Buzz touring for his book

June 20, 2013 TopSpacer

I’m told that Buzz Aldrin will be signing copies of his new book at the Book Revue in Huntington NY on Monday – Buzz Aldrin 2013:

Monday June 24th, 2013, 7pm

Legendary astronaut Buzz Aldrin will sign his new book, Mission to Mars: My Vision for Space Exploration.

Legendary “space statesman” Buzz Aldrin speaks out as a vital advocate for the continuing quest to push the boundaries of the universe as we know it. As a pioneering astronaut who first set foot on the moon during mankind’s first landing of Apollo 11–and as an aerospace engineer who designed an orbital rendezvous technique critical to future planetary landings–Aldrin has a vision, and in this book he plots out the path he proposes, taking humans to Mars by 2035.

“Any time an Apollo-era astronaut steps forward with ideas for our future in space, it’s time to stop what whatever we’re doing and pay attention. Buzz Aldrin, one of the first moonwalkers, has no shortage of these ideas. And in Mission to Mars he treats us to how, when, and why we should travel there.” —Neil deGrasse Tyson

Space Policy

Space policy roundup – June.20.13

June 20, 2013 TopSpacer

Reviews of the hearing today by the Space Subcommittee of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee to discuss a draft NASA authorization bill:

A comment by Ed Wright – Twitter / RocketAcademy:

Cutting NASA’s budget isn’t necessarily bad if Congress cuts waste. @housescience has decided to cut the budget but keep the waste.

Update: More items:

DIY space, Rockets

Copenhagen Suborbitals: Sapphire launch update

June 20, 2013 TopSpacer

Kristian von Bengtson of Copenhagen Suborbitals writes about the status of the launch of the Sapphire active guided rocket: T minus 3 days – Sapphire Rocket Facts and Nerdy stuff to Know – Wired Science/Wired.com

Astronomy, Space participation

ARKYD space telescope Kickstarter passes $1M goal

June 20, 2013 TopSpacer

The Planetary Resources Kickstarter campaign for the ARKYD public access space telescope surpassed the $1,000,000 goal today. At the moment, they have 11,356 backers, with $1,003,126 pledged and 11 days to go.

Just yesterday (see post here) they had $916,582 after about 20 days of fundraising. It was starting to look like the pledges had leveled off and they might have trouble reaching $1M. When I saw the total this evening, I first thought that a single person might have given them a boost but the number of backers had also jumped from about 100 per day to over 700 today as seen in the charts at ARKYD – Kicktraq.

They also introduced new Add-ons and a new mystery stretch goal for $1.5M:

New $1.5M Mystery Stretch Goal Revealed!
When we reach $1.5 Million in pledges, every selfie pledge or higher will receive an exclusive digital Beta-Selfie, taken next year during the crucial integration phase of spacecraft build! Become a part of the build and catch a glimpse of our clean-room squad in action!

Update: Here is an update and video from PR:

Many of you have just crowdfunded a space telescope, bringing space within reach for everyone! You know who you are – THANK YOU!!! We passed our $1M campaign funding goal today and are now on the way to our $2M stretch goal of searching for Alien Planets. Help us get there.

We passed 11,000 backers while I was live on-air with Leo at Twit.tv / Triangulation, and thanks to The Oatmeal’s pledge and fan support, we’re accelerating towards an exciting final 10 days of the campaign!

Time is running out to join the community that is democratizing space exploration and sharing it with the world. Make your pledge! This is only the start of something REALLY BIG.

There’s a ton of new stuff over on our Kickstarter page, including live events next week with Rainn Wilson (Dwight Schrute), Seth Green and Hank Green, Richard Garriott (Lord British) and Jon Mavor (Planetary Annihilation), add-on pledge levels, new stretch goals, and our main Kickstarter video translated into more than a dozen languages, including Klingon.

Space Arts

My space art

June 19, 2013 TopSpacer 3 Comments

I have been drawing as a hobby since I was a graduate student long, long ago. I finally submitted some of my artwork to a show in Washington D.C. at the urging of a friend. Luckily they accepted two of my color pencil still life works. The opening is on June 25th. See the invite below.

The show prompted me to create a website to display more of my work. In addition to my still lifes, I have posted a gallery of my NewSpace inspired pieces like this one: