The Space Show this week

August 26, 2013 TopSpacer

The programs on The Space Show this week:

1. Monday, August 26, 2013, 2-3:30 PM PDT (5-6:30 PM EDT, 4-5:30 PM CDT): We welcome DR. JAMES HANSEN, author of First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong. Dr. James Hansen is Professor of History and former Director of The Honors College at Auburn University in Alabama. An expert in aerospace history and the history of science and technology, Hansen has written numerous books and articles covering a wide variety of topics, including the early days of aviation, the history of aerospace engineering, NASA, the Moon landings, the Space Shuttle program, and China’s role in space. He has special expertise on the history of the American astronaut corps, having authored the life stories of Neil Armstrong and John Young and directed a doctoral dissertation (now a published book) on the first class of women astronauts in the U.S. space program.

2. Tuesday, August 27, 2013, 7-8:30 PM PDT (10-11:30 PM EDT, 9-10:30 PM CDT): No show as am celebrating my son’s birthday in L.A.

3. Friday, August 30, 2013, 9:30-11 AM PDT (11:30- 1 PM CDT, 12:30PM-2:00 PM EDT): No show today. As many of you know, I have mentioned many times on the show that I plan on moving and relocating. I am now in the process of doing just that. My plan is to minimize as much as possible Space Show interruptions but there will be times when I will be unable to host a show in favor of the moving project. I will keep you posted and again, I will hold show and schedule interruptions to a minimum.

4. Sunday, Sept. 1, 2013, 12-1:30 PM PDT (3-4:30 PM EDT, 2-3:30 PM CDT). We welcome back DR. SCOTT PACE to the program to discuss space policy and more. You might find his editorial of interest as we will be talking about it on air: “American Space Strategy: Choose to Steer, Not Drift“.

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.

DIY space, Space participation, Spaceflight & Parabolic Flight

NASTAR education director selected as Citizens in Space astronaut

August 26, 2013 TopSpacer

Here’s a profile of Greg Kennedy, director of education for the NASTAR Center and a Citizens in Space civilian astronaut selectee: Lower Southampton man chosen as a civilian astronaut – phillyburbs.com: Business

Contests and Games, DIY space, Rockets

Checking in on the N-Prize

August 26, 2013 TopSpacer

The N-Prize offers two cash Prizes, each of £9,999.99 (nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine pounds and ninety-nine pence, sterling)

to the first persons or groups to put into orbit around the Earth a satellite with a mass of between 9.99 and 19.99 grams, and to prove that it has completed at least 9 orbits

One prize will go to an expendable vehicle and the other to a reusable one:

The cost of the launch, but not ground facilities, must fall within a budget of £999.99. Entrants for the RV Prize may exceed this budget, but must demonstrate recovery of hardware such that the per-launch cost remains within £999.99.

The contest started out as something of a lark but there turned out to be a lot of enthusiasm for it simply as a milestone for the many people interested in really, really low cost nano/pico sat launch:

The N-Prize is a challenge to launch an impossibly small satellite into orbit on a ludicrously small budget, for a pitifully small cash prize.

Eventually, over 50 teams got involved. I can’t tell from the N-Prize website, though, how many teams remain active. In a scan of the team entries, Wikisat was the only one with a website showing signs of recent activity.

One deadline (Sept. 19, 2011) was extended and now tht extension is coming to an end:

The prizes will be available for entrants whose satellites complete their 9th orbit before 19:19:09 (GMT) on the 19th September 2013.

There’s a chance, though, that the contest will be made open ended: Some important news… – NPrize Forum.

Future space, Solar Sci-Fi

Video biographies of eight science fiction masters

August 26, 2013 TopSpacer

A couple of years ago, Ridley Scott hosted the Science Channel’s Prophets of Science Fiction series that profiled eight noted contributors to the genre. The full episodes currently are available on line: