People & Culture

Training Lunar Explorers in Labrador

Episode 42

As NASA and the world’s space agencies prepare to return to the moon, geologist Dr. Gordon "Oz" Osinski helps train potential lunar explorers in remote northern Labrador on what they could find there

  • Published Jun 28, 2022
  • Updated Apr 04, 2023
From left: CSA astronaut Joshua Kutryk, geologist Dr. Gordon Osinski and NASA Artemis astronaut Matthew Dominick pose with the flag of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society above Kamestastin Lake. (Photo: Gordon Osinski)
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Geologist Dr. Gordon “Oz” Osinski joins us on the pod to talk about his fascinating expedition with two astronauts to the massive Kamestastin meteor crater in remote northern Labrador. With NASA and the world’s space agencies preparing to return to the moon, Dr. Oz is helping train potential lunar explorers on what they could find there. The 35 million year old Kamestastin crater is both similar in size and shape to the many craters on the moon, and it contains rare space rocks also found on the lunar surface. Dr. Oz discusses why a return to the moon is important, why the discovery of water on the moon could be a game changer and he also shares why Devon Island, in the high arctic, is his favourite place in Canada. 

Dr. Osinksi is a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, Professor of Earth Sciences and Research Chair of Earth and Space Exploration at Western University. He is also the Director of the Institute for Earth and Space Exploration, Director of the Canadian Lunar Research Network, and Chair of the Planetary Sciences Division of the Geological Association of Canada.

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