Dawn Marsden, PhD, is Anishinaabe, French, and a member of the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation (Ontario). In response to a call for presentations by the 100 Year Starship Society, Marsden began adapting Indigenous principles and practices to a hypothetical intergenerational starship journey. Marsden has made similar presentations at an Earth Systems Governance Conference, at a meeting of the Planetesimals at Lancaster University, and at the First Nation University of Canada. Marsden has training and experience in education, environmental health, anthropology, environmental studies, counselling, nutritional therapy, and applied astronautics. Obtaining scientist-astronaut candidacy and studies with the International Institute of Astronautical Sciences led her to the realization that space science is grappling with the most important issues of our time: how to live with each other more harmoniously over long durations and how to provide the supports of life within our local environments more sustainably, with zero waste. Marsden is a single mother of two young adults and is now a settler in Coast Salish territory (British Columbia).
