The SpaceX Falcon 9 first stage booster landed last week on a sea platform (see earlier posting). Here is a video of the drone ship returning with the rocket to Port Canaveral on Monday evening:
And here shows the rocket being lifted from the ship onto the dock:
Check out the Space Access ’16 Conference in Phoenix, April 7-9. I’ve been attending the annual Space Access Society meeting since 1998 and it continues to be my favorite conference. This year I will participate in two panels.
Here is the latest update:
Space Access Society’s 2016 conference on the technology, business, and politics of radically cheaper space transportation will feature a cross-section of the growing cheap access community, talking about what’s going on now and what will be happening next, in an intensive informal atmosphere, single-track throughout so you don’t have to miss anything.
Confirmed launch-project & space-industry presenters so far: Agile Aero, CubeCab, DARPA XS-1, EXOS Aerospace Systems & Technologies, Frontier Astronautics, Lasermotive, Masten Space Systems, Moon Express, Nanoracks, Spaceport America, Tethers Unlimited, United Launch Alliance, Unreasonable Rocket, XCOR Aerospace.
We’ll also feature essential space writers, bloggers, innovators, and policy leaders including Mitch Clapp, Jeff Foust, Jon Goff, Jeff Greason, Gary Hudson, Jordin Kare, Clark Lindsey, Charles Lurio, Dave Masten, Doug Messier, Jim Muncy, Dave Salt, John Schilling, Rand Simberg, and Henry Spencer for a variety of presentations and panels, as well as progress reports on high-end student & amateur rocket hardware projects.
Our major additional focus this year is, now that a thriving low-cost space transportation industry is near, What’s Needed for The Next Thirty Years? This year’s conference has numerous presentations and panels related to the policy decisions and technology directions needed for Beyond Low Orbit: The Next Step Out.
Space Access has been described as a “Hackers” conference for rocket people, with better content than many other space conferences costing many times more. It’s two-and-a-half days of total immersion in making the future happen. This year’s edition, SA’16, is just weeks away – make those travel arrangements now, reserve your room while our hotel still hasn’t filled up, register online while you still can, and be there!
Full Conference Info at http://space-access.org/updates/sa16info.html
Conference Registration at http://space-access.org/updates/sa16PreRegister.html
Hotel Reservations at http://www.radisson.com/reservation/itineraryEntrance.do?hotelCode=usapnix&promotionalCode=SAS
(SA’16 sessions run from ~1 pm Thursday April 7th through ~6 pm Saturday April 9th.)
The Philip K. Dick Film Festival opens soon:
Great sci-fi is steadily approaching as The Philip K. Dick Science Fiction Film Festival returns to New York City for its fourth annual event from January 14-17, 2016. The four-day festival, screening at the magnificent Village East Cinemas (181-189 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10003), has announced its full schedule of events which includes a record 80 films from over 20 countries and several film premieres. The event is the city’s first and only science fiction film festival so make sure to experience every bit of the thrill ride there is to offer.
Highlights from the exciting lineup include Clones starring Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner); Genghis Khan Conquers the Moon starring Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Amazon’s The Man in the High Castle); The Mill at Calder’s End starring Barbara Steele (Black Sunday); the NYC premiere of Chatter starring Richard Hatch (Battlestar Galactica); The Art of Human Salvage starring Edward James Olmos (Blade Runner); The Future Perfect starring Zachary Quinto (Star Trek); the NYC premiere of The Incident starring Raúl Méndez (Netflix’s Narcos); the world premiere of Dean Philips’ short film Tap Tap Tap; the USA premiere of The Worlds of Philip K. Dick documentary and the NYC premieres of documentaries Sympathy For The Devil: The True Story of The Process Church of the Final Judgment featuring George Clinton and Travis: The True Story of Travis Walton.
Philip K. Dick Film Festival 2016 Trailer from The Philip K Dick Film Festival on Vimeo.
The festival (visit thephilipkdickfilmfestival.com) is excited for another year in offering the very best of independent science fiction film while celebrating the enduring legacy of Philip K. Dick, the most visionary and prolific author of the modern era.
For my HobbySpace readers, here is a Christmas Pluto
![leisa_christmas_false_color[1]](https://i0.wp.com/hobbyspace.com/Blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/leisa_christmas_false_color1-1024x1024.png?resize=520%2C520)
And a tour of our beautiful earth as seen from the International Space Station:
I wrote here back in August about the New Worlds 2015 conference sponsored by the New Worlds Institute to be held in Austin, Texas, October 16 & 17. Below is the latest info from the conference and includes the agenda of talks, panels, performances, etc.:
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![1_QmwlQd0_2xzAKSpDCicoYw[1]](https://i0.wp.com/hobbyspace.com/Blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/1_QmwlQd0_2xzAKSpDCicoYw1-232x300.jpeg?resize=232%2C300)
Launching the Future
What will the first settlers need in order to actually live long, and prosper? What technologies, businesses, and cultural support systems will be required to allow these brave explorers to thrive on the new frontier? New Worlds 2015 and Lift Off! Concert will address these questions and more as the inaugural event in a series of social gatherings and conferences meant to engage the public, business world, and the scientific community in a constructive dialogue about not just how we get there, but how we stay.
Students: $15/day (with 2 day pass)
Professionals: $100/day (with 2 day pass)
*Includes complimentary access to the Lift Off! concert
Hosted by the New Worlds Institute, the two-day event will feature academic sessions with the world’s foremost experts in space medicine, space solar power, life extension, legislative policy, and the emerging space economy.
The New Worlds 2015 and Lift Off! Concert will be held at the Palmer Events Center on October 16-17 in Austin, TX.
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“New Worlds 2015 is an experiment. Our goal is to plant the seeds of a new and dynamic space culture that will begin to grow in the years ahead so those who will build the first human space colonies can be prepared when the ships are ready. It may sound crazy, just as 20 years before the Mayflower going across the ocean to start a new community in that New World sounded crazy. But it will also be incredibly fun.”
— Rick Tumlinson
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Register for the full two-day conference and use discount code NWSEPT15 for 20% off! All attendees of the New Worlds 2015 Conference receive free admission to Lift Off!
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[Agenda]
October 16, 2015
*Speakers subject to change
9:30 am — Opening Keynote: ‘I Am An Astronaut’
10:00 am — S.T.A.R. Talk: ‘The ISS, The First Step To The Frontier’
10:20 am — Session: ‘How To Settle The Moon’
12:00 pm — S.T.A.R. Talk: ‘Island Hopping to Mars’
12:30 pm — Lunch Keynote: ‘The Sun Machine’
1:30 pm —TBA
1:50 pm — Session: ‘How to Farm In Space’
2:40 pm — S.T.A.R. Talk: ‘Space Medicine’
3:00 pm — Break
3:20 pm — Session: ‘How To Settle Free Space’
4:40 pm — Student Awards: ‘The Next Generation’
5:30 pm — S.T.A.R. Talk: ‘Designing Space in Space’
6:00 pm — Closing Talk
8:00 pm — LIFT OFF! CONCERT
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In celebration of our quest toward preparing a vibrant spacefaring culture through STEAM SPACE Education, the LIFT OFF! benefit concert (tickets here) will be an exploration of sight and sound with a collection of some of the best masters of the flip-side, as we journey through a soundscape of Experimental, Dubstep, Glitch, Downtempo, and Electronic performances by:
![liftoff-main[1]](https://i0.wp.com/hobbyspace.com/Blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/liftoff-main1.jpg?resize=506%2C225)
Arc Attack
Using modified dual Tesla Coils to play musical notes through frequency modulation (watch: 2010 semi-final performance on America’s Got Talent), their visual wizardry combines additional homemade, high-tech instruments, guitar, bass, automated musical machines, live performers, a Faraday suit, and wielding electricity through the air, just how Nikola would’ve wanted.
The Nadis Warriors
Birthed in the hills outside of the musical mecca of Austin, The Nadis Warriors shed the restrictions of commonplace stage shows to create performance experiences unlike any other. Spreading the Message of Healing and Love Through Textures and Rhythms That Vibrate Your Soul.
Bogtrotter
Deep liquid-laser textures, seamlessly colliding with heavy and hard hitting percussion, Bogtrotter has completed his evolution into a venomous, technologically powered force to be reckoned with.
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Register for the full two-day conference and use discount code NWSEPT15 for 20% off! All attendees of the New Worlds 2015 Conference receive free admission to Lift Off!
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October 17, 2015
*Speakers subject to change
10:00 am — Intro Talk: ‘Space Economy’
10:20 am — Keynote: ‘Mining the Sky’
10:50 am — Session: ‘Crowdsourcing/funding Space Panel’
12:15 pm — S.T.A.R. Talk: ‘Economic History of Commercial Space Exploration’
12:30 pm — Lunch
1:30 pm — S.T.A.R. Talk: ‘Space Elevators’
1:50 pm — Session: ‘Infinite Canvas’
3:00 pm — Break
3:30 pm — Session: ‘Why Mars?’
5:20 pm — TBA
5:40 pm — Final Talk: ‘Gods and Rockets’
6:00 pm — Conference End
7:00 pm — Closing Offsite Cocktail
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In a classroom right now are the innovators, scientists, artists, settlers and pioneers of new worlds. Where better to begin our future in space than with our children who will be the leading pioneers of this new human endeavor?
New Worlds 2015 will host a global ‘Cities in Space’ STEAM Competition focusing on the development of a sustainable settlement in Free Space, the Moon, or Mars, permitting the human race to survive and flourish into a long-term multigenerational spacefaring civilization. Colonies will be based upon a human population of 1,000 people where student teams will integrate engineering, science, architecture, and genuine innovation to create prototypes through video and 3D modeling.
Throughout the conference, competing students will have the opportunity to listen to speakers and connect with scientists, engineers, astronauts, NASA experts, and NewSpace leaders:
The members and associates of the New Worlds Institute are dedicated to opening the space frontier in our lifetime for everyone. In support of greater STEAM communication in our schools and leading education communities, students can — through critical investigation — identify and pose solutions applicable to real world problems by studying and developing situations of lunar, Martian and Free Space settlement.
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Register now using the 20% discount code ‘NWSEPT15’ to reserve your spot
at the first space conference devoted toward the human settlement of space!
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This time we go together.
This time we take it from no one.
This time we give it to everyone.