We derive the ages and other properties of stars by combining theoretical astrophysics, data from the best telescopes, Bayesian statistical analyses, and advanced computational techniques. We have developed an algorithm that allows us to combine the age information from multiple white dwarf stars to derive the age of our Galaxy.
We request funds to support converting our algorithm to high-performance software code. From this we will both derive the age of the Galaxy as well as make our code publicly available for other research groups.
This video provides more details on their project:
If you would like to help move space policy in a positive direction, consider participating in the March Storm 2015 campaign, March 15 – 19th in Washington, DC.
Charles Miller, a long time space advocacy leader and recently a NASA senior advisor on commercial space, gave the background to the campaing on The Space Show : Charles Miller, Friday, 2-13-15 – Thespaceshow’s Blog
Register Now and Fight for a Citizen’s Space Agenda!
Washington, D.C. – The Space Frontier Foundation is proud to announce the 2015 Citizens’ Space Agenda, which will be the goal of the March Storm, scheduled for March 15-19 in Washington, D.C. With the March Storm event, the Foundation is planning to organize more than 200 congressional meetings for private citizens who travel to our nation’s capital “on their own time and on their own dime.”
The 2015 Citizens’ Space Agenda includes:
Establish “Settlement” as an Official Purpose of our Nation’s Space Enterprise The Foundation has drafted legislation to amend the original National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 to specify that encouraging and supporting “space settlement” and “development” are part of NASA’s official mission.
Cheap Access To Space (CATS) Cheap Access To Space (CATS) is the critical, must-have capability to enable opening the space frontier to all people. With CATS, we will grow a trillion-dollar space economy, connect the entire world with affordable broadband internet, enable thousands of people to travel to and from space each year, open up the solar system to human exploration, development, and settlement, and strengthen U.S. national security.
The #1 challenge for CATS today is not technology, but closing the business case. Many American companies have the ability to build fully-reusable spaceplanes with today’s technology. But these companies cannot justify the risky investment based on existing markets and flight rates. The Foundation will advance legislation to authorize a multi-billion-dollar CATS Prize to help close the business case, using an innovative method that does not require up-front funding.
Don’t Over-Regulate Commercial Human Spaceflight In 2004 Congress enacted the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act to create an “informed consent” regime that limits federal safety regulation for involved parties to demonstrated issues, while fully protecting the general public. This streamlined environment expires on October 1, 2015, and the Foundation will advocate for its long-term extension.
A “No Gap” Transition to Commercial Space Stations The Foundation will promote a new strategy for accelerating the growth of commercial space stations, both in Earth orbit and beyond. The life of the International Space Station (ISS) has been extended through 2024 and NASA has announced that ISS will be the last government-developed station in low Earth orbit (LEO). NASA will transition to buying commercial station services after ISS is retired. But many questions remain, and may foretell a gap in continuous American presence in Earth orbit after ISS, just as we currently suffer a gap in American human space launch.
In addition, while international cooperation and collaboration is useful and valuable to our civil space program, the Foundation believes it is time for America to eliminate our critical dependence on Vladimir Putin at the ISS. Our continuing dependence on Russia to operate ISS gives Putin foreign policy leverage in an unstable era. We will propose, and advocate for, legislation mandating rapid development of commercially-owned and -operated station modules by 2020, to eliminate our dependence on Russia.
Commercial Crew and Cargo
On-going competition and operational redundancy is critical to fully utilizing the ISS National Laboratory to enable future Mars exploration. We will advocate for full funding for both Commercial Crew and the ISS Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) programs.
We invite all pro-space American citizens over 18 years of age to register now and joining with us to fight for a Citizen’s Space Agenda! The minimum required attendance is the training on Sunday, March 15th plus at least one day on Capitol Hill.
Here are some pictures via Steve Jurvetson of the giant Gigafactory lithium battery manufacturing plant that Tesla Motors and partners are building in Nevada.
The latest episode of the weekly TMRO web program includes an interview with “Jared Head, astronomy geek, rocket scientist and STEM educator [who spoke] about why astronomy is as cool as a rocket launch”.
The Team America Rocketry Challenge launches into
qualifying rounds for the 2015 contest
Arlington, Va. – Nearly 4,000 middle and high school students across the country are gearing up for the 2015 Team America Rocketry Challenge (TARC), the aerospace and defense industry’s flagship program to inspire young people to explore careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). This year, close to 700 teams representing 48 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are designing and building model rockets as they contest to qualify for the national finals scheduled for Saturday, May 9 in The Plains, VA.
Structured to emulate the aerospace industry’s engineering design process, TARC challenges teams to design and build a model rocket that can travel to a height of 800 feet and back within 46 to 48 seconds. Each rocket will carry one raw egg that must return safely to the ground undamaged. Scores are determined by how close the rockets come to the required height and time; damaged eggs disqualify flights. To encourage ingenuity and creativity, students are challenged with new design and flight requirements each year.
Sponsored by the Aerospace Industries Association, the National Association of Rocketry and 27 industry partners, the contest aims to strengthen U.S. student engagement with STEM. “TARC has evolved from a one-time celebration of flight to an established and globally-recognized STEM education program,” said AIA President and CEO Marion C. Blakey. “We’re confident that the contest will continue to inspire students to advance their studies in science and math, and eventually consider career opportunities in the aerospace and defense industry.”
This year’s contest has attracted a wide variety of American youth including 41 all-girl teams, several teams utilizing 3-D printers to develop rocket components, a marching band and six Boy Scout troops. Teams have until March 30 to launch and submit their qualifying flight scores. The top 100 scoring teams will advance to the National Finals.
Participants compete for scholarships and prizes totaling more than $60,000 and the title of champions of the world’s largest student rocketry competition. The winning team will also travel to the Paris International Air Show in June courtesy of the Raytheon Company to compete in the International Rocketry Challenge. The American team will face off against teams from the United Kingdom and France in hopes of claiming the gold.
For more information about the Team America Rocketry Challenge, please visit www.rocketcontest.org. TARC is made possible by the generous support of our industry sponsors listed below:
Diamond Sponsor: The Raytheon Company
Platinum Sponsors: Lockheed Martin Corporation and Thales USA
Gold Sponsor: Microsemi Corporation
Silver Sponsors: Accenture, Aerojet Rocketdyne, Aurora Flight Sciences, The Boeing Company, Cubic Corporation, Elbit Systems of America , Embraer Aircraft Holding, GE Aviation, Harris Corporation, Honeywell Aerospace, Iron Mountain, Kaman Aerospace, L-3 Communications Corporation, LMI Aerospace, Micro-Coax, Northrop Grumman Corporation, Parker Aerospace, Rockwell Collins, Rolls Royce North America, RTI International Metals, Space Exploration Technologies, United Technologies Corporation, and Woodward, Inc.
