Col.\u00a0Jeremy Hansen\u00a0is making\u00a0history\u00a0on the Artemis II mission\u00a0as\u00a0first Canadian to fly\u00a0around\u00a0the\u00a0moon.\u00a0But beneath the surface\u00a0of the intrepid military man\u00a0lies an exceptional academic background, deeply rooted in physics and space sciences.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Born in 1976 in London, Ont.,\u00a0Col.\u00a0Hansen\u00a0developed a passion for space exploration at\u00a0a\u00a0early age,\u00a0inspired\u00a0by the\u00a0exploits of Neil Armstrong. He\u00a0joined the\u00a0air\u00a0cadets at the age of 12,\u00a0which allowed\u00a0him\u00a0to obtain\u00a0his\u00a0glider pilot\u2019s\u00a0licence\u00a0at 16, followed\u00a0by his private pilot\u2019s licence at 17.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
His academic career began\u00a0in Quebec\u00a0at the Royal Military College Saint-Jean,\u00a0before\u00a0continuing\u00a0at the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC)\u00a0in Kingston, Ont. There, he\u00a0graduated with honours from a\u00a0B.Sc.\u00a0in\u00a0spacescience\u00a0in\u00a01999\u00a0and completed\u00a0a\u00a0master\u2019s degree in\u00a0physics\u00a0the\u00a0following\u00a0year.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was exactly what he wanted to do\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Under the supervision\u00a0of Erwin\u00a0Batalla,\u00a0he\u00a0specialised in\u00a0tracking\u00a0Wide\u00a0Field\u00a0of\u00a0View satellites.\u00a0\u201cHe really stood out from the crowd,\u201d recalls\u00a0his\u00a0professor, now retired.\u00a0\u201cHe was\u00a0a very determined\u00a0student with\u00a0an\u00a0exceptional work ethic,\u00a0very patient,\u00a0and\u00a0who got along well\u00a0with everyone. I know\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0very happy\u00a0today, because\u00a0this is exactly what he wanted to do.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
RMC\u2019s\u00a0space science program is one of the few\u00a0in\u00a0the country\u00a0to offer specialised training in space physics,\u00a0covering\u00a0orbital mechanics, space mission design and analysis, satellite tracking, remote\u00a0sensing\u00a0and communications.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the field in\u00a0Labrador and the Arctic\u00a0<\/p>\n
Gordon Osinski, a professor planetary geology at\u00a0Western University\u00a0in London, Ont.,\u00a0played\u00a0a\u00a0central\u00a0role\u00a0in\u00a0the\u00a0Artemis II\u00a0astronauts\u2019 geological training.\u00a0He\u00a0has\u00a0a\u00a0long-standing relationship\u00a0with\u00a0Col. Hansen. \u201cI met Jeremy in 2012, shortly after he became an astronaut.\u00a0The Canadian Space Agency was looking to\u00a0provide its new cohort, which\u00a0included Jeremy, with\u00a0enhanced training in geology.\u00a0Since\u00a0I lead field expeditions in the Canadian Arctic, they\u00a0asked me to provide a combination of\u00a0scientific instruction\u00a0and\u00a0operational preparation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dr. Osinski says\u00a0the Arctic is an excellent analogue for Mars and the\u00a0moon due to its isolation and geological structure \u2014 particularly\u00a0the\u00a0Kamestastin\u00a0Lake impact crater in northern Labrador, where he carried out research\u00a0in 2021 and 2023.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThis site is unique in the world for two reasons:\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0a perfectly preserved meteorite impact crater,\u00a0similar to\u00a0the millions of craters that dot the\u00a0moon, and\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0made of anorthosite. This is the white rock that glows when you look at the\u00a0moon;\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0very rare\u00a0on Earth, but ubiquitous up there.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAll that training was worth it.\u00a0They\u2019re\u00a0finally putting\u00a0into practice\u00a0what they learned with us\u00a0in the field.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The\u00a0planetary geology professor\u00a0describes\u00a0Artemis II\u00a0as \u201can incredibly exciting mission.\u201d\u00a0\u201cListening to the astronauts talk about craters and geology from space, I thought to myself that all that training was worth it.\u00a0They\u2019re\u00a0finally putting\u00a0into practice what they learned with us in the field.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
NASA has chosen Dr.\u00a0Osinski\u00a0as\u00a0part of the geology team\u00a0for the next Artemis mission\u00a0\u2014\u00a0the only\u00a0researcher\u00a0from a Canadian university\u00a0to\u00a0hold\u00a0this role.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As an astronaut, Col.\u00a0Hansen joins a prestigious line of\u00a0RMC\u00a0graduates\u00a0that includes\u00a0Marc Garneau, Chris\u00a0Hadfield\u00a0and Joshua\u00a0Kutryk.\u00a0His journey illustrates the crucial role universities play in training astronauts and advancing knowledge, as Canada prepares to\u00a0play its part in the resumption of human\u00a0lunar exploration.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Col.\u00a0Jeremy Hansen\u00a0is making\u00a0history\u00a0on the Artemis II mission\u00a0as\u00a0first Canadian to fly\u00a0around\u00a0the\u00a0moon.\u00a0But beneath the surface\u00a0of the intrepid military man\u00a0lies an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":369964,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[111,139,69,147,392],"class_list":{"0":"post-369963","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-new-zealand","9":"tag-newzealand","10":"tag-nz","11":"tag-science","12":"tag-space"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/369964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}