The astronaut joined forces with Lego Australia to bring attention to the need for scientific exploration in childhood. Video supplied.
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00:00Hi, I'm Australian astronaut Katherine Burnell-Pegg,
00:03and I'm here at the European Astronaut Centre in Germany,
00:06where I did my training.
00:08When I was a young girl growing up in Sydney,
00:10I used to love looking up at the stars
00:12through binoculars and a telescope.
00:14But during my training here, we get an even better view.
00:17Space is where imagination, creativity and STEM collide.
00:21It embraces bold ideas,
00:23because bold ideas are how we solve
00:25some of the world's biggest challenges.
00:28Space technology turns our phones into navigation devices,
00:31helps forecast the weather, protect our environment,
00:34even come up with new treatments for diseases like cancer.
00:37When I first dreamed of being an astronaut,
00:39I never thought it would be possible to do it representing Australia.
00:42I didn't even think it was possible to have a space career at home.
00:45But Aussie kids today have the Australian Space Agency to look to,
00:49and our very own moon mission.
00:51Rover, our Aussie-made rover,
00:53will go to the moon later this decade
00:55to collect lunar soil known as regolith.
00:57Regolith simulants, such as volcanic dust and asteroid dust,
01:01have been used to make these special Lego space bricks.
01:04These bricks can help determine
01:06if lunar soil could be used as a resource
01:08to build things similar to Lego play systems, but on the moon.
01:12It's also what we'll need to turn the moon into a launching pad
01:15to take us further into the cosmos and put humans on Mars.
01:19Those humans are sitting in classrooms today,
01:21ready to become the astronauts tomorrow
01:24or one of the huge range of other professionals
01:26we're going to need to make that giant leap.
01:29That's why I, the Australian Space Agency and the Lego Group
01:33are passionate about encouraging them to explore
01:36the limitless possibilities of space through creativity.
01:40The power of imagination is strong,
01:42and because space, even though it is right above us and all around us,
01:46it's still quite abstract.
01:48So I think play is a wonderful way
01:50to help visualise adventures up there
01:52and a way to imagine all the possibilities.