{"id":13414,"date":"2019-07-17T16:54:19","date_gmt":"2019-07-17T15:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ounews.co\/?p=13414"},"modified":"2019-07-17T16:54:19","modified_gmt":"2019-07-17T15:54:19","slug":"water-on-the-moon-the-work-behind-the-dream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/science-mct\/space\/water-on-the-moon-the-work-behind-the-dream\/","title":{"rendered":"Water on the Moon; the work behind the dream"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Hannah Sargeant is a PhD student at The Open University, working on techniques to extract water from Moon rocks. As around the globe, people remember the 50th anniversary of the Moon landings, we talked to her about what led her to the OU and her work as a researcher:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhy did I choose to work in Space research? I love doing something different and exciting. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
“When I was 12 I went to the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, and I came back saying I wanted to work at Ground Control and wanted to work with NASA. I remember standing underneath the Saturn V rocket, which is the biggest rocket ever built, and being blown away by the scale of it. I thought it was so cool- and still do!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I found my niche<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI always wanted to be a scientist, but wasn\u2019t sure which\ndiscipline to follow. An incredible teacher at school inspired me to go on to\ndo Physics at university. I graduated with a 2:2, which at the time wasn\u2019t\nenough to allow me to go in to academia. My passion for science and love of\nworking with children led me to a PGCE, and I became a maths and physics\nteacher. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“By now, I had enough on my CV to look at studying for a masters, and was accepted onto a Space Exploration Systems programme. I found my niche – I found what I was good at. I achieved the highest grade with a distinction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I was looking at what to do next and happened to find the PhD at the OU working on a mission to find resources on the Moon. It was a real-life application of the research projects I\u2019d been doing so far. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
“When I applied to the OU I hadn\u2019t had my Masters results through, so I had no evidence of my ability. They still saw my potential and accepted me. I really appreciate them taking that chance on me.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cutting edge research<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
“I didn\u2019t know that The Open University did PhDs; it wasn\u2019t even in my periphery, I didn\u2019t know anything about it! People often think the OU is only a virtual entity, they don\u2019t always realise that we perform cutting edge research at a real campus in Milton Keynes. Somehow I stumbled upon the list of PhDs on offer and they were nothing like anything else I\u2019d seen. This was the only PhD I applied for as the PhDs at other institutions were too theoretical for me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“There\u2019s so much expertise here across multiple disciplines, and so much of a focus on Space, rather than just one aspect of it. We\u2019re applying our expertise to different planetary bodies to better understand them. We cover astrobiology, engineering, space and planetary geology, physics\u2026. We can combine all the different skills into something really practical. I\u2019m able to work on real space missions, today.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
“For my PhD, the team are building an instrument which will go to the south pole of the Moon to try and find water. If we can\u2019t find water, we\u2019re going to try and make it. My job is to take that machine and see if we find a way to use it to try and make water on the Moon for the first time.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Science isn’t just about lab coats<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Hannah in her lab<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
“On a day to day basis my work is really varied, which is great because I don\u2019t get bored. As soon as I finish one task, there\u2019s a million and one other different types of tasks to be done. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I can be building or fixing a machine, running experiments with the machine, processing data on the computer, writing my thesis, preparing conference materials, preparing samples, running the samples on the imaging machine. I can be up and down from my seat all day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I don\u2019t wear a lab coat all the time- I\u2019m in here with spanners and screwdrivers, we\u2019re building and changing things. It\u2019s not a sterile lab with defined experiments, there\u2019s a lot of trial and error in my work. I like that it\u2019s a working lab.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Proud to be a part of the space science programme<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
“The reputation of the OU within the planetary and space science community is world class. The team I\u2019m working with built an instrument that was on the Rosetta mission, they built one to go to a comet, and one that went to Mars on Beagle 2. Knowing that my work could be flown to the Moon in a few years\u2019 time is the best motivator. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“In a generally male dominated field, particularly compared to 50 years ago during the first crewed landing on the Moon where women were few and far between, I am proud to be a part of the space science programme today.” <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
![\"Hannah](\"https:\/\/ounews.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Open_University_Hannah_Sargeant1620-400x600.jpg\")