143. Interview with astrometallurgist Dr Matt Shaw
About this episode
Dr Matt Shaw discusses his journey from metallurgist to astrometallurgist and his work on extracting materials in space.
Have you ever met an astrometallurgist? Neither had we, until we had the great pleasure of chatting with Dr Matt Shaw on this week's episode! Matt's career genuinely sounds like it was pulled straight from the pages of a sci-fi novel, but it's very much grounded in real, cutting-edge science. He began as a metallurgist in the mining industry - extracting metals like gold from rocks, or as he describes it, "basically Minecraft, but in real life" - working everywhere from the Australian desert to the Canadian Arctic. Having mastered some of the most extreme environments on Earth, Matt decided to tackle the ultimate hostile environment: space. He completed a PhD in astrometallurgy at Swinburne University, exploring how we might one day extract and process materials on the Moon, and worked with CSIRO's space in-situ resource utilisation (ISRU) team developing technologies to produce water, oxygen and metals beyond Earth. These days, Matt continues his space research while working predominantly with the Green Steel and Critical Minerals teams at CSIRO Clayton, investigating innovative ways to reduce emissions and tackle one of the biggest challenges facing our planet: how to make…
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