As with the long sea voyages of the past, crews and passengers on long space trips to Mars and elsewhere will need ways to stay mentally active and engaged:
Monthly Archives: July 2013
Galactic Unite South Africa Scholarship Programme
An announcement from Virgin Galactic:
On Mandela Day
In celebration of the wonderful Nelson Mandela on Mandela Day, Virgin Galactic and Galactic Unite are thrilled to announce a new initiative, inspired by the great man himself. The premise of Mandela Day is that every one of us has the ability to make a positive impact in the lives of others. Galactic Unite, inspired and driven by Virgin Galactic’s Future Astronaut community, has already fostered a number of scholarships for students around the world in the STEM+ areas of education. Today, Galactic Unite are excited to announce a new strand of this – the Galactic Unite South Africa Scholarship Programme.
To mark the launch of this, the staff of Virgin Galactic are supporting the initiative with a new scholarship . They have pledged to raise the necessary funds to enable the STEM+ education of a high school student in South Africa for three years, along with an engagement programme with Virgin Galactic staff providing mentoring and support. In doing so, Virgin Galactic looks forward to supporting Galactic Unite in their vision that in this new age of commercial space travel, educating the future generations on the advances in science and technology will help unlock answers to global challenges and change the world for the better.
Space policy roundup – July.18.13 [Update 2]
Committees in the House and Senate continue working on legislation that includes funding for NASA in the 2014 Federal government’s fiscal year , which theoretically should start on October 1st. The budgets in the two chambers different considerably and will have to be reconciled at some point. However, time is limited due to scheduled recesses and the need to deal with many other legislative priorities. So most likely the 2014 fiscal year will start with yet another continuing resolution that keeps NASA on the same budget as its been on.
The latest on the space policy related activities:
- House NASA authorization could offer some fireworks – Space Politics
- House appropriations approve spending bill as NASA, industry complain – Space Politics
- Nelson Introduces Senate Version of NASA Authorization Bill
- The Future of NASA in a Post-shuttle World – SpaceNews.com
Check back for updates here throughout the day and evening.
Update:
- Frustration grows as lawmakers continue to penny pinch commercial crew – NASASpaceFlight.com
- What’s Going To Happen With the NASA Budget? – Universe Today
Update 2: I’m told that Congressman Steve Stockman of Texas was successfully in his effort to pass an amendment with two additions to the House authorization bill for NASA that look promising. They encourage greater use of the International Space Station by NASA’s Science Mission Directorate and by NASA’s Space Technology Program. This requires greater access to the station, which in turn requires commercial cargo and crew transportation.
Update 3:
- NASA’s Planetary Science Budget Crunch Expected To Pit Curiosity vs. Cassini – SpaceNews.com
- Senate, House NASA Bills Far Apart on Funding, Close on Some Priorities – SpaceNews.com
- Proposed NASA Cuts Spark Bitter Debate During House Science Markup – SpaceNews.com
- House committee restores funding for Mars, Jupiter missions – latimes.com
Update 4:
“The Expanse” – a solar sci-fi book series
Patrick Chiles, author of Perigee
The books are written under the pen name James S.A. Corey but actually come from a collaboration between Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck.
The first book in the series is Leviathan Wakes
Welcome to the future. Humanity has colonized the solar system – Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt and beyond – but the stars are still out of our reach.
Jim Holden is XO of an ice miner making runs from the rings of Saturn to the mining stations of the Belt. When he and his crew stumble upon a derelict ship, The Scopuli, they find themselves in possession of a secret they never wanted. A secret that someone is willing to kill for – and kill on a scale unfathomable to Jim and his crew. War is brewing in the system unless he can find out who left the ship and why.
Detective Miller is looking for a girl. One girl in a system of billions, but her parents have money and money talks. When the trail leads him to The Scopuli and rebel sympathizer, Holden, he realizes that this girl may be the key to everything.
Holden and Miller must thread the needle between the Earth government, the Outer Planet revolutionaries, and secretive corporations – and the odds are against them. But out in the Belt, the rules are different, and one small ship can change the fate of the universe.
Two others in the series include:
Sci-Tech: Kickstarting a new Inertial Electrostatic Confinement fusion reactor
University students James Parkin and Thomas Clayson believe they have found a highly optimized design for an inertial electrostatic confinement nuclear fusion reactor (often called a Fusor) that should produce a far higher fusion rate than standard IEC devices. It might even approach breakeven (i.e. energy out equal energy in).
They are looking to crowdsourcing to raise the £28,000 they need to build and test it: Advanced Inertial Confinement Nuclear Fusion Reactor by James Parkin and Thomas Clayson — Kickstarter