Chesley Bonestell was an architect and painter who worked on the Golden Gate Bridge and the Chrysler Building. He worked on famous movies like Citizen Kane as a matte artist, and his mesmerizing paintings of planets and star systems helped inspire America’s space program. Why is it that no one knows who he is today?
Producer Douglass Stewart, was interviewed last year on The Space Show about Bonestell and the film:
During this one segment 72 minute program, not only did our guest take us through the life and art of Chesley Bonestell, but the same for documentary film making, distribution and film festival issues plus lots more.
Bonestell’s visions are still coming to life. Here is an illustration he created for an article by Werner von Braun and Cornelius Ryan in Colliers Magazine, April 30, 1954:
Illustration of a Mars expedition landing site by Chesley Bonestell for Colliers Magazine, April 30, 1954. Via Sept/Oct. 2013 issue of Horizons, the newsletter for the Houston chapter of the AIAA
And here is a full-scale 1st-gen prototype of the Starship, a fully reusable space transport currently in development by SpaceX:
The Starship Mk-1 prototype on display at the SpaceX Boca Chica, Texas facility in 2019. Credits: SpaceX
And a SpaceX illustrator’s vision of Starships at a Mars settlement:
6. Sunday, March 22, 2020; 12-1:30 pm PDT (3-4:30 pm EDT, 2-3:30 pm CDT): Welcome to OPEN LINES. We want to hear from you so call and let us know what is on your mind. Call and talk to another listener too.
Here is the latest episode in NASA’s Space to Ground weekly report on activities related to the International Space Station:
** Down to Earth – Tip Of The Iceberg
In this episode of “Down to Earth – Tip of the Iceberg,“ NASA astronaut Nick Hague shares how his time living and working in space changed his perception of life back on Earth. #SpaceStation20th
** Expedition 62 Inflight with Martin Van Buren High School – March 13, 2020
Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 62 Flight Engineer Jessica Meir of NASA discussed life and research on the orbital outpost during an in-flight educational event March 13 with students at the Martin Van Buren High School in Queens Village, New York. Meir is in the final month of a six-and-a-half-month mission on the station, planning for a return to Earth in mid-April. During her mission, the crew in space has supported hundreds of research investigations, and she conducted three spacewalks with astronaut Christina Koch, including the first all-woman spacewalk Oct. 18, 2019.
** Expedition 63 Video File – Soyuz Qualification Training – March 13, 2020
Expedition 63 Space Station Crew Undergoes Final Training Outside Moscow Expedition 63 Soyuz Commander Anatoly Ivanishin of Roscosmos, Flight Engineers Ivan Vagner of Roscosmos and Chris Cassidy of NASA and their backups, Sergei Ryzhikov and Andrei Babkin of Roscosmos and Steve Bowen of NASA, conducted final qualification training for their upcoming International Space Station mission at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia March 11 and 12. Ivanishin, Vagner and Cassidy are scheduled to launch on April 9 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in the Soyuz MS-16 spacecraft for a six-month mission on the International Space Station.
** NASA Live: Earth Views from the Space Station – The ESA HDEV (High Definition Earth Viewing) camera originally used for the ISS live view streaming stopped working in July 2019.
Currently, live views from the ISS are streaming from an external camera mounted on the ISS module called Node 2. Node 2 is located on the forward part of the ISS. The camera is looking forward at an angle so that the International Docking Adapter 2 (IDA2) is visible. If the Node 2 camera is not available due to operational considerations for a longer period of time, a continuous loop of recorded HDEV imagery will be displayed. The loop will have “Previously Recorded” on the image to distinguish it from the live stream from the Node 2 camera.
A sampling of links to recent space policy, politics, and government (US and international) related space news and resource items that I found of interest (find previous space policy roundups here):
** NASA’s Management of Space Launch System Program Costs and Contracts – NASA OIG
The Office of Inspector General examined NASA’s management of the major Space Launch System contracts – core stage, upper stage, RS-25 engines, solid rocket boosters – to assess whether the programs are meeting cost, schedule, and performance goals.
More than 8,500 satellites are projected to be launched between 2019 and 2028 according to Euroconsult. With such so much growth on the horizon, regulatory efforts could become challenged to keep pace with these technological developments.
Listen to Alexandre Vallet the Chief of the Space Services Department in the Radiocommunication Bureau of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as he shares insights into the role of regulations and the ITU in this new environment. Find out how the spectrum can be protected, interference can be avoided and how a level playing field for new and incumbent players can be ensured in this evolving new space world.
** Michael Maloney – Satellite Design For Recovery – Cold Star Project S02E23
Michael Maloney, founder of the advocacy organization Satellite Design for Recovery, is on the Cold Star Project with host Jason Kanigan to talk about the need for including a critical but not-yet-required component to the design of all objects launched into Earth orbit. Satellites and other orbital objects should have mandated design requirements for rendezvous, capture and disposal. The cost of not doing so will be chaos in orbit. Mike is here to tell us about these consequences. Satellite Design for Recovery website: https://satdfr.org/
The United States Space Force is now officially a thing, complete with a commander and plans to put about 16,000 members of the military to work defending U.S. interests in space. But what exactly does it mean for the U.S. military to “deter aggression” in space? How could a war in space happen? And what are American interests in space, anyway? This episode, we’re going to answer those questions as best we can with the help of four experts on space weapons and policy and strategy.
Guests includeJeffrey Lewis, professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, Calif.; Jonathan McDowell, astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass.; Bleddyn Bowen, lecturer in International Relations at the University of Leicester, in the UK, and author of the forthcoming book, “War in Space“; and Brian Weeden, director of Program Planning at the Secure World Foundation.
115 members traveled to Washington D.C. from 28 states for one massively successful day of action to #FundSpace. Will you join us next year? Get involved at planetary.org/advocacy
A sampling of recent articles, press releases, etc. related to student and amateur CubeSat / SmallSat projects and programs (find previous smallsat roundups here):
The SOC-i mission will carry an advanced guidance, navigation and control (GNC) payload capable of reorienting the spacecraft while satisfying multiple pointing constraints. SOC-i will also carry an Earth imaging camera, enabling it to take pictures of specified ground locations.
The mission will operate in space for 6 months, and will be supported by a UW ground station being developed in the Aerospace Engineering Research Building. It is a stated goal of the mission to be completely open-source, maintain code on our team’s GitHub page .
Members collaborate throughout the entire design process of the CubeSat, developing different aspects, from its guidance navigation control, electrical power system, physical structure, communications, command and data handling, and imaging configuration.
“Space engineering is such a multifaceted discipline that really, if you show up and just do 10 hours of work, you’re going to learn a hundred new things,” Tormey said. “The thing you get out of it is experience. Even if the work is grueling and hard, knowing that ultimately you’re going to send something up into space is the best motivator ever.”
“Our ANDESITE mission with NASA will demonstrate how CubeSats can play a vital role in providing an unprecedented view into the variations of electrical activity racing through space and its impact on our lives here on earth. GPS services, for example, can be directly affected,” explained Josh Semeter, an electrical engineering professor with Boston University’s Center for Space Physics who first conceptualized the ANDESITE mission.
“If all goes as planned, our CubeSat will release eight small satellite sensors in space to form a first-of-its-kind free-flying mesh network capable of delivering uniquely comprehensive data mapping of magnetic fields and space weather to our smart phones here on campus.”
“TriSept, the University spacecraft team and NASA have completed the initial integration of the ANDESITE mission by installing the CubeSat into the dispenser device and preparing the spacecraft for shipment to Rocket Lab in New Zealand,” said Jason Armstrong, TriSept’s Director of Launch Integration Services.
Illustration of the ANDESITE 6U CubeSat with picosat deployed to study currents in the magnetosphere. Credits: BUSAT
Here is a BUSAT video from 2015 about the ANDESITE project:
** Michael Maloney – Satellite Design For Recovery – Cold Star Project S02E23
Michael Maloney, founder of the advocacy organization Satellite Design for Recovery, is on the Cold Star Project with host Jason Kanigan to talk about the need for including a critical but not-yet-required component to the design of all objects launched into Earth orbit. Satellites and other orbital objects should have mandated design requirements for rendezvous, capture and disposal. The cost of not doing so will be chaos in orbit. Mike is here to tell us about these consequences. Satellite Design for Recovery website: https://satdfr.org/
– Amazon commission link] and the possibility of trace fossils on Mars”.
