Here’s an interesting article about a spacesuit design that might be called “a celestial Segway” : The Future of the Spacesuit: It involves gyroscopes. And better jetpacks. – Megan Garber /The Atlantic.
Big asteroid passes by earth + White House Google Hangout asteroid discussion
Asteroid 1998 QE2 passed earth yesterday and earthlings waved hello/goodbye to it: Asteroid 1998 QE2 sails past Earth, leaving cosmic lessons behind – Cosmic Log.
This event inspired a Google+ Hangout that included a participant from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) along with several space notables for a discussion about asteroids: We the Geeks: A White House Google+ Hangout Series – The White House
During a conversation moderated by OSTP’s Cristin Dorgelo, we’ll be talking about asteroid identification, characterization, resource utilization, and hazard mitigation with:
- Lori Garver, Deputy Administrator, NASA
- Bill Nye, Executive Director, Planetary Society
- Ed Lu, former astronaut and CEO, B612 Foundation
- Peter Diamandis, Co-Founder and Co-Chairman, Planetary Resources
- Jose Luis Galache, Astronomer at the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center
Space on the John Batchelor Show with Bob Zimmerman and Hotel Mars
Bob Zimmerman reports on the latest space news during regular weekly slots (usually Tuesday and Thursdays) on the John Batchelor radio program. See the iTunes free Podcast for links to the latest shows.
Thursday 05/30/13 Batchelor Hour 4:
We discussed climate and the failure of all global warming models to predict the lack of warming in the past 15 years.
Friday 05/31/13 Batchelor Hour 1
Science:
1. The big asteroid flying past Earth today has its own moon.
2. Engineers suspect an meteor impact caused the shutdown of a weather satellite last week.
3. Further analysis has confirmed that Curiosity traveled through a streambed last year.
4. CFCs now linked to climate change.
5. The increase in CO2 is making the Earth greener.
Space exploration:
1. Data taken by radiation sensor on Curiosity during its journey to Mars suggest it will be possible to build shielding to protect humans.
2. The Hubble Space Telescope celebrates its fourth year of operation since the last shuttle repair mission.
3. The new space race: The construction timelines for both Golden Spike (private) and SLS are practically the same!
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Charles Lurio joined David Livingston and Batchelor to discuss the influence of Star Trek on real space exploration and development : John Batchelor Show Hotel Mars, Wednesday, 5-29-13 – Thespaceshow’s Blog
ARKYD space telescope for public access – Kickstarter pledges rocket upwards
Planetary Resources is a company planning to mine asteroids. Initially, though, they will place small observatories into earth orbit to search for candidate near earth orbit asteroids to which they will later send probes for closer inspection. On Wednesday they announced a program to dedicate one of their space observatories to public access and education.
The ARKYD project will launch in 2015 a space telescope into orbit specifically to allow students, schools and the members of the general public to direct its observations. They opened a Kickstarter campaign to raise $1M to fund the project.
One of the cool perks for a $25 pledge is a Space Selfie in which an image that you give them will be displayed on the “satellite’s external screen overlooking Earth. We will then take a picture from our camera arm and send the image back to you.”
The concept and the perks seem very popular as the 32 day campaign has already reached in the first two days nearly $565,000 from 5674 backers. [Update June.1.13: The totals are currently at $625,714 nd 6,234 backers.]
Here is a video for the Kickstarter:
And in the video below,
Jason Silva, the host of National Geographic’s Brain Games talks about what the ARKYD space telescope means to him and the world. You can follow Jason on Twitter @JasonSilva
Help fund citizen science and make space exploration a reality for everyone! Support the ARKYD Kickstarter http://kck.st/18DzUJ7
And here is a video with Planetary Resources co-founder Peter Diamandis and Planetary Society chief Bill Nye:
“Space Warriors” – New Hallmark movie for young people
The Hallmark Channel is debuting tonight (Friday, May 31st) the made for TV movie Space Warriors about a young man’s adventure at Space Camp that helps save the ISS: ‘Space Warriors’ Hallmark Movie Features Space Camp Training – Yahoo! News
The son of a retired NASA astronaut who lived on the International Space Station, makes his dreams of traveling to outer space come true when he competes to win a seat on the next space shuttle in this spectacular real-life look into the world of Space Camp, a Hallmark Channel Original Movie, World Television Premiere, “Space Warriors” Friday, May 31 (8p.m. ET/PT, 7C).
Here is a music video for the movie: