What can the hostile environment of the Arctic teach us about space? David Marsh recently returned from a first-hand journey to find out. He joins On Orbit this week after wrapping up an Arctic expedition where he spent 29 days skiing more than 560 kilometers across Greenland with a group of researchers.
Over the trip he worked on a number of research projects like investigating the use of Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites for navigation, and using a new radio propagation technique to measure space weather. In this episode, Marsh shares what life was like on the expedition and how the trip took him inside an abandoned Cold War radar station.
As a space industry professional who previously worked for Voyager Technologies and is now a fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, Marsh has a particular focus on the relationship between the Arctic and space. His work on the subject includes a recently published piece for War on the Rocks that is referenced in the episode. While the region is critical for downlinking satellite data, Marsh also believes the extreme environment of the Arctic can teach us something about surviving in the extreme environment of space.
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