Niamh Shaw

I'm back home in Ireland over three months now and the sleepless nights, chronic dehydration and my obsession with water levels are long gone. Some stuff still remains. But before I get into that, let me tell you the final part of my…

The day goes very fast here at Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS).  I have this imagined schedule in my head at the top of the day, thinking that there will be ample time to get it all in, plus time to relax, chill out with the rest of…

We decided on Sol 0, that since we are an international crew, we should take turns hosting a culture night/meal every other night during our time at the MDRS to represent the different nations in our crew. First up was Roy, our HSO and…

Journal Entry Mars Sol 1: Earth date January 16th 2017 The weather today was stunning, deep blue clouds contrasting the red earth of the Martian landscape that surrounds the Hab, our home for the next 2 weeks. And a perfect day for my…

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live on Mars? Well there is some serious research investigating it and I was lucky enough to become involved in a Mars simulation mission. The mission took place in the Utah high desert in…

Exciting News! On January 14th I will be entering the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in the high cold desert in Utah to begin a 14 day simulated Mars mission, as part of Crew 173, with an international group of engineers, scientists…

Here’s where I’ll be hanging out this Science Week Firstly, if you’d like to join me on my Science week adventure, here’s a quick round-up of what I’m involved in. Also I’ll be hosting the @Ireland twitter account for the week, so you can…

With so many science & curiosity-themed events happening regularly across the country and abroad, we try to capture them on ‘Socialising Science’ with video and a few words. And if you have an event you’d like to include, email…

For those of us with an interest in all things Space, we had been waiting for December for quite some time. You might assume that I’m referring to the Star Wars premiere (which was great and a big moment for me too), but I’m actually…

Hi all! This is my final update for Headstuff on all things Space for now. And also the end of the summer for us all.  In my last post, I was in the middle of my final week on the Space Studies programme in Athens Ohio. And I have to…