Monthly Archives: May 2015

Space Arts, Space participation, The Moon

The ‘Moon Drawings’ project – send your drawing to the lunar surface

The Moon Arts Project at  Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania has partnered with the CMU Planetary Robotics Team and Astrobotic Technology team in the Google Lunar XPRIZE to open the Moon Drawings project. It is

an initiative at Carnegie Mellon University to extend the reach of artistic expression to the Moon. Using this web site, you can contribute a drawing—which will be micro-etched on a sapphire disc, sent to the Moon aboard a robotic lander/rover, and potentially traced by the rover into the Moon’s soil. The disc of drawings, contained in a sculpture called the Moon Arts Ark, and generously conveyed to the Moon by our partners at Astrobotic Technology and the CMU Planetary Robotics Team, will be shuttled to the Moon from Cape Kennedy in 2016 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. It will remain there for potentially millions of years.

Go to Make a Moon Drawing where you can try your hand at drawing something compelling with a continuous line of no more than 1000 points.

Solar Sci-Fi, Space films and videos

Philip K. Dick Science Fiction Festival accepting submissions for 2016 event

A recent announcement set to me from The Philip K. Dick Film Festival:

The Philip K. Dick Science Fiction Film Festival Now
Accepting Submissions for Fourth Annual Event

(New York City, N.Y.) April 9, 2015 – And so it begins. The Philip K. Dick Science Fiction Film Festival has opened its call for submissions for its fourth spectacular year honoring the literary world’s most visionary author Philip K. Dick. The highly-anticipated five-day event will touch down on The Big Apple from January 14-17, 2016 and will screen at the superb Tribeca Cinemas for a second year in a row. The festival returns after a maximum sold out 2015 event and major recognition from high-profile news media including a prime segment on NBC New York/COZI TV’s News 4 New York at 7 and articles and listings in The New York Times, The New York Daily News, Time Out New York and Metro New York. With many more exciting announcements in the months ahead, 2016 will surely be #PKDFestNYC’s biggest and brightest year yet!

To submit the coolest, most  original and exciting science fiction and fantastic films, please visit the festival’s website at www.thephilipkdickfilmfestival.com or the Withoutabox page at www.withoutabox.com/login/9016. Deadlines include June 15, 2015 (Early Bird Deadline), September 15, 2015 (Regular Deadline), December 1, 2015 (Late Deadline) and December 7, 2015 (WAB Extended Deadline).

The Philip K. Dick Science Fiction Film Festival has thrilled its attendees with entertaining and visually captivating themes which have made the event a favorable and continued success. For more information, please visit the festival’s Twitter page at twitter.com/PhilipKDickFest (tweet the hashtag #PKDFestNYC) and the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ThePhilipKDickFilmFestival. Check out the festival’s NBC New York/COZI TV’s News 4 New York at 7 segment appearance at www.nbcnewyork.com/on-air/as-seen-on/288485941.html.

About The Philip K. Dick Science Fiction Film Festival:
The Philip K. Dick Science Fiction Film Festival is New York City’s first and only festival of its kind and is organized by individuals and filmmakers who understand the difficulties and challenges of telling a unique story in a corporate environment. With extremely successful 2012-2015 festivals, a 2013 international event in Lille, France and endless screening events the festival is only beginning its vision of honoring the legacy of the great Philip K. Dick. With the presence of accomplished directors, writers, producers and industry leaders who best represent the goals of the festival and original voices and enhanced visions in works submitted, this is a festival created by filmmakers for filmmakers.

About Philip K. Dick:
“Reality is whatever refuses to go away when I stop believing in it.” – Philip K. Dick Philip K. Dick (1928-1982) was one of the 20th century’s most profound novelists and writers within the science fiction community. His exploration, analysis and beliefs led to the publishings of 44 novels and 121 short stories. Dick’s enormous library of works led to several successful film developments including Blade Runner (1982), Total Recall (1990), Minority Report (2002), Paycheck (2003), A Scanner Darkly (2006), 2012 Festival “Best Science Fiction Feature” Award winner Radio Free Albemuth (2010), The Adjustment Bureau (2011) and Total Recall (2012). Dick’s enormously effective views comprised of technological advancements, fictional universes, virtual realities and human mutation foresaw an exaggerated version of the current state of government and contemporary life. Though he is gone in the physical form his philosophies live on in the techniques applied to modern stories and films and generate large displays of appreciation and understanding.

For more information please contact:
Daniel Abella, Festival Director
Program Office: 917-362-9337
Email: info@thephilipkdickfilmfestival.com

Festival Websites/Social Media
Official Website: www.thephilipkdickfilmfestival.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/PhilipKDickFest
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ThePhilipKDickFilmFestival
Withoutabox: www.withoutabox.com/login/9016
Meetup: www.meetup.com/The-Philip-K-Dick-science-fiction-Film-Festival/
Vimeo: www.vimeo.com/philipkdickfilmfestival
International Website: www.philipkdickfilmfestival-europe.com
Fractured Atlas Donation Page: www.fracturedatlas.org/site/contribute/donate/6853

Activism, Mars, Space films and videos

Video “Delivery from Earth” + Humans to Mars Summit 2015

A short film shown today at the Humans to Mars Summit 2015 in Washington D.C.:

Winning entry of the Lockheed Martin / NM Film Foundation filmmaker grant. A science-fiction short film about the first human born on Mars, told from the perspective of a Navajo family living in Gallup, New Mexico.

The H2M is hosted by the Explore Mars organization.

The Summit presentations can be seen live via the webcast here.

Update: Before we see anyone having babies on Mars, lots of research needs to be done on a facility like G-Lab that will investigate the effects of fractional G on the birth and growth of mammals.

One other note, the Orion capsule the young boy is carrying probably costs $20000 dollars if it is priced on a scale comparable to that between a real Orion and a SpaceX Dragon.

Activism, Rockets, Space industry

Charles Pooley, Microlauncher proponent – RIP

1 Comment

Charles Pooley has passed away. He was well known in the NewSpace rocket world for his fervent advocacy of Microlaunchers. These would be relatively small rockets for putting very small payloads into orbit. He believe they would provide

“… a way to make launches become
less expensive
smaller
more numerous
more available by a factor of thousands…”

Here is a note distributed by David Livingston, host of The Space Show:

May 4, 2015: The Space Show Has Lost A Good Friend

Dear Listeners and Friends: I am very sorry to announce that we lost a very good Space Show friend and a good personal friend of mine, Charles Pooley. Charles passed away before he could make it to the Space Access Society conference this past weekend. I have no further details at this time. All Space Show programs this week will be in his memory. Next Tuesday, May 12 on Open Lines, we will reserve time for those of you who want to remember Charles by calling or emailing us. Charles will be missed on The Space Show and I for one will miss him very much as a friend.

Sincerely,

Dr. David Livingston, Host

A sampling of comments:

 

  • GeorgeWilliamHerbert on Twitter:
    • Old acquaintance and space enthusiast Charles Pooley aka @Microlaunchers passed away recently; we are sad to see him go. He kept pushing.
  • Jason Carr on Twitter:
    • Sad news. I interviewed Charles back in 2012 for my blog. He was truly a visionary and will be missed. 
  • Paul Breed on Twitter:
    • RIP Charles Pooley. He was a friend and talented engineer that contributed in a big way to my llc efforts. I know no additional details.
  • Ben Brockert on Twitter:
    • Got word that Charles Pooley died. He was an interesting and persistent character with big ideas for small space launch.
  • Jonathan A. Goff on Twitter:
    • He helped me with the electronics for an experiment for my Master’s Thesis (had to finish it while at Masten). He’ll be missed.

 

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