging
on the outside this is kind of like a
mobile mudroom I like to think of this
as a mobile dust room because it’s not
mud that’s going to be a problem on the
Moon and Mars it’s going to be dust and
if you figure out a way to manage the
dust you’re gonna have a healthier
lifestyle and so people crawl through a
port inside the module or inside the
rover to get inside of the spacesuits
and then they
attach themselves to go do work outside
and again this is all prototype
technology designed to both develop the
tools and techniques and to train the
people of how to live and work in these
unusual environments but we’re taking it
a step further with the higher fidelity
spacesuit technology that’s being
developed this is the nbx one in fact
there’s one of one very similar to this
that’s on display here in the Heritage
Center this thing was tested recently in
the Kennedy Space Center in the lunar
regolith bin to see how the person using
the spacesuit would interact with a very
dusty environment so we’re starting to
think ahead here we’ve also tested this
spacesuit in some of the most
interesting geologic formations on earth
this being the western Pilbara of
Australia these this area contains the
most ancient fossils on earth and the
reason why we’re interested in that is
because we want to know if a suited
Explorer if they’re on Mars if they’re
going to be able to even see a fossil
that has evidence of life in it and so
we tested that in the Pilbara with with
spacesuit subjects looking for this is a
modern-day equivalent of ancient
fossilized stromatolites very
interesting opportunity but we’ve we’ve
also done more than just spacesuit
testing we’ve demonstrated operations to
drill and collect samples from the
subsurface this is a demonstration of
the spacesuit from University of North
Dakota in Antarctica where we were
collecting samples and using a drill to
dig into the subsurface to collect
samples of ice rich rock to be able to
look for microbes in those soil samples
and drilling is something that we are
very interested in not just with human
explorers but we’re also interested in
robotic ly we went to the Atacama Desert
a few months ago and tested a small
Rover that’s designed to robotically
drill about a meter in the subsurface
and it’s a very interesting device that
and you can see the drill string here
has the capability much like a
jackhammer or a impact drill to
penetrate even rocks and hard subsurface
material to pull up samples that can
then be aliquot to different instruments
that will look for signs of past life
whether its amino acids or other kinds
of bio signatures this prototype Rover
is one that we’re trying to develop to
look for evidence of past life on Mars
but I would argue that a device like
this as functional and interesting and
useful as it may be we’re gonna actually
have to go a lot deeper than a meter we
will learn a great deal about Mars if we
can deploy a rover like this but we’re
gonna have to go perhaps 500 feet maybe
a thousand feet maybe even a mile
because recently we’ve discovered on
Mars
our European colleagues have discovered
a a subsurface liquid water lake that
exists in the South Pole region of Mars
we have no idea what the extent or
what’s in it but there’s a signature
from a geophysical survey that has just
revealed this and so we’re going to have
to rely on people and technologies that
know how to go very deep into subsurface
and I would argue that even here in
North Dakota there are technologies and
approaches and operational capabilities
that we should work on adapting for
lunar and Mars exploration and it would
be the type of technologies that we’re
using in the Bakken right now that would
be very useful and on that same token we
see of course the flares North Dakotans
are really good at terraforming we’ve
terraformed a huge amount of the state
into an agricultural landscape and we’re
terraforming the atmosphere as well by
releasing huge amounts of co2 and
methane and so on and I would argue that
even though that might not be good for
the the the earth that might be just
what the doctor ordered for Mars if we
want to warm Mars up to be able to have
it be somewhat habitable like Earth so
these kinds of technologies are exactly
what we will need on Mars to make it
more habitable and just as an aside
there are other places in the solar
system that have huge reserves of
hydrocarbons Titan this moon of Saturn
is shrouded in a nitrogen rich
atmosphere but on its surface our lakes
and
seas of pure liquid methane and ethane
so I would challenge the energy sector
to consider extraction techniques on
this place if that could ever be
warranted somewhere down the road so if
we were to summarize then our the story
here is that if we were to really
envision humans on Mars it’s going to
take a collection of a variety of
techniques and tools operational
approaches people and culture to be able
to make this journey to the new world
and I would say if we’re going to really
take it to the next level where we’re
going to level up and enable humans to
actually colonize the Moon or Mars we’re
going to have to look within both to our
our selves here in North Dakota but also
the companies and the entrepreneurial
spirit that is required to be able to do
this it’s not just people that will make
this happen it will also be businesses
because we need a culture an ecosystem
similar to what we have on earth to
operate on Mars and so with that in mind
I simply would like to make a call to
everybody if you’re interested in this I
would invite you to allow yourself to be
inspired by space exploration and if you
are curious about this to reach out to
NASA to reach out to myself or others
who are involved and share with us your
expertise and experiences because you
might know something or be aware of
something that would be useful for us
that we haven’t thought of yet and so
with that I’d like to finish and just
say thank you for your attention and we
need North Dakota culture in space
[Applause] [Music]
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