Monthly Archives: December 2013

Activism, SpaceCasts

The Space Show this week

The programs  on The Space Show this week:

1. Monday, Dec. 23, 2013: 2-3:30 PM PST (5-6:30 PM EST, 4-5:30 PM CSTT): This is our lead off program to docment a decade of space development leading up to the Dec. 31, 2013 program. This show is an archive recording from Dec. 30, 2003. Our featured guest for this Golden Oldie is TOM OLSON. Tom gives us a 2003 year in review. When you see the program on the website and the blog, it is ready for play.

2. Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2013, 7-8:30 PM PST (10-11:30 PM EST, 9-10:30 PM CST): This is program number two in our look back at commercial space, NewSpace and the space industry as TOM OLSON documents the year 2005 with this Golden Oldie from Dec. 27,2005. When you see the program archived and ready to play on the website and blog, you will know its available for your enjoyment.

3. Thursday, Dec. 26, 2013 ,7-8:00 PM PST (10-11:00 PM EST, 9-10:00 PM CST): This is the third in our special end of the year review of space development, commercial space and NewSpace with this Golden Oldie from Dec. 20, 2007. TOM OLSON reviews 2007 and looks forward to 2008. When you see the program listed on the website archives and the blog, it is ready for play.

4. Friday, Dec. 27, 2013:, 9:30-11AM PST (12:30-2 PM EST, 11:30 AM-1 PM CST). This is the fourth Golden Oldie in our review and look back series over the past decade of space, commercial space and NewSpace development. TOM OLSON reviews 2009 with this program from Dec. 29, 2009. When you see the program on the website archives and the blog, it is ready for play.

5. Sunday, Dec. 29, 2013, 12-1:30 PM PST, (3-4:30 PM EST, 2-3:30 PM CST). This is our fifth Golden Oldie in our series that examines the development of space, commercial space and NewSpace over the last decade. This program with TOM OLSON is from Dec. 27, 2011. When you see it on the website and blog, it is ready for your playing and enjoyment.

See also:
/– The Space Show on Vimeo – webinar videos
/– The Space Show’s Blog – summaries of interviews.
/– The Space Show Classroom Blog – tutorial programs

The Space Show is a project of the One Giant Leap Foundation.

Amateur/Student Satellite, Space Radio

AMSAT & ISS amateur radio news for Dec.15.13

[The AMSAT web site was down last week so I didn’t post this Dec.15th AMSAT Bulletin. The site is back up so I’ll post it now.]

Go to AMSAT News for the latest headlines about developments in amateur and student satellites and for updates about amateur radio on the ISS.

ANS  349 Weekly AMSAT Bulletin – Dec.15, 2013:
* KySat-2 Ham Radio Software Update
* UKube-1 on its way to Kazakhstan
* PUCP-SAT-1 Deploys POCKET-PUCP Femtosatellite
* FUNcube-1 Whole Orbit Data Available
* WRAPS: A Portable Satellite Antenna Rotator System
* NASA video of ham radio participation in Juno
* 10 GHz CubeSat ESTELLE to carry Cold Gas Thruster
* $50SAT team seek help from radio hams
* KB1WTW Addresses US House Committee
* ARISS News
* Satellite Shorts from All Over

Science and Technology

Sci-Tech: DARPA Robotics Challenge competition in Florida

The DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) Trials took place on Friday and Saturday at Florida’s Homestead Miami Speedway. Seventeen teams participated in the competition:

Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Fla., prepared this past week for a competition unlike any it has ever seen: the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) Trials. Instead of dozens of state-of-the-art cars racing and maneuvering at blazing speeds and covering hundreds of miles, the DRC Trials puts slow prototype robots through a series of simple tasks such as opening doors or walking a short distance. The two-day event, […] , aims to speed development of robots that could perform a number of critical real-world emergency-response tasks after future natural and man-made disasters.

There finalists this year will go on to the next round next year:

The Trials will provide a baseline on the current state of robotics and determine which teams will continue on to the DRC Finals in 2014 with continued DARPA funding. Competing in the 2014 Finals will lead to one team winning a $2 million prize.

Reports from the competition

A DARPA video about the event:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6UzI7MyqvU&feature=share&list=UUOIHBHRbvncMo7Bf0Vx1zEQ&index=17

You can find lots more videos at DARPA Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency – YouTube.

Here’s an info graphic about the Atlas robot from Boston Dynamics, which was recently bought by Google along with several other robotics firms:

DRC-Anatomy Robot Inline

Here’s a DARPA video about Atlas and Boston Dynamics:

Amateur/Student Satellite, Space Radio

AMSAT & ISS amateur radio news

Go to AMSAT News for the latest headlines about developments in amateur and student satellites and for updates about amateur radio on the ISS.

ANS 356 Weekly AMSAT Bulletin – December 21, 2013:
* Saudisat 1C, SO-50, Eleven Years in Orbit
* NASA Space Life Sciences Training Program Applications Open
* ISS Cooling Pump Repair Delays Cubesat Missions
* Delfi-N3XT Update
* AMSAT SKN on OSCAR 2014 in Memory of W2LV
* Satellite Shorts

Space Policy

Space policy roundup – Dec.22.13 [Updated]

Yet another selection of space policy/politics links:

A couple of recent Space Show episodes with space policy

Update: