Category Archives: Space participation

Education, Space participation, Spaceflight & Parabolic Flight

The next-gen Teachers in Space

Ed Wright of Citizens in Space gives the background to various programs aimed at sending teachers and other educators into space and lays out his organization’s plans for the future: Teachers in Space: The Next Generation – CitizensInSpace.org.

Citizens in Space continues to expand and grow. We have not abandoned the original goals of Teachers in Space, nor have we “split” the program or transferred any part of the program to another organization. We still hope to enable a large number of teachers to fly in space and return to the classroom, along with people from every walk of life.

There are other organizations that have the goal of flying teachers in space. The Challenger Center for Space Science Education has acquired two seats on a Virgin Galactic flight for teachers. Virgin Galactic has also donated a seat to the Royal Air Force for a British teacher. So far, however, we are the only organization that has purchased a significant block of flights and initiated a training program for citizen astronauts. We hope we will not be alone much longer. Regardless of what other organizations do, however, our path is clear. As President Reagan said, our hopes and journeys will continue.

SETI, Space participation

Lone Signal – using a big dish to broadcast messages to ET

The LONE SIGNAL project, which officially opens on June 18th,  wants to send messages to an extraterrestrial intelligence (METI) using a former NASA radio dish near Carmel, California : Lone Signal: METI Teams Up With Citizen Science To Try And Make First Contact – Science 2.0

Lone Signal is going to start firing off messages on a recurring basis and its first target is Gliese 526 in the constellation Boötes, just under 18 light years from us. And they are going to let the public decide what those messages are, no prime numbers or atomic elements dictated by committees. It can be pictures of your cat, though if you just sign up you can only send one short text message – all the electricity to fire up a 97 foot dish and transmit into space doesn’t come cheap – and more elaborate stuff is only available if you contribute money to the cause. After it’s sent, you can monitor how far it has gone and discuss with other people in the Lone Signal community.

The article includes an interview with Jamie King of Lone Signal.

Education, History, Space participation

NASA “passport” gives discounts at NASA centers and Shuttle museums

The Passport to Explore Space card gives you benefits at multiple space museums and exhibitions across the country:

Passport to Explore Space holders receive special savings on admission, tours, food and retail at each location. Visit all 14 Visitor Center and space shuttle locations to complete your passport.

More at NASA visitor centers launch new passport for space tourists – collectSPACE.

Earth-bound space tourists hitting the road this summer to tour NASA’s historic launch pads and mission controls, as well as see the retired space shuttles on display, now have their own passport.

The “Passport to Explore Space” is now being offered by the official visitor centers for NASA’s nationwide facilities and the museums that display the space agency’s former orbiter fleet. Guests to the 14 locations in nine states can get the passports stamped with commemorative markers representing each of the centers, earning them offers and discounts in the process.

Activism, DIY space, Space participation

Space Hacker Workshop – Dallas, Texas July 20-21, 2013

An announcement from Citizens in Space:

Citizen Science and Space Exploration in the Lone Star State
Space Hacker Workshop to Take Place in Dallas

Dallas, TX (June 14, 2013) – Space isn’t just for governments and large corporations.

Citizen scientists and hardware hackers will learn how to do “space on the cheap” at a two-day Space Hacker Workshop in Dallas. Participants at the workshop will learn how they can build and fly experiments in space, and even fly in space as citizen astronauts, through the Citizens in Space program.

The Space Hacker Workshop takes place July 20-21 at the Frontiers of Flight Museum at Love Field.  The workshop is sponsored by Citizens in Space, a project of the United States Rocket Academy, and SpaceGAMBIT, an international collaboration of citizen scientists operating through makerspaces, hackerspaces, and community groups.

Citizens in Space has purchased 10 flights on the XCOR Lynx spacecraft, now under construction at the Mojave Air and Space Port, which will be made available to the citizen-science community.

“We’re looking for 100 citizen-science experiments and 10 citizen astronauts to fly as payload operators,” Citizens in Space project manager Edward Wright said. “The Space Hacker Workshop will provide participants with information and skills needed to take advantage of our free flight opportunities.

“This is an opportunity for citizen scientists to develop and test new technologies in space, to collect microorganisms from the extreme upper atmosphere, to experiment with new processes for creating new materials; and do many more cool things.”

Space is no longer the exclusive domain of NASA and university scientists. A previous Space Hacker Workshop in California attracted a standing-room crowd of men and women from every walk of life. High-school students sat next to medical doctors and astrobiologists. Tinkers and hobbyists worked alongside engineers and physics professors, a heart surgeon, and a NASA astronaut.

“These are the makers of space,” said one participant at the California workshop. “This event is about making and doing, rather than talking and talking.”

“Thanks to modern technology, citizen scientists can build and fly fully functioning space experiments for a few hundred dollars or less, ” Wright said. “With components available at Radio Shack or Fry’s Electronics, citizen scientists can build instruments and experiments with more power than a NASA satellite from a few years back. ”

The Space Hacker Workshop will provide hands-on exposure to a variety of microcontrollers, sensors, imaging systems, and other components. With these components, participants will learn how to design and build microgravity, fluid-physics, life-science, and engineering experiments. Each paid participant will receive a hardware package to take home after the workshop.

Khaki Rodway of XCOR Aerospace will be on hand to discuss the Lynx spacecraft. Experts from NASA and industry will discuss the research professional scientists have done in the past, prospects for new research on low-cost suborbital spacecraft such as Lynx, and opportunities for citizen scientists to build on the shoulders of NASA giants.

Three citizen-astronaut candidates will also be on hand, to discuss the Citizens in Space astronaut selection and training process.

Admission for the event is $129 at the door. Super Early Bird tickets are available now for $79. Tickets are limited and the event may sell out. Online registration is available at spacehackerdfw.eventbrite.com.

DIY space, Rockets, Space participation

Copenhagen Suborbitals: Upcoming launch of Sapphire guided rocket

Copenhagen Suborbitals is gearing up for the first flight of their Sapphire guided rocket during launch windows on the weekends of June 22-23 and June 29-30: