Homer Hickam of Rocket Boys fame talks with Nancy Atkinson about writing, rocketry, Rocket Boys the Musical and other topics: Q & A with Homer Hickam: Rocket Boys and Science Experiments Gone Wrong – Universe Today
Check out his new book Crescent (A Helium-3 Novel)
The Innovate Our World education non-profit organization has created the Moon Mission Challenge
project, with sponsorship from Astrobotic Technology, Inc. They have a crowdfunding effort underway for it at Students … To The Moon! – Indiegogo. The Challenge is described as follows:
Student teams will design a payload that could fly on an Astrobotic mission to the Moon’s surface. Astrobotic engineers have identified three possible mission scenarios:
• Apollo Rediscovery Mission
• Lunar Polar Mission
• Lava Tube Exploration Mission
Before working together to design a payload, students will learn about the Moon’s characteristics and environment by studying the lunar surface and using scientific information from NASA experts and other sources, understand how space technology has been used to study the Moon from orbit and land humans and spacecraft on its surface, and learn about the Moon from history, economics, politics, and social sciences, all using our Common Curriculum lesson plans and resources. Educators will receive free training to lead their teams.
Teams will proceed through mission planning and design in order to present their concept to project sponsors in a presentation at our June 2014 conference. Students will learn lunar science, spacecraft technology, mission planning, and payload design as an integrated team and work directly with experts from Astrobotic, Penn State Lunar Lions, and other aerospace organizations. Teams will be expected to use STEM disciplines, project management, systems engineering, communications, and marketing skills in an integrated manner to evaluate, prepare, and present their mission publicly to a panel of judges from NASA, industry, colleges, and other professionals. Winning teams will receive cash prizes and an opportunity to work with IOW experts if they decide to enter the Conrad Foundation Spirit of Innovation Awards competition (www.conradawards.org).
The Australian scramjet experiment to be launched in Norway this week (see earlier post) was unfortunately not a success: Australia’s scramjet experiment has been discontinued – UQ News Online – The University of Queensland.
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Yesterday’s Morpheus lander test was canceled but they are trying again today. See updates at Morpheus Lander (MorpheusLander) on Twitter.
NASA;s Chief Technologist Mason Peck to attend Maker Faire to ask help of Makers “for ideas on how to find, track and deflect asteroids” as part of the agency’s Asteroid Initiative and Grand Challenge:
NASA Highlights Asteroid Grand Challenge at World Maker Faire
NASA is reaching out to a new community for ideas on how to find and track potentially hazardous asteroids, and protect the planet from their impacts. The World Maker Faire is being held Sept. 21-22 at the New York Hall of Science, 47-01 111th St., in New York.
The World Maker Faire is a festival of invention, creativity and resourcefulness – the exact qualities NASA is looking for to help in solving the global challenge asteroid threats present.
NASA Chief Technologist Mason Peck will be on hand to talk about how Makers can help shape space exploration and be a critical player in NASA’s asteroid initiative.
“Unlike traditional NASA missions of exploration and science, this grand challenge is driven by the idea that protecting our planet is an issue bigger than any one program, mission or country,” Peck said. “For the first time, NASA has reached out to industry, academia, stakeholder organizations and private citizens for ideas on how to find, track and deflect asteroids. These partnerships represent a new way of doing business for NASA and a call to action for Makers: join us to become a critical part of the future of space exploration.”
NASA will offer Makers a chance to program science hardware and learn how small, do-it-yourself projects might be used to help track and understand asteroids, using their own personal computers. NASA also will showcase the Centennial Challenges Program, with winning teams and technology from the Astronaut Glove and Sample Robot Return challenges.
Media interested in attending Maker Faire should register online at: http://makerfaire.com
Media interested in speaking to Peck should contact Sarah Ramsey at sarah.ramsey@nasa.gov.
NASA’s asteroid initiative has two parts: the mission by astronauts to explore an asteroid and a grand challenge to protect the planet. It is included in President Obama’s fiscal year 2014 budget request for NASA, and leverages the agency’s progress on asteroid discovery and study, the Space Launch System rocket, Orion spacecraft and cutting-edge technology development.
For more information about NASA’s asteroid initiative, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/asteroidinitiative
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Here is a video of the Asteroid Grand Challenge announcement back in June:
The casting off of SuitSat from the ISS back in 2006 looks quite strange: No, this isn’t a shot from the film “Gravity” (but it could be) – Lights in the Dark