This week over a dozen small satellites called CubeSats have been injected into orbit from the International Space Station using a system developed by NanoRacks. This video of the deployment of a NASA satellite on Tuesday:

A description of the satellites being sent into orbit is given in CubeSat Deployer Mission 11 Status Update: Good Deploy! – NanoRacks.

*A cubesat is shot into orbit from the ISS; Credits NanoRacks.*

The deployments included satellites from the QB50 Mission

The QB50 Mission consists of dozens of universities located around the world – including Israel, Canada, Australia, Korea, Spain, Germany, France and more. Coordinated by the von Karman Institute and sponsored by the European Commission, the QB50 CubeSats will take advantage of the space station orbit to study the lower thermosphere (200-380 kilometers) collecting scientific climate data, in what is considered by experts a relatively unexplored part of Earth’s atmosphere.

The ISS portion of the QB50 Mission involves over 300 students and 50 professionals, which brings the program together.

Astronaut Thomas Pesquet tells us about the QB50 Mission being deployed via NanoRacks and our NRCSD (NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer) on the International Space Station.

Space films and videos, Space Science, Space Systems

Video: Carl Sagan, Ann Drujan, and the Voyagers

May 18, 2017 TopSpacer

A nicely made video homage from Penny Lane to Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan and the Voyager missions: A film about Carl Sagan, Annie Druyan and a love letter they sent to the stars | Aeon Videos –

A film about Carl Sagan, Annie Druyan and a love letter they sent to the stars

In the summer of 1977, NASA sent Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 on an epic journey into interstellar space. Each of the Voyager probes carries a golden record, a compilation of images and sounds meant to represent our planet to any distant civilisations that should encounter them. ‘The launching of this bottle into the cosmic ocean says something very hopeful about life on this planet,’ said Carl Sagan, the golden record’s co-creator. Sagan met and fell madly in love with his future wife Ann Druyan while working on the golden record. The project became their love letter to humankind and to each other.

Director: Penny Lane

Contests and Games, Education, Space camps & hands on sims

“Train Like a Martian Challenge”: Sign up for a week of activities for all ages

May 17, 2017 TopSpacer

The Mars Generation is sponsoring the second Train Like A Martian Challenge event May 22-26, 2017:

Sign up now and join us for our second annual #TrainLikeAMartian event! We expect the event will be a blast!

#TrainLikeAMartian is an entire week of activities to bring awareness to the importance of STEM education, space exploration and physical fitness to students and adults around the world! This is a chance to have fun, spread an important message and also have a chance to win some cool prizes!

Prizes include TMG keychains, TMG magnets, TMG patches, TMG pins, TMG logo t-shirts, TMG logo sweatshirts and more! One lucky participant has the chance to win an OSMO Coding Jam, sponsored by STEM Genius Hour. We are excited to share that our grand prize is a Jade Robot by Mimetics valued at approximately $200 (USD).

We are also raising funds to support the programs that The Mars Generation operates including sending students with financial need to Space Camp. Fundraising is not required to participate. We have special rewards for donors and fundraisers. Click here to see rewards.

Sign Up Now to qualify for prizes and also receive email updates for the Train Like A Martian Challenge!

Activism, Space Policy, SpaceCasts

The Space Show this week – May.15.2017

May 15, 2017 TopSpacer

The guests and topics of discussion on The Space Show this week:

1. Monday, May 15, 2017: 2-3:30 pm PDT (5-6:30 pm EDT, 4-5:30 pm CDT): We welcome Andrew Rush and Michael Snyder of Made In Space to the show.

2. Tuesday, May 16, 2017: 7-8:30 pm PDT, 10-11:30 pm EDT, 9-10:30 pm CDT: We welcome back Dr. Madhu Thangavelu of USC to the program.

3. Wednesday, May 17, 2016: John Batchelor is on a fact finding working travel project. There will be no Hotel Mars program this week.

4. Thursday, May 18, 2017: 7-8:30 pm PDT, 10-11:30 pm EDT, 9-10:30 pm CDT: We welcome back Tom Olson for news and updates.

5. Friday, May 19, 2016: 9:30-11 am PDT, 12:30-2 pm EDT, 11:30 am-1 pm CDT: We welcome authors Michael Summers and James Trefil regarding their new book, Exoplanets: Diamond Worlds, Super Earths, Pulsar Planets, and the New Search for Life beyond Our Solar System published by Smithsonian Books.

6. Sunday, May 21, 2017: 12-1:30 pm DST (3-4:30 pm EDT, 2-3:30 pm CDT): OPEN LINES. All space and STEAM calls welcome. First time callers are welcome. .

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.

The Space Show - David Livingston — David Livingston

Activism, Space films and videos, Space Settlement

“Fight for Space” documentary film to be released on May 19th

May 15, 2017 TopSpacer

A documentary will be released on May 19th to theaters and on demand about the decades long hiatus in human spaceflight beyond low earth orbit : Fight For Space – Where is your space program?

“FIGHT FOR SPACE” is a documentary film that asks, why haven’t we gone back to the Moon, or sent humans to Mars? Weren’t we supposed to be there in the 80s? What lead to the decline of NASA’s budget and why is it stuck in low earth orbit?

Filmed over the course of 4 years, Fight for Space is the product of thousands of Kickstarter supporters who believed that the exploration of space is worth fighting for. Over 60 interviews were conducted with astronauts, politicians, educators, historians, scientists, former NASA officials, commercial space entrepreneurs, and many other experts in the space community. It is a film like no other that tackles issues no other documentary has touched, featuring newly restored 35mm and 16mm footage from the National Archives NASA collection.