Monthly Archives: February 2014

In Space Infrastructure, Space Systems

FISO: Update on the Sunjammer solar sail navigation demonstration

The latest presentation to the Future In-Space Operations (FISO) study group is now posted in the FISO Working Group Presentations Archive. The zip file includes the Powerpoint presentation, two animations, and the audio for the talk titled, Sunjammer – A Solar Sail Navigation Demonstration by Nathan Barnes , L.Garde Inc., February 12, 2014.

The talk describes the NASA/NOAA sponsored Sunjammer  solar sail project,  for which L’Garde Inc. (Tustin, CA)  is the primary contractor. The steerable 1200 square meter sail is scheduled to be launched in January 2015 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

SunjammerArt

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Here’s a video overview of the project:

Here’s an animation of the deployment:

Find several more videos here.

History, Solar Sci-Fi

Profile of rocketry pioneer Max Valier + Former defense chief writing asteroid-mining novel

Michael Shinabery,  an education specialist and Humanities Scholar at the New Mexico Museum of Space History in Alamogordo, New Mexico posts frequent articles on a range of space history topics. His latest article is about Max Valier, a rocketry pioneer and early science fiction writer :  Valier Envisions Rocketry Through Engineering and Sci-Fi  (Part 1) – This Week In Space History/Moonandback.

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Speaking of science fiction, former Secretary of Defense William Cohen is writing a novel about space mining and getting help from a NASA program designed to assist SF writers with space technical info :

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General

Carnival of Space # 341 – PhotosToSpace

Photos To Space hosts the latest Carnival of Space.

Activism, Science and Technology, Space participation

Zooniverse passes one million citizen science volunteers

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Congratulations to Zooniverse on gaining their one millionth volunteer for their many citizen science projects after starting seven years ago : One Million Volunteers – Zooniverse

This map shows the global distribution of volunteers.

Here’s a list of scientific publications resulting from Zooniverse activities:  Zooniverse Publications.

A posting on the Planet Hunters blog about the milestone : 15 percent of 1 million – Planet Hunters

This accomplishment is yours too. Our estimate is over 280,000 people world wide (unregistered and registered volunteers) have participated in Planet Hunters. 150,000 registered Zooniverse volunteers have classified at least one Planet Hunters light curve. Roughly 15% of the 1 million registered Zooniverse volunteers have contributed to Planet Hunters science. That’s a huge representation! 

Activism, General, SpaceCasts

The Space Show this week

The guests and topics for The Space Show this week:

1. Monday, Feb. 17, 2014, 2-3:30 PM PST (5-6:30 PM EST, 4-5:30 PM CST): We welcome back DR. CURT BILBY CEO of Terapio with updates on RLIP 76 for radiation exposure.

2. Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2014:, 7-8:30 PM PST (10-11:30 PM EST, 9-10:30 PM CST): We welcome back DOUG MESSIER of Parabolicarc.com for space news reports and updates.

3. Friday, Feb. 21, 2014, 9:30-11 AM PST (12:30-2 PM EST; 11:30 AM-1 PM CST): We welcome back LIZ KENNICK for a very special report on Teachers In Space and some important news regarding this fine organization.

4. Sunday, February 23, 2014, 12-1:30 PM PST (3-4:30 PM EST, 2-3:30 PM CST). OPEN LINES. All callers welcome dealing with space, STEM, and related topics. We especially want first time callers, new callers.

See also:
/– The Space Show on Vimeo – webinar videos
/– The Space Show’s Blog – summaries of interviews.
/– The Space Show Classroom Blog – tutorial programs

The Space Show is a project of the One Giant Leap Foundation.