The first time I felt close to being an explorer
was when I was working out in Northeast Greenland.
It was actually when I was on a beer run to the local store.
And when I say “local” – just to put things into prospective –
it did take a helicopter to get there.
So, I got everything I needed, and I was just walking out of the door
when I saw on the side a collection of maps.
I don’t know about you, but I love maps.
Maps can tell us so much.
They can tell us about the area we’re in,
they can tell us what to see and what to avoid.
All maps can tell us about our history.
And they can help us plan our next adventure.
But it wasn’t so much what this map did tell me which called my attention,
but rather what it didn’t.
If you look up in the top corner of this map,
you’ll see that it’s completely white, there’s nothing there, it’s blank,
except for one word: ‘unexplored’.
It was this map that really made me realise
what it is about exploration and science which is important,
what really excites me:
it’s the idea of finding out something new.
This is me at four years old.
And this my very first explorer kit.
I had all of the essentials: I had a drinks bottle,
I had an egg-box carton, I even had a dinosaur rubber.
And things, for me, haven’t really changed.
As part of medical and logistical support teams,
I’ve had the opportunity to go and work in some remote and extreme environments;
for example, Greenland, Svalbard, Siberia, and even the North Pole.
As part of these experiences,
I’ve got to experience them in the capacity other than local,
which it’s been a real privilege, from working in a local Inuit hospital
to getting to visit some of the most beautiful and remote areas on this Earth.
Without a doubt, on a number of occasions,
I really feel like I have tested myself beyond my own limits.
Perhaps most notably was my last birthday,
when I was woken up by a hungry polar bear
who’d mistaken me for his breakfast.
I’m hoping for a cake this year.
But having said that, exploration– sorry, I’ve heard about this.
For me, the Golden Age of Exploration is largely over.
From these experiences, I don’t consider myself an explorer.
They didn’t make me feel like an explorer in the truest sense of the word.
When I had the opportunity to go to Antarctica last year,
I would never have dreamt of comparing my experience
to that of Scott’s or Amundsen’s.
However, it was in Antarctica that I felt
that I made my first real contribution to exploration in the truest sense.
That’s because I was there working for the European Space Agency.
And for me, space is that white area left on that map,
it’s the place we still have left to explore.
Our journey into deep space has already begun, it’s already started.
So, down in Antarctica,
I was working at Concordia Station which is a space flight analogue.
Space flight analogues are essentially just any environment
which in some way replicate space.
They are mainly used either for research or for astronaut training.
We have lots of different types of these environments,
say from underwater ones to ones in caves, to bed rest studies.
One crew even spent 500 days
in a mock-up spaceship in a Russian car park
simulating a mission to Mars.
They can all tell us different things.
But what’s interesting about Concordia
is the fact that the crew are isolated there for nine months.
The reason for this is twofold.
The first is that it is an extreme environment.
This is a screenshot which I took during my overwinter,
and it just gives you an idea
of the kind of temperatures and the kind of climate
that you experience during an overwinter at Concordia.
So you might notice is pretty chilly; say, minus 80°C.
It didn’t get really much above minus 70°C
for the entire overwinter that we were there.
The other thing is you might notice barometric pressure is also quite low,
and that’s actually because we’re at altitude at Concordia.
So, it’s a bit like living at the top of Mont Blanc.
The other thing is the long polar nights.
I went for 105 days, without seeing the Sun at all.
This picture was actually taken
around lunch time, during the long polar night,
and I’m actually that little light
that you can see at the bottom of the station there.
It’s a strange thing to lose the Sun.
The Sun is that familiar thing
that we see wherever we go travelling, wherever we go in the world,
that sort of reconnects us with life back home.
And to lose that, it really did feel
like we’re on a different planet, that we were somewhere new.
I guess that’s why a lot of people refer to Concordia as White Mars.
That’s why–
it’s both the extreme environment and the long polar night,
which is why we were completely isolated at Concordia.
And that’s even in case of emergency.
If you look up at the International Space Station,
if astronauts were to have a medical problem,
we can normally evacuate them within half a day.
This won’t be the case as we go further into space
because we won’t be able to get people back so quickly.
And that’s what’s interesting about a platform like Concordia:
it can help tell us about the psychological pressures
and also, the medical models we might need
if we’re looking at going further into space.
After having spent nine months isolated at Concordia,
I think I would have actually found it much harder
to be on a different analogue platform where the isolation was artificial.
Say, for example, at the Russian car park.
If I’d be on that analogue,
where there was a door that you could walk through,
I probably would have spent 499 of the 500 days
wondering whether or not I should.
And I guess whether it’s harder or easier is really irrelevant;
but the important thing is
that it puts a different psychological pressure on the crew.
And that’s what’s interesting about Concordia;
that’s what really makes it a good model
for deep duration space flight of the future.
Walking out is not an option.
So, at Concordia, we’re doing a number of different experiments.
Unfortunately, I don’t have time to go into the morning great deal sale today
as much as I’d like to,
so I just wanted to give you a bit of a flavour, you know,
a bit of an overview of what we were doing down there.
The experiments are a mixture of psychology and physiology.
In one of the experiments we’re all wearing activity watches.
The watches looked a lot like the wrist watch I’m wearing right now,
and they’re a bit like a Fitbit.
They tell us about our activity levels,
and they could also tell us about our sleep-wake cycles.
But perhaps, more interestingly than that,
these watches were also able to interact with each other
and they were able to locate us on the base, as well.
My watch would be able to interact with another crew member’s watch.
From this data,
we were able to tell how our relationships are changing over time,
and how crew dynamics are changing.
We were also able to work out
how personal preferences are changing over time, as well.
Is somebody seeking out social interaction in the dining room or the sitting room,
or are they choosing to isolate themselves
and they’re spending long periods of time in their bedroom on their own?
We were really able to look at the critical time points in the mission
where this might be more or less likely to happen,
and indeed, when conflicts may occur.
As part of the same experiment, we were also doing a cognition test.
This test was looking at lots of different areas, say for example:
reaction time, memory testing, risk-taking behaviour.
What’s interesting about this experiment is,
while we were doing it down at Concordia,
astronauts were also doing the same experiment up in space.
And this really just demonstrates
how a lot of the research that we’re doing on analogues
is also helping to increase subject numbers
for experiments which are happening in space.
This means that we’re allowed to develop tools and develop technology
a lot more quickly than if we relied on astronauts alone.
Each year at Concordia, the flavour of the experiments generally changes.
This is actually a new experiment which has come in.
This is actually the real Soyuz Space Flight Simulator.
And from this experiment,
we’re looking to optimise training schedules over time.
Because when we arrive at Mars, it’d be a real shame
if we’ve forgotten how to land the spaceship when we get there.
So, why explore, why go deep into space?
For me, space and exploration is about so much more
than just getting somewhere to put down a flag.
It’s about the process of getting there and those we affect along our journey.
From encouraging international collaboration to inspiring others,
to really being the driving force behind technological innovation and research,
exploration affects society in so many different ways.
Just 50 years after Amundsen reached the Pole,
Yuri Gagarin left for space.
Although close in time, these achievements were light years apart
in terms of their technological requirements,
Yuri would have never got to space
if he’d only ever had access to Amundsen’s ship, The Fram.
This is reflected in the International Space Station, as well.
Perhaps, more than a spaceship,
the ISS can be considered a research laboratory
with astronauts spending the majority of their time
carrying out research out there in space.
While we are looking beyond our atmosphere towards the stars,
it’s through research that we’re also helping life back on Earth, as well.
You only have to look at the research I was doing out in Concordia to see that.
Most of the experiments also had medical implications as well.
To give you an example of that:
one of them we were looking at the effects of artificial lighting on our eyesight.
And while, of course, that data is really interesting for astronauts,
and perhaps, the fairly niche group of Antarctica overwinters,
it’s also really interesting for those back on Earth
who are also using artificial lighting for long periods of time;
for example, factory workers as well.
So, since arriving home, a lot of people have asked me,
“Is it time to get rid of the dinosaur rubber?
Is it time to put away the egg-box carton?”
But for me, I feel like I’m really only just getting started.
Perhaps, I may never reach space myself;
perhaps, a manned mission into deep space is still some time away.
The new frontier of space exploration has already begun.
Through research, we are all explorers,
we are all making our own small contribution.
Although many of us may never leave this atmosphere,
through research, we are all travelling into deep space together;
whether we’re really on the spaceship or not.
Thank you.
(Applause)
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