NHK, Japan’s national non-commercial TV broadcaster crew was recently in Andamooka to film their new documentary titled ‘FRONTIER – Opal on Mars’. Dr. Ritsuro Miyawaki from the National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo, Japan, will conduct experiments to extract water from opal. The NHK crew was accompanied by Professor Patrice Rey from The University of Sydney.
In December 2020 the Andamooka Observatory and Woomera Observatory regularly hosted the JAXA, Hayabusa2 Capsule Recovery Team before and after their mission was accomplished.
In early April 2023, the Andamooka Observatory, Mareekh Dynamics, the Southern Cross Outback Observatories Project (SCOOP), and Woomera Observatory’s conducted an expedition to study fossilised colonies of bacteria and stromatolites on a site visit to Stuarts Creek and Lake Torrens.
The Andamooka Observatory is currently searching for microfossils and bacteria in opal and their connection to potential life on Mars, and their ancient fossils that may be found in Martian opal and meteorites in Antarctica.
In 2020 and 2022 the Andamooka Observatory was recognised by the London-based international aerospace company Ultra Group for their STEM collaborations with the Woomera Observatory, BHP Olympic Dam, Mine Tech Engineering, Inspiring SA, and the Roxby Downs Area school to search for new Extremophiles in the region: Tardigrade, Archaea, microbial communities, fossilised extremophile/fossil microbe / pre-historic formations/cyanobacteria and stromatolites
