Category Archives: Space participation

DIY space, Living in Space, Space participation, Space Science

Update on the ‘Garden of ETON’ ISS experiment campaign

I’ve mentioned the Chicks in Space (MaryAnn Bulawa, Adia Bulawa, & Lillith Bulawa) and their campaign to crowd-fund a space experiment a couple of times (see here and here).

We’ve developed a hydroponic garden specifically designed to function under conditions of microgravity – ETON. We’ve been offered the opportunity to launch NanoETON on NASA’s ISS to test our hypothesis that water can be circulated in microgravity using centripetal force. This research may help the development of hydroponic gardens for future space missions.

They are participating in the DreamUP! program that

helps students raise money to fund testing their experiments in space on the U.S. National Laboratory aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Through DreamUp, junior high, high school and undergraduate college students can take advantage of NanoRacks’ three standardized research platforms on the International Space Station. NanoRacks DreamUp program, which aims to stimulate commercial student participation in low-earth orbit projects gives the opportunity to conduct experiments in the unique weightlessness environment of space.

The crowd-funding campaign has now reached 71% of the goal of $15k with 11 days laft: Sending the Garden of ETON to Space – Experiment

Our research is at a standstill until we are able to continue our experiments under actual conditions of microgravity. We have the opportunity to send a payload to the ISS on NanoRacks LLC. We have reconfigured our experiment to a 4×4 inch box but need funding to transport the project to NASA’s International Space Station.

There is now a doubling of any donation:

Here’s what you get with a donation:

We’re also offering backers rewards for joining the community!
$50: Certificate of Participation from NanoRacks, LLC
$100: Have your name written inside the hardware that carries E.T.O.N. to the International Space Station.
$250: Receive an item such as a Space Patch that has flown to the ISS and back (0 out of 2 left)
$1,000+: Decal with your Name or Company Logo placed on the outside of the payload with an accompanying photograph. *Donor must supply a decal of 1 inch by 3 inches or less. (Limited supply, 5 out of 6 left)

Astronomy, Space participation

Galaxy Zoo citizen scientists match experts in ID of radio sources & host galaxies

A paper reporting on research carried out with the help of more than 4900 participants in the citizen science project Radio Galaxy Zoo, a member of the Zooniverse array of citizen science projects, has been submitted to a scientific journal: First Radio Galaxy Zoo paper has been submitted! – Galaxy Zoo.

The goal of the project is to take advantage of the image recognition capabilities of the volunteers to classify radio and infrared images of galaxies where supermassive black holes are believed to be hiding behind clouds of gas and dust. Such images are messy and not easily defined in a way that a computer algorithm can properly characterize them.

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We find that the RGZ citizen scientists are as effective as the science experts at identifying the radio sources and their host galaxies.

The program recently passed a million classifications by the volunteers: 1 million classifications and beyond! – Galaxy Zoo

Education, Space industry and microgravity R&D, Space participation

‘The Arete STEM Project’ – student experiments on the XCOR Lynx rocketplane

The  Arete STEM Project is a new Kickstarter campaign to fund K-12 STEM projects on suborbital high altitude flights using XCOR‘s Lynx rocketplane. Here is a video introduction to the project:

The project aims

to help all students, whether from a public, private, parochial, or home school environment, to develop the competitive skills necessary to compete in the 21st century workplace.

[…]

We believe this can be accomplished by allowing students to use their creatively to design, build, and test microgravity experiments. We go one-step further by flying their experiments into space and then return the experiments to the students.

These student experiments or payloads will fly on Commercial Suborbital Flights.

A key factor to the success of our educational program is our unique relationship the one of the leaders in Commercial Spaceflight, XCOR Aerospace www.xcor.com and their Lynx suborbital spacecraft.

The procedure for students goes as follows:

So how does it all come together? Here are the basics:

First, students reserve their experiment’s payload slot on the Lynx. This is the start of their space adventure.

Once the reservation is secured, students go through an Engineer Design Process to help them ready their payload (experiment) for suborbital flight. Through each stage of the design process students are monitored to help them reach their milestones/goals.

At 90 days prior to the suborbital flight, students are contacted to begin the final phases before their payload is sent into space. This is a simple student progress check that allows student to communicate any successes or problems they are accruing.

At 60 days, we can arrange for simulated flight-testing of the experiment and have all data sent to the student for any redesigns they may need.

30 days before the flight is scheduled all safety checks are accomplished.

Next, the actual flight and return occurs, including the return of experiments and all collected data to the students.

Finally, The Arete STEM Project hopes to help develop future scientists, technologists, engineers, and mathematicians, as well as students willing to take on a life changing challenge.

After having the opportunity to design, develop and fly their work into space and back, students will be ready and eager for any challenges they may face in the 21st century.

DIY space, Mars, Space participation

Mars One hits a media storm

The announcement last week by Mars One of the down-select to 100 candidates for Mars missions drew a lot of media attention but then it all turned rather negative with news that the reality show planned for the selection of the final 24 has fallen through and that little progress is happening regarding plans to send an unmanned lander and an orbiter to Mars in 2018:

A USA Today editorial gives a typical skeptical view: Mars One destined for dreamland: Our view – USA Today.

Mason Peck, Cornell professor, former NASA chief technologist, and an unpaid adviser to Mars One, provides a more optimistic outlook : A clear and audacious goal: Opposing view – Mason Peck/USA Today

Defeatism, cynicism and mindless conservatism didn’t get us to the moon.

I am confident that we have the know-how and the ingenuity to plan a successful colony. However, there are risks. The people who choose to take this journey will face privation and danger to life and limb, but we have always been a species of explorers and problem-solvers.

Our ancestors left Africa, Asia and Europe and settled the globe. Those of us who care about the scientific, economic and cultural benefits of exploring space need to set a goal like Mars One and do what it takes to achieve it.

My parents’ generation took us from Sputnik to footsteps on the moon in a decade. Now our generation needs to get on with this next giant leap.

Defeatism, cynicism and mindless conservatism didn’t get us to the moon.

Gerard’t Hooft, is a Dutch theoretical physicist, a Nobel laureate, and an “ambassador” for Mars One, says the project leadership should be far more conservative in its time table: Mars One plan to colonise red planet unrealistic, says leading supporter – The Guardian.

Bas Lansdorp, Mars One’s CEO and co-founder, continues to hold that the unmanned lander and orbiter projects are doable by 2018 and that the collapse of the reality show is leading to a documentary produced by another company:  Red Planet or Bust? Private Mars One Mission Faces Earthly Challenges – NBC News.com

Lansdorp acknowledged that Mars One ended its collaboration with Endemol “because we could not reach agreement on the details of the contract.” But he said a TV documentary series was still in the works.

“We have contracted [with] a different production company that will produce the documentary series for us,” Lansdorp said. “They have already produced the trailer on our YouTube channel, and progress is good.”

Lansdorp said the name of the production company has not yet been released. He also emphasized that the TV project would be more along the lines of a behind-the-scenes documentary rather than a reality-TV competition to go to Mars.

“We’ve never planned a ‘reality TV series,'” Lansdorp wrote in his email. “A documentary series has always been our plan.”

As I stated the other day, Mars One is interesting if only for proving that there are plenty of well educated, talented people willing to go to Mars to stay.  And those people could actually get to Mars if SpaceX is successful in carrying out Elon Musk’s goals for drastically lowering the cost of getting to the Red Planet.

I expect that as ’t Hooft suggests the organization will eventually move the goals on its schedule several years to the right. It’s possible that such delays will burst the project’s bubble and enthusiasm for it will evaporate away. However, it’s possible that greater realism in its plans will instead lead to greater respect for its prospects.

Mars, Space participation, Space Settlement

Mars One: Video ‘Life on Mars: Leila Zucker’ + Odds of success + Lander project stand-down

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The announcement by Mars One about the reduction of the list of candidates for missions to Mars down to 100 individuals has gotten quite a bit of publicity. Many in the space community, however, point out the huge, if not insurmountable, hurdles that face the organization in getting to the distant Red Planet.

I prefer to focus on the fact that it is significant that the project has shown the world that there are plenty of talented, highly-educated people who are eager to go to Mars even without any guarantee of ever returning to earth. For example, here is a video profile of Dr. Leila Sucker, an emergency room MD, who made the cut to the final 100 candidates:  Life On Mars: Leila Zucker on Vimeo (created by Melissa Balan and colleagues at Senior Post) –

It’s clear, though, that the only way Mars One can succeed is if SpaceX succeeds in achieving Elon Musk’s goal of lowering the cost of getting to Mars to a level that private individuals and groups can afford it. It’s no accident that the Mars One artwork shows SpaceX derived hardware. The odds are against SpaceX getting people to Mars by the 2020s but considering what the company has achieved and is in the process of achieving, the odds are steadily improving.

BTW: While the Mars One organizers talk about one-way missions, Elon emphasizes that going to Mars can only become affordable if the transports to get there come back to earth to be reused again and again. So there will in fact be opportunities for Mars One settlers to return if they want to come back.

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The Mars One project to put an unmanned lander on Mars in the 2018 time frame appears to have hit cash-flow problems: Mars One Suspends Work on Robotic Missions – SpaceNews.

The leader of Mars One says they remain committed to the lander project –  Jeff Foust on Twitter:

Mars One’s Bas Lansdorp did email me this morning to say that the 2018 robotic missions are still their “top priority.”