Returning to the Moon: A New Era in Space Exploration

This is part of World Space Week Celebrations!

Fifty years ago, humanity ventured to explore the moon and succeeded. What an incredible achievement that continues to inspire us all to this day. Moon has indeed been our final frontier, the furthest humans have been away from earth and returned safely.

A new era of human space exploration is in the process of evolution with the progress of technology. Our moon offers a promising potential to be a spaceport and a test bed for enabling galactic exploration by humankind. The success of any human-technological program depends on our ability to design around human capabilities and limitations.

In this talk, we will explore this weakest link in space exploration - us!

This talk will explore how human body and mind function in space, what challenges lie ahead for a human moon mission and how prepared are we to return to the moon.

Speaker Bio:
Dr. Sarita Dara is an Aerospace physician. Her training, qualifications and experience span Aviation and Space Medicine, Occupational Medicine, Public Health Medicine and Human Factors Engineering. She graduated with a Master of Space Sciences from the International Space University, Strasbourg, France and has a Doctor of Medicine (MD) in Aerospace Medicine and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Human Factors Engineering (from the school of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore).

She has worked in various capacities as a physician, educator and researcher in India, USA, Singapore and New Zealand. She currently works as Senior Medical Officer at the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand. Prior to coming to New Zealand, she worked as Head, Aerospace Physiology and Human Factors at Singapore Aeromedical Centre for about a decade.

During this time, she was actively involved in aeromedical education and simulator training for aircrew and was also a medical examiner for Civil Aviation Authorities of Singapore, New Zealand and Australia. She is an Academician, International Academy of Aviation and Space Medicine & Associate Fellow and Life Member of Aerospace Medical Association (USA).