a day down into CAVES

Join me in a day down into CAVES. Helmet on, buckle up ... and don't forget your headlamp!

listening to yourself: what a weird experience

Today I found myself on the web. It's not as paradoxical as meeting yourself in time travel, but still it feels weird, especially when you did not really know you had been recorded for a radio interview.
In 2010, during a very challenging personal time, I was contacted by a journalist who had found my name in association with an article on astronaut survival training. She wanted to inject me into an IEEE special edition on Dream Jobs. It sounded interesting, so I decided to go along. I had a very interesting day long conversation with an exceptional person: a professional journalist and editor, extremely smart and competent, asking challenging and clever questions. She recorded all our conversations, and told me that I would be contacted for a radio interview, but then that appointment did not materialise. I had my first photo shooting session instead, in a very uncomfortable and unrealistical space suit dummy.
It's been a nice surprise to find the recordings of our day together today. I had been speaking to her the whole day, relaxed and sincere, so for the first time I actually enjoy listening to myself.
If you care to listen to it, advance to minute 20 http://www.prx.org/pieces/66100-dream-jobs-2011-outside-the-cubicle.
The IEEE article can be found here: http://spectrum.ieee.org/geek-life/profiles/dream-job-loredana-bessone.

estraterrestri sotto terra

(estratto dal mio articolo su Montagne 360 di Novembre 2013)

Per prepararsi ad andare in luoghi sconosciuti, ci si allena in luoghi sconosciuti. 

Si parla molto di esplorazione spaziale, ma per il momento ci si limita ad esplorare se stessi nello spazio attorno alla terra. Eppure adattarsi a vivere nello spazio richiede curiosità, rispetto per le difficoltà con le quali ci si confronterà, per le persone che hanno preparato le spedizioni, per i compagni che parlano una lingua diversa e che decidono, comunicano, interagiscono secondo canoni propri della cultura nella quali sono stati immersi negli anni passati della loro vita. 

Nello spazio ci si muove usando longe, corde di sicurezza, si devono evitare gli ostacoli, bisogna stare lontani da zone vietate, ci si muove in 3D, con una visione limitata dai 60 gradi di visibilità permessi dall' elmetto, a volte ci si muove al buio, e bisogna sapersi orientare per riuscire a trovare l' ingresso. Nello spazio le giornate non sono scandite dal ritmo del sorgere e tramontare del sole ogni 24 ore, ma ogni 90 minuti. Il tempo nello spazio e' quello degli orologi sincronizzati con la terra. Nello spazio si vive di luce artificiale. I colori sono artificiali. Gli odori sono naturali, ma molto umani. I rumori sono quelli dell' elettronica di bordo, ripetitivi, e un po' noiosi.  

E questo e' lo spazio attorno alla terra.

Se si pensa a viaggi su pianeti lontani o asteroidi, il tempo, lo spazio, i colori, i profumi, la musica della voce di un bimbo sono ricordi lontani, sintetizzati in sistemi di realtà virtuale, limitati dalla capacita dei dischi di bordo e dalla fantasia di chi li ha creati.

E la terra, gli amici, la sicurezza della propria casa sono riflessioni lontane, ricreate in simulazioni interiori. La realtà e' quella di una piccola società di persone con le quali si e' partiti da una terra amata, lontana, che forse un giorno si tornerà a rivivere.

Nessun ambiente, o situazione, ricrea tutto questo meglio della grotta. Esplorare l' ignoto, dover ritrovare l' uscita, dipendere dai sistemi di illuminazione artificiali, muoversi in 3D, su corde, con longe, non avere luci, colori, profumi, suoni, altri che quelli dei compagni, coi quali si compartono le difficoltà, i successi, il cibo, le risorse, e dei quali ci si deve fidare, ciecamente. E come lo spazio, la grotta affascina, intimorisce, incute rispetto, offre paure, crea unione.

Ma la grotta e' un ambiente. E va capito, studiato, esplorato, fotografato, topografato. Le conoscenze acquisite vanno compartite con tutti quelli che non hanno la capacita' l'eta' o la voglia di immergervisi. Imparare ad esplorare significa imparare a conoscere e a divulgare. Con curiosità, rispetto, umiltà, e con gli amici.

space analogues

Analogue means in some ways comparable. But comparable to what? Human Spaceflight is nowadays confined to Low Earth Orbit, and it will be, for a few more years, to the Solar System. But there is no comparison between LEO, an Asteroid and Mars or the Moon, or even Libration Points in terms of atmosphere, gravity, soil composition, distance from Earth, mission duration, and therefore habitats, communication, equipment, operations.

So, first answer the question: Analogue to WHAT?

And then, it so highly depends on what one wants from the analogue: planetary science? Therefore (geo)logical analogy is required. Or maybe testing of equipment? Therefore environmental analogy is important. You want to test an operational concept? Then you also need some level of situational analogy. Human research? Depending on what you study, you need some combination of environmental, situational, operational analogy. And the level of realism needs to be a known assumption, to be seriously considered in the interpretation of results. Training? You need a REALISTIC combination of environmental, situational, operational analogy. And that's not easy to achieve, especially considering how little experience we have of the target.

ESA CAVES 2012

Totally taken by the preparation for ESA CAVES 2012. Next week will be performing dry runs in Sardinia with the instructors and scientists, and the week after the Training Readiness Review board will check if I've prepared things right. And on September 2nd it'll take off, with a crew of six international astronauts.
I'll write about it on the @ESA_CAVES twitter account. In the meanwhile enjoy the CAVES 2011 video.

that would be me?

At a workshop on leadership for women some years ago (almost as good as teaching men how to knit as a way to become successful fathers), I was told that you should google yourself from time to time, just to check what others would see if they do. So when I am really bored, I sometimes decide to look up my friends, and a few days ago I looked for my own name, but I decided to look it up with the word "game". 

Very high up in the list I found a real surprise. A company was citing me as an example of out-of-the-box thinker, to then proceed to promote their own teaching methodology. 

Interesting, I thought ... they have no clue who I am, I never published anything easily accessible on what I do, but a couple of magazines in the last months had published articles about a couple of my projects, and they have used a very colourful language.

Did I go from being a very boring civil servant to a source of inspiration in innovative paradigms for immersive training?

And then I was thinking: what if they had met me in person, and had heard me speaking enthusiastically about those projects ... they would probably have ignored me, while busily looking for luminescent covers in popular magazines.