The latest episode of NASA ScienceCasts video reports on
Sungrazing Comet ISON, expected to become a bright naked-eye object later this year, might dust the Earth with meteoroids in early 2014.
3 winners selected in space video contest
An announcement from the Coalition for Space Exploration:
Three winners selected in “Why Space Matters to the Future”
national video contest
The Coalition for Space Exploration and the NASA Visitor Center Consortium successfully complete first collaborative outreach effort
HOUSTON –The Coalition for Space Exploration (Coalition) and the NASA Visitor Center Consortium are pleased to announce the winners of the “Why Space Matters to the Future” video contest: Addie Augsburger, Clyzzel Samson, and Elizabeth Paddock. The winning entries were selected for both their creative demonstrations of the importance of space exploration and their unique visions for the future if the boundaries of space continue to expand.
Three out-of-this-world prizes will be awarded to the winners for a trip for four, one to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, one to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Alabama and one to Space Center Houston in Texas. Winning videos will be featured on the Coalition and VisitNASA.com websites, shared through social media networks, and shown to NASA executives and elected officials in Washington, D.C.
“As a lead of the NASA Visitor Center Consortium, I’m pleased that our collaboration with the Coalition was able to help demonstrate public interest in space exploration,” said Mike Kincaid, Director of External Relations for Johnson Space Center. “Partnerships like these are valuable to spreading the word about NASA’s missions and I look forward to all of us working together again in the future.”
In her first place winning video, Augsburger uses a hand-drawn storyboard concept to inform viewers of the many benefits derived from the U.S. space program. She shows how continued exploration can provide a platform for research that cannot be done on Earth which could reveal new discoveries, and potentially lead to the colonization of other planets.
Samson, who takes second place, uses her narrative to describe how space exploration has given us “heroes” who have inspired us to reach beyond our current limitations of exploration. She emphasizes that space exploration is a human enterprise, not limited to one nationality, gender or economic status. The video also encourages viewers to invest in future generations.
In third place, Paddock showcases her 3-year-old twin boys, who have been avid space fans since they were 18 months old. Through vivid imagery, Paddock describes how the exploration of space has brought several countries – and brothers – together through effective teamwork, and how it has provided mankind with many benefits. The twins, looking through a large telescope, ask their father: “Can we go to the Moon?” and “Can we go to Mars?”
“The Coalition thanks all who participated in this contest and values the strong entries submitted by people across the country,” said George Torres, chairman of the Coalition. “We also thank NASA and the NASA Visitor Center Consortium for their collaboration which enabled us to expand our reach significantly. We hope to continue to grow the public’s interest in the future of space exploration through more collaborative outreach efforts in the future.”
Entrants were encouraged to share their vision of why exploring space matters to the future, while considering the following:
- How has space affected, influenced or inspired you?
- What are the values and benefits of space exploration?
- Why should we continue to explore space?
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About the Coalition for Space Exploration:
The Coalition for Space Exploration is a group of space industry businesses and advocacy groups that collaborates to ensure that the U.S. remains the leader in space, science and technology by reinforcing the value and benefits of space exploration with the public and our nation’s leaders, and building lasting support for a long-term, sustainable strategic direction for space exploration.
About the NASA Visitor Center’s Consortium:
The visitor centers all support NASA’s mission and goals of maintaining the integrity of NASA’s memorable past, present and future; increase public interest in math and science careers through educational and mentoring programs as well as promoting the extensive benefits of space exploration.
Mars One to initiate its astronaut selection program in on-line event, April 22nd
An announcement from Mars One:
Mars One launch astronaut selection on Youtube and Twitter
AMERSFOORT, April 19th 2013 – Mars One will launch its Astronaut Selection Program on the 22nd of April 2013 at a press conference in New York. The event will be streamed live on Youtube.
The briefing will be moderated by Emily Lakdawalla, Senior Editor at the Planetary Society. The panel will include
- Bas Lansdorp, General Director and Co-Founder, Mars One
- Norbert Kraft, Medical Director, Mars One
- Gerard ‘t Hooft, Nobel laureate and Ambassador, Mars One
- Grant Anderson, Sr. VP Operations, Chief Engineer and Co-Founder, PParagon Space Development Corporation
- Bryan Versteeg, Mission Concept Artist, Mars One
Date and Time: 22nd April, starts 12:00 pm EDT ends 1:30 pm EDT
You can be a part of the Q&A by sending us your questions and opinions via Twitter by using the hashtag #MarsOneLaunch.
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About Mars One
Mars One is a not-for-profit organization that will establish a permanent human settlement on Mars in 2023 through the integration of existing, readily available technology that can be purchased from the global private space industry. Mars One will fund this decade-long endeavor by involving the whole world as the audience of an interactive, televised broadcast of every aspect of this mission- from launch to landing to living on Mars. In March 2013 Mars One contracted Paragon Space Development Corporation (USA) to take the first steps in developing the life support system and spacesuits fit for the mission. Mars One is in talks with various other aerospace companies for different components of the mission; a series of contracts will be announced later this year. This is a global mission: our advisers, suppliers and also would-be astronauts come from all over the world.
Mars One website www.mars-one.com
Mars One Introduction Film
First space hacker workshop to happen in Silicon Valley on May 4-5
An announcement from Silicon Valley Space Center and Citizens in Space :
The Final Frontier for Citizen Science
First Space Hacker Workshop to Take Place in Silicon Valley
First Space Hacker Workshop to Take Place in Silicon Valley
Mountain View, California (Apr. 2, 2013) – Are you a hardware hacker? Do you have the Right Stuff to become a citizen scientist or citizen astronaut? Here’s your chance to find out.
Citizen scientists and hardware hackers will learn how to do “space on the cheap” at the first Space Hacker Workshop for Suborbital Experiments. Participants at the two-day workshop will learn how they can build and fly experiments in space, and even fly in space as citizen astronauts, through the Citizens in Space program.
The Space Hacker Workshop takes place May 4-5 at the Hacker Dojo in Mountain View, California, across the street (literally) from NASA Ames Research Center. The workshop is sponsored by Citizens in Space, a project of the United States Rocket Academy, and the Silicon Valley Space Center.
Citizens in Space has purchased 10 flights on the XCOR Lynx spacecraft, now under construction at the Mojave Air and Space Port, which will be made available to the citizen-science community.
“We’re looking for 100 citizen-science experiments and 10 citizen astronauts to fly as payload operators,” Citizens in Space project manager Edward Wright said. “This is a chance for citizen scientists to develop and test new technologies, like bioreactors and 3D printing, in zero gravity; to collect microorganisms from the extreme upper atmosphere; to experiment with new processes for creating new materials; and do many more cool things. The Space Hacker Workshop will provide participants with information and skills needed to take advantage of our free flight opportunities.”
“Space is no longer the exclusive domain of NASA and university scientists,” said Dr. Sean Casey, co-founder of the Silicon Valley Space Center. “Citizen scientists can build and fly fully functioning experiments for a few hundred dollars or less, thanks to technology developed here in Silicon Valley. With components available at Radio Shack or Fry’s Electronics, citizen scientists can build instruments and experiments with more power than a NASA satellite from a few years back.”
“Commercial spaceflight is the next high-tech revolution, making space a participatory frontier,” said Dr. Alexander Saltman, executive director of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation. “This event will tap into the creative spirit that has made Silicon Valley a center of innovation for decades.”
The Space Hacker Workshop will provide hands-on exposure to a variety of microcontrollers, sensors, imaging systems, and other components. With these components, participants will learn how to design and build microgravity, fluid-physics, life-science, and engineering experiments.
Infinity Aerospace, which is developing the open-source ArduLab for low-cost space experiments, will be on hand to discuss the use of ArduLab hardware as a development platform. Also on hand will be representatives of XCOR Aerospace, which is building the fully reusable Lynx suborbital spacecraft, and NASA Ames Research Center.
Khaki Rodway of XCOR Aerospace will discuss the capabilities and requirements of the Lynx spacecraft. A panel of experts from NASA and industry will discuss research professional scientists have done in the past, prospects for new research on low-cost vehicles such as the Lynx, and opportunities for citizen scientists to build on the shoulders of NASA giants.
Project manager Edward Wright will be on hand to discuss Citizens in Space flight opportunities for experiments and citizen astronauts, including an exclusive glimpse at citizen-astronaut training activities planned for this summer.
Admission for the event is $150 at the door, but early-bird tickets are available now for $100. Tickets are limited and the event may sell out. Online registration is available at spacehacker.eventbrite.com.
Video: Kepler news briefing
Here’s the video of the press briefing about today’s KeplerObservatory announcement on the finding of three earth-scale exoplanets in habitable zones of their stars (see earlier post):