22 October 2013

Old volcanic rock to represent Victoria in space flight

A small piece of pumice that originatedduring the Taup eruption almost 1,800 years ago has been selected by aVictoria University of Wellington professor to go on a European space flight.

The pumice will accompany European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Dr Alexander Gerst on a six-month mission to visit theInternational Space Station, which is currently orbiting Earth.

Dr Gerst is a formerVictoria University student, who studied under geophysicsprofessor Martha Savage at the Institute of Geophysics several years ago.

He will serve as a flight engineer on the mission, which is scheduled to leave Earth at the end of May 2014 and return six months later in mid-November.

He invitedProfessor Savage to contribute an item to take on the journey to the International Space Station and she selected a small, rectangular piece of pumice, measuring two and a half centimetres in width and weighing just over 14 grams.

I chose it because its lightweight andsmall, and beautifully represents the University and the highly regarded earthsciences programme we run here, which Dr Gerst was part of for a time, says Professor Savage.

She says being able to provide an item for the flight provides an exciting opportunity for Victoria University to be part of Dr Gersts first-everspace exploration.

Its also a reminder of the kind of things talentedstudents like Dr Gerst go on to achieve with a Victoria Universityeducation.

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Old volcanic rock to represent Victoria in space flight