Faith in the Stars, Science in the Vatican

On to a controversial topic that isn't politics – religion! I very rarely mention my faith in professional circles because it's not usually relevant. Science and religion has been on my list of potential blog topics since the creation of this blog a year ago. Reflecting on the astronomy and faith talk I attended on Wednesday inspired me to finally “come out of the closet,” to use Brother Guy's phrase. I've been subject to prejudice and harassment about my faith by classmates, professors, colleagues, and even strangers since college. The amount of intolerance of honest and informed differences of opinion and differences of belief are astounding in such an enlightened age. I've grown a pretty thick skin.

Science and religion have never been at odds with each other, in my opinion. I'll never understand why we in modern times pit them against each other in a false dichotomy. They address two different areas of our universe: science the what/where/when/how, religion/theology/spirituality the who/why. Religion flows flawlessly with science/reason. Science/reason never disproves religion. It can't. They operate on different plains.

“God created the Universe. The Universe is worthy of study. Science is an act of worship.” - Bother Guy Consolmagno

The beauty and the wonder of the Universe is why I was inspired to study astrophysics. And to become an astronaut, of course. But there are many paths to being an astronaut. The stars called to me as young as elementary school. I wanted to learn all about this awe-inspiring creation.

I was raised Christian and converted to Catholicism when I was 25 and in graduate school. I treated my conversion process as the scientist I am: systematically studying the data and weighing the evidence before coming to a conclusion. Perhaps because of my adult conversion and my upbringing, I'm far more open-minded about spiritual journeys than many. Each person's path is their own, one right for them, and it's not for me to judge or claim mine is better than any other.

I was excited to drive up to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach on Wednesday evening for a talk with Br. Guy, a Jesuit with a PhD in planetary science from MIT who now serves as the Director of the Vatican Observatory. Joining him was the university chaplain Rev. David Keck and radio show host Marc Bernier who I had worked with previously on local spaceport issues. I knew Br. Guy from my early days at the University of Central Florida where one of my graduate school planetary science classmates was also a Jesuit brother, but it had been several years since I had heard him give a talk.

Br. Guy started off discussing two fallacies that some use in the science versus religion debate. The first, a false wall between reason and faith. People are whole; we don't compartmentalize well. We don't turn off our brains on Sundays. We don't ignore reason when thinking about religion. We also don't put aside our faiths when we consider science. The two work together well and don't need to be separated.

The second fallacy he mentioned was about science and faith just being about facts. Neither are. Science is a process of discovery where we constantly test ideas, are proven wrong, and learn something new. Religion is a process of understanding God, who we are, and the world we live in. For example, Genesis isn't a history book. The creation story in Genesis isn't meant to be taken as a collection of historical facts (according to Catholic teaching; others may disagree). It's a moral book. There is always more to discover about science. There is always more to discover about theology.

I always smile when people wonder if the Big Bang contradicts Catholic teaching on creation. Those people don't know their science history. Georges Lemaitre, a Catholic priest also with a PhD from MIT, developed the theory of the Big Bang. At the time, people mocked it because they thought it promoted the existence of God, not contradicted it!

What about creation or evolution? “Yes,” Br. Guy responded. “Evolution is description of how God creates.” Evidence of the acceptance of evolution can be found in the writings of Saint Augustine of Hippo, a bishop, who lived 354 – 430 AD!

Upon thinking of the science and human society lecture I attended last week by a “skeptic,” I was surprised when Br. Guy addressed other points of view. “Religions need atheists, agnostics, and skeptics. They keep us honest. We're all searching for the truth,” he said. “All humans and only human look at the stars in wonder. Something within us desires something in Heaven and the heavens.”

"Cosmology, Science, and Faith With Brother Consolmagno and Rev. David Keck" - March 2, 2016

Daytona Beach - Suborbital and Commercial Spaceflight? Oh Yes!

A new wave of commercial space companies are emerging and changing the status quo. The next generation of university graduates should be trained to work in such a new and diverse field. That's the line of thinking that went into the creation of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's Commercial Spaceflight Operations (CSO) program. Currently in its third year, the program has exceeded expectations with three times as many students enrolled as was projected, undergraduates only for now.

I was at ERAU's main Daytona Beach campus all day Wednesday for a meeting of the CSO Advisory Panel. The program is heavily influenced by the space industry. Our input is solicited to improve the program. We also received updates from the faculty and students. The panel present on campus also spoke to a CSO freshman class about our experiences and answered their questions.

One topic that got me thinking was how to classify such a program. Multidisciplinary studies by their very nature don't fit well under one category. The curriculum involves a lot of science, engineering, and business, but it's not a science, engineering, nor business degree. The term “operations” also means different things to different people and may not represent the program as a whole, but we couldn't immediately identify a better word to substitute. Are employers looking to hire interns or fresh-out employees influenced by a degree name, or do they look at the bigger picture?

The multidisciplinary nature of the program also makes hiring faculty a challenge. A search for full-time faculty is on-going now. The program coordinator described to me the ideal candidate: a PhD in physics, a PhD in space law, experience teaching, and experience in commercial space industry management. No such candidate likely exists, but if anyone has any leads as to a potential good candidate, have them apply.

A recent addition to ERAU's campus is the suborbital spaceflight simulator. ERAU student Hayley and astronaut Nicole Stott had both given me advice about flying the sim and I was looking forward to trying it! I took off from the runway just fine, but immediately went into a spin. I was not used to the joystick controls! Once airborne, I stabilized and flew my craft like an airplane, but I was too low to get to suborbital space. I had neglected to raise my landing gear and I was out of fuel. So, I turned around to land. On my second pass, I was in good shape to land on the runway and was looking like I was going to land without a hitch, but I must not have pulled my nose up fast enough because I crashed. Tough ride, but not bad for a first timer! The sim is still being perfected. I think it would be even better in a centrifuge with some G forces!

The ERAU suborbital spaceflight simulator - October 21, 2015

In the sim before I flew and crashed my bird - October 21, 2015

Planes, Telescopes, NASCAR, and Commercial Space? Must be ERAU!

Today's travels took me to Daytona Beach. Between the speedway and the airport sits Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, a small private school known for aviation with a brand new program in Commercial Space Operations. I've visited the campus a handful of times, but it had been a while. 

My first stop was the College of Aviation where I met up with Dr. Lance Erickson. He recently asked me to join the CSO Advisory Panel and to come to campus to speak about my company at one of his CSO seminar classes. The class was a mix of undergraduates, including a number of students looking ahead to internships and jobs. I filled them in on who S3 is and what we do. They asked some great questions. And for the first time in the handful of student talks I've given, I awarded all three S3 holographic bookmark prizes to students who were able to give good answers to my questions! A group of them were even interested in creating a microgravity payload to fly on a future parabolic “zeroG” flight.

One of my former professors from my undergraduate university, Dr. Terry Oswalt, is now the chair for ERAU's Physical Sciences department. He was kind enough to chat with me and give me a tour of the new 1-meter telescope which hadn't yet been completed when I was on campus last. We also went out on the roof where we could see smaller telescopes mounted to the roof, the main observatory dome, and the smaller solar observatory dome. The “24” magnet on the telescope mount is from when NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon toured the observatory – perks of being in the Daytona area.

More and more I'm realizing that this blog and my non-work-related outreach efforts are being geared toward students, especially high school and college students. Speaking in these seminars is a great way to meet with interested students and give them my contact information so that they can follow up (which they very rarely do). Even better would be to connect with students anywhere in the world interested in science and space careers who would like to have a conversation and perhaps a continued professional relationship, whether that is mentoring or something more casual. If anyone can point me in a direction to best do this, I'm open to suggestions.