The Conspiracy Show: Mars Colony

Richard welcomes Michael Dixon, a Professor and Advisor to the Canadian Space Agency. In the challenge to get to Mars or beyond, we will need to be able to grow food in space. The space travel environment poses numerous problems such as, microgravity, limited water, artificial light sources and many more. Research at the Controlled Environment Systems Research Facility at the University of Guelph is showing us how to grow food in space and, in the process, is developing beneficial technologies for earth-bound farming.

The Conspiracy Show: UFO Encounters

Richard welcomes Nick Redfern, a Fortean Investigator and UFO Hunter to the program. They will discuss the Roswell UFO crash, Men in Black, Mothman, face-to-face encounters with extraterrestrials, military pilots and UFOs, crashed flying saucers, and cosmic cover-ups.

Michael Dixon

MICHAEL DIXON, PhD is the Director of the Controlled Environment Systems Research Facility and program, and Chair of the Environmental Biology Department, University of Guelph. Dr. Dixon joined the University in 1985 as an NSERC fellow after earning his PhD from Edinburgh University in Scotland and is now a full professor.

Off campus he is the Technology Exchange Coordinator for the International Advanced Life Support Working Group (IALSWG) which is a strategic planning group offering information and personnel exchange between international space agencies such as NASA, CSA, ESA, RSA and JAXA (Japan). He also is Chair of the Space Exploration Advisory Committee of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and is a member of the Life Sciences and Technical Committee within the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

As project leader for the Canadian research team investigating the contributions of plants to life support in space, Dr. Dixon formed the Space and Advanced Life Support Agriculture (SALSA) program at the University of Guelph. This program currently represents Canada’s prime contribution to the International Space program objectives in Life Support.



Dr. Dixon is also the project leader for the research team at Guelph investigating the biofiltration of indoor air as a method of alleviating what is commonly known as “sick building syndrome”.

CESRF Projects