Space Studies Program - A ùltima Semana

Well...we are here. The last week. A ùltima semana.

No one can truly prepare you for the emotional rollercoaster that happens during this last week. I honestly thought I would be purely relieved to go home and see my family and sleep in my own bed, but the amount of tears shed definitely made this last week bitter-sweet.

So let's take these last few days one at a time and count down in typical space fashion...

T-5 Days

The majority of this week surrounded our deliverables - the Executive Summary, the Report, and the presentation. After receiving feedback on these first two deliverables over the weekend, Sunday was all about collecting this feedback and identifying gaps in our research that must be filled prior to our report deadline. This also represented really our last bit of free time to wander through S?o José dos Campos.

For me personally, as editor to our report, this also marked the first of three very long days of editing and revising our final report (at this point...I couldn't wait for the week to be over! Like...try editing a shared Word document where people are editing and pasting new material and not synced up to Mendeley properly....??)

T-4 Days

Today was deadline number 1...the Executive Summary. Eventually, all of our material will be published on the International Space University library's website , but for now, here is a synopsis of our research that can be found in our Executive Summary and Report.

Our team project was named SAFEWATERS: Space Applications for Emergencies, Water Assessment, Technological Enhancement, Response, and Security. Within this research, our team took a Brazilian-focused approach on analyzing the current state of water security as a result of natural disasters, pulling from the global perspective in order to offer potential avenues of improvement for Brazil. On focusing our efforts in Brazil, we identified 4-key regions in Brazil, each with their own unique disaster profile and subsequent impact on access to adequate quality and quantity of usable water. Due to recent floods and landslides in the Southeast of Brazil, this was the narrowed down focus of our work - understanding how we, as the space community, can utilize space to assess, monitor, prepare, and respond to floods, landslides, and droughts before they severely impact the nation's water security level.

SAFEWATERS: Understanding how we, as the space community, can utilize space to assess, monitor, prepare, and respond to floods, landslides, and droughts before they severely impact the nation's water security level.

This research was a multi-disciplinary approach to analyzing this situation, from investigating the finances of modifying infrastructures to the political situations that would surround such changes to technological implications. Through this, we first looked at how we can utilize remote sensing to track environmental indicators of floods, droughts, and landslides. In addition, this was paired with examining over time the impacts of changes in infrastructure schemes, such as gray or green infrastructures, to these factors and their associated impacts on water security in this region of Brazil. Our full report is equipped with some nice case studies in these areas thanks to Michele Lissoni , Indranil Misra, PhD , Erez Yehezkel , and Guillaume Brault . Our report also looked how satellite communications can be utilized to strengthen response and relief efforts post natural disaster and how bettering the country in this aspect can influence a higher degree of water security in Brazil in the future. Finally, our team looked at these technical aspects within the realm of policies, data capabilities, and community outreach and how changes in these areas can have a great impact on supporting the technological changes necessary to ensure a more water-secure future for Brazil.

We wrong a 122-page report...so this is just an extremely high level overview of what our report entails. If you want to know more, I encourage you to reach out or read the report when it is released!

T-3 Days

After a sleepless night for myself, today was the day to submit the report. After 12 business days of researching, writing, collaborating, and editing...our team essentially created a 120-page thesis. This was no small task!!

6:00pm was our deadline. Between myself and Oscar Miles , we managed all the content edits from all of our teammates and ensured our document read well and was free from major grammatical issues. We discovered the pros (and cons) of shared document editing in Word. Sifted through issues with Mendeley. Fixed the Oxford commas. Made sure all English was the same (why we went with American English vs. UK English when most of the world uses UK is beyond me...but the 'z's prevailed!)

Anyways... Farouk Shoukry filmed our submission and cheering and you can find it at this YouTube link . If for some reason the audio is removed, go look up Masked Wolf's "Astronaut in the Ocean" and play this while you watch this video. ?? Because this song perfectly pairs with our topic.

Post submission, we first had a celebration with all of the other SSP 2023 participants before having a team celebration which consisted of burgers and caipirinhas (no pictures were taken that I am aware of because we were all too hungry and exhausted!)

#quackquackquackbluemarble

T-2 Days

I have never been one to succumb to "senioritis"...if you don't know what this is, you should look it up! But I will say after we hit submit on the report yesterday, and I got a full 9 hours of sleep, I was so laid back and carefree today!

Today was reserved for finalizing our presentations, which for our team was led by Rebecca Porter. So it was a rather laid back day Which meant it also gave us time to go thank the INPE librarians that housed us for the last 2.5 weeks during our research and writing.

T-1 day

Today, the truth that this program was nearing the end, really hit me.

Today was presentation day. As we were the second group to present, we were done pretty early on. All of the preparing and adrenaline to perform well had stopped. There were no other distractions but simply to be present with the people around you.

If you would like to watch our presentation, you can do so in the above video. Our team goes at the 1 hour, 52 minute mark. But there were 3 other fabulous teams talking about Smart Cities, Space Situational Awareness, and the Metaverse.

This was the mark of completing all of the required academic work for International Space University 2023 Space Studies Program.

Before this point, I did not expect to be emotional when leaving. I knew I would be seeing these people again. I knew I was homesick and ready to be home. So why would I be sad to leave? Turns out, after 9-weeks, this group really does become your family and the thought of leaving is the same thoughts of leaving my real family I had when I came to Brazil only 9-weeks ago.

After our presentations, we de-registered and received our SSP 2023 BioBooks...essentially, we got a classic yearbook where we were able to write notes to our new family from all around the world. Then we had a celebration at a local restaurant where the good-byes began to happen. Where we began to talk about what we had learned during our time in SSP. What we would miss. Who we would miss. We began making plans on the next time we'll all see each other.

T-0 days

Today is the day. Since my flight home is at 6am tomorrow morning, today is the day I had to say good bye.

Our day started out with a fantastic brunch at a local farm, complete with farm animals and mimosas. It was quite the combination! During brunch, we got a chance to pass around our BioBooks and sign others books. At one point my book was misplaced and while I told everyone it was ok, that it wasn't a big deal, this was the moment I realized how hard today was going to hit me...it took all my effort to not cry because I wouldn't be able to cherish handwritten messages from my friends for the rest of my life. I am so thankful to have made a friend in Francesca van Marion , who splurged with me on an obnoxious amount of paper and pens a few weeks prior, and who saved the day by making me an index card BioBook. While we eventually found where my book walked off to, these notecards are now taped inside of my BioBook and are now that much more precious to me.

After some time to enjoy being outside and having some good food, the ceremony part of our day began.

Everything was fine until the local organizing committee brought out musicians and dancers. I am not sure what it is...I think it is likely from growing up in the dance and theatre world, but music and dance strikes some cord deep within my soul that can break all resolve I have to keep my composure.

Even writing this entry a week later, remembering the song and dance, my body responds and tears fall. Tears of how grateful I am to have been here, both at SSP and in Brazil, how much I'll miss the music and culture of Brazil, how much I'll miss sharing those moments with my friends. It did not help that Claudia Medeiros followed this moment with her class speech that made nearly all of us cry. After this ceremony, it was truly hard to keep my composure the rest of the night.

The final ceremony (leading picture of this entry) of the day was where we received our certificates and official ISU pins and became part of the alumni of SSP. After this ceremony, we returned to the amazing churrasqueria we went to in Week 1 to officially, and finally, close out ISU SSP 2023.

Having to be one of the first to leave dinner due to my early flight did not make the night any easier. The few I was able to say goodbye to, I cried through it. At some point, I had to take my usual route and do the "Irish goodbye" and just leave or I was going to crumble into an ugly cry.

Final Thoughts

There might be a time in the next few weeks that I compile a list of lessons learned from SSP because there were definitely things I wish I knew before jumping in.

But for now, I will say this... International Space University 's Space Studies Program is truly a transformative experience. Whether big, noticeable changes or small changes in the way you think, I know everyone who has ever attended a SSP has walked away a transformed human.

What they say about the SSP/ISU family is true. Saying goodbye is hard. Knowing we're already planning the next reunion is exciting.

While I don't expect to ever be able to be on the volunteer side of an SSP in the future, I do hope to come back and interact with future SSP participants and teach and mentor them the way my mentors have done for me.

To everyone I met and interacted with during these last 9-weeks, know that you have all had an immense impact on my life. So much so, I truly cannot express in words at this moment exactly how. I have been inspired. I have learned. I have been challenged. I have been supported.

From going to strangers in week 1 where a surprisingly large amount of us wanted to quit from being overwhelmed to becoming a family, these last 9 weeks are truly something special.

Ad Astra, Per Aspera. ?