ORANGE, CALIFORNIA—According to a Gizmodo A new archaeological survey of the International Space Station (ISS) is reportedly underway, known as the Sampling Quadrangle Assemblages Research Experiment, or SQuARE. Researchers are examining photographs taken over a 60-day period of six square study areas aboard the ISS. The first phase of this survey focused on two of these squares: a maintenance area and a blank wall area near the latrine and exercise equipment. The survey suggests that during the survey period, the maintenance area was used primarily as a storage area, “like the pegboard in your garage or garden shed, in this case enabled by the enormous amount of Velcro in this location,” said archaeologist Justin Walsh of Chapman University. Meanwhile, a crew member was found to be storing toiletries in the blank wall area, as there are no designated areas for personal items on the ISS, as Walsh explained. “There are a few key takeaways,” Walsh concluded. “First, we’ve shown that it’s possible to do good, productive archaeology in space, even when researchers are on Earth. Second, we’ve definitely shown that places in the space station are used in unexpected ways, which is a very human thing,” he said. Ultimately, Walsh and his colleagues hope to use the study to provide insights to improve the design of a future space station. Read the original scientific article about this research in PLUS ONEFor more information on the emerging field of space archaeology, see Around the World: Space.
