On Wednesday of last week’s 2013 IAA Planetary Defense Conference held at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff., the Planetary Society organized a public event. It was hosted by Bill Nye the Science Guy and Planetary Society CEO and included Geoff Notkin and Steve Arnold, the Science Channel’s Meteorite Men. Below are videos of the event
Part 1:
What a night! More than 900 people gathered at Northern Arizona University on April 17, 2013 to celebrate science and people who have dedicated themselves to saving humanity from a killer asteroid. Master of Ceremonies Bruce Betts, the Planetary Society’s Director of Projects, gets the evening started, and is then joined by Planetary Radio host Mat Kaplan for a raucous What’s Up! recording session.
Part 2:
The 2013 PDC public event welcomes the co-star of the Science Channel’s popular reality show to the Northern Arizona University stage. Notkin describes his worldwide search for space rocks, and why they fascinate him.
Part 3:
The Planetary Society’s Director of Projects served as MC for the exciting public event at this year’s PDC. It was the perfect venue for Bruce to announce the winners in the latest round of Shoemaker Near Earth Object grants from the Society. These awards enable dedicated amateur astronomers and smaller professional observatories to vastly improve their ability to discover and track asteroids and comets that pose a threat to Earth.
Part 4:
The Planetary Society’s CEO was a wildly popular speaker at the PDC public event on April 17, 2013. Here’s his presentation to over 900 fans on the campus of Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff
Part 5:
Moderator Mat Kaplan of Planetary Radio leads a lively and inspiring conversation in the grand finale of the PDC public event. Four outstanding young leaders in the planetary defense community join Bill and Mat on stage:
-Flight Dynamics Engineer Brent Barbee of the Goddard Space Flight Center
-NEOWISE Principal Investigator Amy Mainzer of JPL
-Applied Physics Research Scientist Cathy Plesko of Los Alamos National Lab
-Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy David Trilling of NAU
Students at St. Thomas More Cathedral School in Arlington, VA are aiming to be a part of a milestone. The school is looking to become the first K-8 school to launch a “CubeSat” satellite into space. The proposed satellite that the students will build would be four inches long in all directions and would weigh around three pounds.
The project has to be approved by NASA, but if the school gets clearance, the satellite will have a planned launch date sometime later in 2014. The CubeSat satellite that St. Thomas More students have planned will be designed to take photographs and temperature readings, and have them beamed back to the school on Earth.
The Mars One organization had a press conference event in New York City today to talk about the selection of Applicants for their plan to put a settlement on Mars. The panel included:
Bas Lansdorp, Co-Founder and CEO, Mars One
Gerard ‘t Hooft, Nobel laureate and Ambassador of Mars One
Norbert Kraft, Chief Medical Officer, Mars One
Grant Anderson, Sr. VP Operations, Chief Engineer and Co-Founder, Paragon Space Development Corporation
Bryan Versteeg, Mission Concept Artist, Mars One
The event was moderated by Emily Lakdawalla, Senior Editor at the Planetary Society.
Update: Here is a press release from Mars One:
Mars One starts its search for the first humans on Mars
NEW YORK, Monday, 22nd April 2013 – Mars One is happy to announce the launch of its astronaut selection program today. The search has begun for the first humans to set foot on Mars and make it their home.
Mars One invites would-be Mars settlers from anywhere in the world to submit an online application via apply.mars-one.com.
This online application will be the first of the four rounds that together make the Mars One selection procedure. Round One will run for over five months and end on 31st August 2013. Applicants selected at the end of this round will include the first crew that will land on Mars in 2023. Mars One selection committees will hone the search for the first crew in three subsequent rounds and further training.
“We are very excited about launching the selection program. Round One is where we open the doors to Mars for everyone on Earth. This is an international mission and it is very important for the project that anyone anywhere can ask themselves: Do I want this? Am I ready for this? If the answer is yes then we want to hear from you,” said Bas Lansdorp, co-founder of Mars One.
In the last year Mars One received 10,000 messages from prospective applicants from over 100 countries. Mars One expects an unprecedented number of applications and even more internet users visiting the application website to support their favorite candidates.
Applicants are given the choice of publicly sharing and promoting their application page. While Mars One experts will choose which candidates progress to Round 2, everyone will have the opportunity to know the aspiring settlers and give them their vote of confidence.
Applicants will pay a small administration fee that varies across nations according to their per capita GDP. The variable fee makes the program equally accessible for applicants from all nations and also reduces the number of insincere entries.
“For this mission of permanent settlement we are more concerned with how well each astronaut lives and works with others and their ability to deal with a lifetime of challenges.”
“Gone are the days when bravery and the number of hours flying a supersonic jet were the top criteria,” said Norbert Kraft, Mars One’s Chief Medical Director and former NASA senior researcher.
“For this mission of permanent settlement we are more concerned with how well each astronaut lives and works with others and their ability to deal with a lifetime of challenges.”
Throughout the astronaut selection program, Mars One will select applicants who have good physical and mental health and show five key character traits: Resilience, Adaptability, Curiosity, Ability to trust others, and Creativity/Resourcefulness.
In the last stage when 24-40 candidates have been fully trained and qualified, the final decision of choosing the first settlers will be decided by an audience vote.
“In a 1000 years, everyone on Earth will still remember who the first humans on Mars were, just like Neil Armstrong has etched in our memories forever. This makes the selection of the first crew to a different planet a very important election; in my opinion more important than most elections. We hope the whole world will join Mars One in our democratic search of the envoys of mankind to Mars, ” Lansdorp said.
About Mars One
The Mars One Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation that will send humans to Mars in 2023 to establish the first permanent settlement outside Earth. Before the first settlers land on Mars a self-sustaining habitat will be set up with help of rovers and more settlers will follow every two years. A realistic mission plan has been designed using only existing technology available through the private space industry. The first footprint on Mars will fascinate and inspire generations; it is this public interest that will help finance this human mission to Mars.
In this interview, NASA astronaut Donald Pettit talks about how he and his “fellow Expedition 30/31 crew members captured more than a half a million photographs of Earth from aboard the International Space Station.”