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Dr. Michaela Musilova

@astro_michaela

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👽 Astrobiologist & Explorer
👩🏼‍🚀 40x Analog Astronaut Commander
✍🏼 Author #WomanFromMars
🎤 Professional Speaker
👩🏼‍🔬 President of XtremeFrontiers 🗻

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Full circle moments always feel so rewarding 😊. I first did research in Denali National Park a few years ago and then I came back, as part of my Astro Seven Summits project. This year, I was invited to return to the park and give a presentation about my scientific work there 😊.

Thank you very much to Denali National Park @denalinps, Alaska Geographic @alaska.geographic and the Murie Science and Learning Center for the invitation and the lovely evening! It was such a pleasure to interact with the audience and answer all their great questions 😊.

#Denali #DenaliNationalPark #astronomy #Alaska #WomanFromMars

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What I've seen time and time again: life finds a way to survive. Almost everywhere scientists have looked on Earth, we found life or evidence of it. It's incredible how adaptable lifeforms have evolved to be.

It's one of the reasons why I enjoy studying life in extreme environments. We can learn so much from it about how to thrive in challenging situations. It can also help us figure out how to identify potential signs of life on other planets (biosignatures), and even teach us more about how life came to be on Earth.

Here we were trying to survive in the extremes of cold in Alaska. While everything may seem frozen around us, many creatures are actually able to live happily in these types of habitats despite the cold. Other lifeforms, for instance, choose to hibernate and wake up to warmer temperatures. Those are survival strategies that give us hope that even places like Mars may still harbor some life today 😊.

#space #astrobiology #astronomy #Alaska #WomanFromMars

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What are some of the challenges I have faced as a woman in science? Unfortunately, being denied opportunities is only scratching the surface of some of the obstacles I've had to overcome.

Fortunately, we have been able to create better and more fair opportunities for future generations, working together with other women and allies 😊.

We talked about this topic and many more with Pierre Klimeczek @pierre_masterchef on OJEDLE @ojedle 😊.

➡️ You can find the link to the interview in my comments below (the link is in my bio too).

#space #spacescientist #childhooddream #astronomy #WomanFromMars

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How did I get into NASA @nasa when I was 21 years old? It first took a lot of hard work to get into Caltech @caltech on scholarships and savings from multiple jobs I had during high school and university years. Then, I had to convince scientists at NASA that I was worth giving a shot 😊.

We talked about this topic and many more with Pierre Klimeczek @pierre_masterchef on OJEDLE @ojedle 😊.

➡️ You can find the link to the interview in my comments below (the link is in my bio too).

#space #spacescientist #childhooddream #astronomy #WomanFromMars

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Being a leader during simulated space missions is a combination of working in a professional and a personal environment. On one hand, our goal as a crew is to successfully complete the research and other important tasks of our mission. On the other hand, we are a group of people living together in extreme conditions, which affects both our physical and mental health.

There isn't one way to be a leader during space missions. What I have found that worked best for me was to use empathy and open communication to understand the crew better, and thus lead them knowing their strengths and needs.

Likewise, I was open with them about my decision-making process and how I felt. This transparent way of working together is what I believe helped us in many situations and thanks to it we bonded better during the 40 simulated space missions that I've commanded.

I talked about these topics and many others during my discussion on stage with Emma Smetana @emmasmetana_music for the recent Check Point Advantage 2026 cybersecurity conference. Thank you for the invitation, organization and photos @slove_marketing! And thank you to Cameron Crowell @cameron.a.crowell for some of the photos too. 😊

#spacemission #spacescientist #leadership #astronomy #WomanFromMars

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Whenever I used to travel to new places because of work, I always tried to find time to learn about the local culture and history at least a little bit before and after my work commitments. However, this year has been so full of research and educational activities that I've barely had time to get to know each place I've travelled to.

While I was in Turkey just now, I mostly saw the inside of the convention center where I presented during the International Astronautical Congress 😅. Fortunately, I'm very grateful that I was able to find at least a tiny bit of time on top of my work to get to know some of the beautiful historic sites and towns in the area, shown in the pictures here (the ancient cities of Perge, Side and Aspendos) 😊.

#Antalya #Perge #Aspendos #Turkey #WomanFromMars

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Many thanks for all the kind birthday wishes and messages! I appreciate you all 😊. I was able to celebrate a little in Turkey after the conference 😊.

A huge thank you as well to everyone who has contributed to my birthday fundraiser for my research and educational work! Your support means the world to me ❤️.

➡️ If you would like to support me too, this fundraiser here will be active for several more days or you can use the link in my comments below (it's in my bio, too).

Thank you very much for your help! ❤️

#space #spacescientist #birthday #astronomy #WomanFromMars

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For my birthday tomorrow, I have created a fundraiser for my scientific and educational activities that I have planned over the next year. I perform them through my non-profits in Slovakia and the USA, and I need to fundraise for every single one of them.

If possible, I would be extremely grateful for any support 😊.

➡️ You can donate through the fundraiser here or the link in my comments below (it's in my bio, too).

Thank you very much! ❤️

#space #spacescientist #birthday #astronomy #WomanFromMars

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I'm so grateful for the great feedback and questions I got about my presentation today on my research on simulated space missions underwater at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC).

I shared my insights on how stations underwater, like the Jules' Undersea Lab @julesundersealab, are great places to recreate the challenges astronauts face in space. They include being ready to react to various potential dangers while working under pressure, all the way to responding correctly to emergencies during spacewalks underwater.

Many thanks to the Ministry of Education, Research, Development and Youth of the Slovak Republic @ministerstvoskolstva for supporting my aquanaut mission and my presentation at the IAC, as well as the Foundation Allianz @allianzsk for supporting these and other research and educational projects that I'm leading.

Thank you to Martina Dimoska @astrosmarta, Oscar Ojeda, Remco Timmermans @travelsinorbit and Sona Guliyeva for coming to my presentation and kindly taking pictures! 😊

@iac2026antalya
@iafastro

#spacemission #Antalya #scubadiving #astronomy #WomanFromMars

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I don't think that there's a single expedition guide that has not thought that I'm crazy for using bare hands or hands in very thin gloves for my scientific research in polar places like Antarctica 😀.

Unfortunately, many times science dictates what we have to put ourselves through to collect the right kinds of samples/perform an important kind of experiment, even in extreme colds 😅

I was recently interviewed by Bárbara Pinho for an article about extremophiles (extreme lifeforms) for Chemistry World of the Royal Society of Chemistry @roysocchem 😊. I shared some of my insights about what extremophiles can teach us about potential extraterrestrial life and about the definition of what life is in general.

➡️ If you would like to read the full article, you can find it in my comments below (the link is in my bio too).

#space #Antarctica #astronomy #alien #WomanfromMars

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I can't believe my first International Astronautical Congress (IAC) was 10 years ago! That's when I received the Emerging Space Leaders grant and presented several research papers at the world's biggest space conference for the first time 😊.

That time, the Slovak and Czech delegation at the IAC was very small (as you can see in the third picture). I'm so glad that ten years later, the Slovak delegation alone is as huge as you can see in the fourth picture 😊.

That's in great part thanks to the efforts of a few colleagues and I who worked hard to convince the government and the people of Slovakia that it's valuable for our country to become part of the European Space Agency @europeanspaceagency. Now, not that many years later, we have a simulated space station Cosmic Region @cosmicregion_rv and over 70 space companies in Slovakia 😊.

PS: Happy World Space Week!

@iac2026antalya
@iafastro

#spacemission #Antalya #space #astronomy #WomanFromMars

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