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Grilled Cheese is a product of Village Compute

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@drspacejunk.bsky.socialSep 30, 2026, 12:46 PM

How the Rosetta mission created a new archaeological site in space. 🧪 🏺 #SpaceArchaeology #PlanetSci

@drspacejunk.bsky.socialSep 26, 2026, 11:41 PM

If you want to read the GEGSLA report 'The sustainable management of lunar natural and cultural heritage: suggested principles and guidelines', you can find it here. 🧪 🏺 #PlanetSci #SpaceArchaeology

@drspacejunk.bsky.socialSep 26, 2026, 11:01 PM

There is undoubtedly huge archaeological/astrobiological value in the astronaut poop. If a sample is going to be removed, it must have a robust research proposal in which damage to the site is justified by the potential results. The materials and the results must be shared. 🧪 🏺 #SpaceArchaeology

@drspacejunk.bsky.socialSep 26, 2026, 10:57 PM

A major issue in studying bags of astronaut waste on the Moon is that in order to get it, you will destroy the integrity of the Apollo sites by stirring up abrasive dust which weakens materials and covers traces, and placing new tracks/prints over the old ones. 🧪 🏺 #SpaceArchaeology

@drspacejunk.bsky.socialSep 26, 2026, 10:42 PM

In a 2023 report for the Global Expert Group on Sustainable Lunar Activity, I discussed the ethical implications of studying human biological materials on the Moon. The standards of consent, privacy and cultural appropriateness used on Earth should also apply. 🧪 🏺 #SpaceArchaeology

5.10 Protocols for human biological remains The six Apollo missions left behind an estimated 96 bags containing human waste, as well as urine collection devices. The legal status of the astronaut waste is not clear. Lopez (2020) argues that it does not satisfy the definition of a ‘space object’. While NASA as the launching state owns the bags, it may not own the biological materials within. These substances have scientific value for what they may reveal about the impacts of radiation on DNA, the human microbiome, particularly from the gut, and the survival of microfauna in extreme planetary environments. However, they also have a high sensitivity as they relate to living people or their descendants. In recent years sensibilities about genetic material and human remains have been a matter of much debate, particularly in relation to violations of the autonomy and dignity of Indigenous people and other groups such as criminals (Alpasian-Roodenberg et al 2021, Kowal 2013, McQueen 1998). The analysis of the waste materials risks revealing personal and medical information about the astronauts which they may wish to keep private. In the case of DNA, contemporary methods such as the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) can replicate the DNA and produce large quantities for distribution and further analysis. Should this be done without the consent of the person to whom the DNA or biological material belongs? Who has rights to the genetic material? 36 Most contemporary institutions have ethics approval processes for conducting research on human subjects, including archaeological human remains. It will be critical to ensure that any study of Apollo astronaut waste complies with currently accepted standards for such research.
@drspacejunk.bsky.socialSep 26, 2026, 10:33 PM

This is very interesting! Nearly 20 years ago I suggested that astronaut poop might have archaeological value, and was mocked for it. 🧪 🏺 #SpaceArchaeology

@drspacejunk.bsky.socialSep 11, 2026, 12:34 PM

This film was made by screen and media students of Flinders University in 2011. Featuring my office and the Flinders archaeology lab!
#SpaceArchaeology 🏺