Thinking About Life in Our Galaxy Through Indigenous Lenses

The night sky offers a majestic view, filled with millions of tiny lights, each from a distant star. Throughout our galaxy, there are billions of stars, each orbiting the centre of the galaxy, each emitting its own light and sharing its own story. As far as scientists can tell, our Sun is not a particularly special star, yet it is the only star we know of that hosts life. But, that view is changing.

All cultures on Nikawiy Aski (Mother Earth) have looked into the night sky with wonder and awe. Each culture has its own perspective of the sky and its own particular understanding of how that awesome sky connects to its world views. Different cultures have always looked to the sky to make connections, seek order, and pursue an understanding of identity.

For younger readers, here are some books that provide both entertainment and education about space and what lies above us and beyond.

When Abby Lacson was in Grade 10, she knew she wanted to be an engineer. But it wasn’t until she went camping in the Rockies and saw the night sky, free from light pollution, that it finally clicked: she wanted to become an astronaut. Now, at 24, Lacson is a junior space operations engineer with MDA Space, the Canadian space technology company behind the Canadarm, a series of robotic arms used on the space shuttle.

Humans are going back to the moon. Life on Earth is feeling its way out of its den. We first went to the moon in 1969. Twelve American men walked on the lunar surface and another four orbited Earth’s satellite over a series of nine missions. Many different countries—at last count, eight—and countless companies are planning new lunar missions and Canada is set to play a role in one of the first.

Tomatosphere is a free program that encourages students to investigate the effects of outer space on food to support human space travel. The program uses detailed experiments conducted on tomato plants. Students explore the differences between plant growth under stressed space conditions through various experiments available on the Tomatosphere website.

The Canadian Satellite Design Challenge Management Society (CSDCMS) has been managing a university-level “CubeSat” satellite competition for over 10 years, and has recently expanded to offer the CanSat Design Challenge to high school students.

Technology inspires innovation, and in recent years, hackathons have become increasingly popular as a way to explore innovative solutions to complex challenges.