Monthly Archives: August 2013

General, SpaceCasts

Video: This Week @ NASA

Here’s the latest This Week @ NASA video:

Caption:

Celebration, when the Curiosity Rover safely found the surface of Mars on August 6, 2012 … and celebration this week on Capitol Hill as NASA and members of Congress mark the one year anniversary of the Martian landing and showcase the ways the rover is helping us get to know Mars. During another event to celebrate Curiosity at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, members of the Curiosity team presented White House officials with a replica of the plaque flown on the mission and signed by the President. Curiosity’s landing ignited a new generation of excitement which grew even more when the rover found evidence that Mars could’ve sustained life in the past. NASA and the rest of Earth looks forward to future finds on Mars from Curiosity and other missions. Also, Bolden Visits Wallops, Asteroid Mission Formulation Review, Following The Water, Preparing For Tomorrow, SLS Design Gets “OK”, NASA Gets New Chief Scientist, X-Ray Eclipse, Commercial Crew Industry Day, Train Like An Astronaut, Promoting Stem & Safety and more!

Activism, Mars, SpaceCasts

Mars One – Million Martian Meeting

The Mars One group is holding a special event today at George Washington University in D.C.,  called the Million Martians Meeting. It is being live-streamed at Mars One Million Martian Meeting 8/3/13 on USTREAM: Mars One

 Mars One – Aspiring Martian Group conference with guest speaker Robert Zubrin and keynote speaker Bas Lansdorp

Posts about the presentations can be found at

Update: A report on the event: Space cadets in Washington for one-way ticket to Mars – phys.org

General, Space Policy, SpaceCasts

Space on The John Batchelor Show: Bob Zimmerman + Hotel Mars

Bob Zimmerman talked about space during two episodes of the  John Batchelor radio program this week.

Wed 7/31/13 Hr 3 Batchelor :  

  • On Friday, an astronaut on ISS controlled and steered a rover on Earth.  While zipping around Earth several hundred miles above the planet’s surface, the European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano drove a 220-pound (100 kilograms) rover across a moon-mimicking landscape here at NASA’s Ames Research Center, even ordering the robot to deploy a simulated film-based radio telescope antenna.
  • A supernova has exploded in the galaxy M74, only 30 million light years away.  This is one of the closest supernovae in recent years. Though it’s still brightening and has reached 12th magnitude, it’s not expected to brighten to naked-eye visibility (about 6th magnitude). Astronomers however have spotted the progenitor star in archival Hubble images, which they have identified as a M-type red supergiant that was also particularly bright in the infrared.

Thurs 8/1/13 Hr 3 Batchelor :

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This week’s Hotel Mars segment on the John Batchelor show included Dr. Richard Obousy who talked about the  Icarus Interstellar project, faster-than-light travel, and breakthrough propulsion :  John Batchelor Hotel Mars, Wednesday, 7-31-13- Thespaceshow’s Blog

Rockets, Solar Sci-Fi, Space books

The Rocket Company: Chapters 13-16

In the continuing serialization of the updated version of the book The Rocket Company by Patrick J. G. Stiennon and David M. Hoerr, with illustrations by Doug Birkholz.  This week you can obtain the following chapters of the book:

Download these within the next week or so. Only four chapters will be available at any one time.

See also the electronic version of the updated book is available at  The Rocket Company eBook by Patrick Stiennon, David Hoerr, Peter Diamandis, Doug Birkhol: Kindle Store/Amazon.com.

Contests and Games, Simulators

Take on Mars – new simulation game

Check out the new game Take On Mars:

From the website description:

Take On Mars places you in the seat of a Rover Operator, allowing you to control the various, fully simulated mobile Rovers and stationary Landers. With this scientific arsenal at your disposal, you will work your way through the numerous Science Missions in each location, unlocking the secrets of Mars’ distant past.

“Explore the scarred face of another world. Journey through rocky terrain and sandy wastes, pushing your vehicles to the max in this new installment to the Take On series.”

Featuring 3 main gameplay modes, explore the unforgiving Martian terrain:

  • Space Program – Explore Mars from the perspective of a science-driven Space Agency. Develop new technologies, vehicles and instruments to tackle the tasks ahead.
  • Scenarios – Head straight to the surface of Mars and complete individual missions centered around various Science Missions and objectives.
  • Editor – Create scenarios with complex missions, or just play around with whatever you wish in this limitless, free-form mode.

The most notable features in Take On Mars include:

  • Dynamic destruction system – Break off cameras, robotic arms, even individual struts and wheels, all affecting the way the vehicle handles.
  • Economy – Send missions to Mars with the budget you have available, raised by completing mission and individual tasks.
  • Realistic Terrain – Explore the surface of Mars in locations based on actual satellite data from locations such as Victoria Crater.

Last, but certainly not least, Take On Mars will be heavily aimed at modability, allowing users to create and share their own custom content, including scenarios, vehicles, and locations. Everything in the game is modifiable.