Monthly Archives: March 2018

Activism, Space Policy, SpaceCasts

The Space Show this week – March.5.2018

The guests and topics of discussion on The Space Show this week:

1. Monday, March 5 , 2018: 2-3:30 pm PST (4-5:30 pm CST, 5-6:30 pm EST): No show today for phone line repair issues.

2. Tuesday, March 6, 2018: 7-8:30 pm PST; 9-10:30 pm CST; 10-11:30 pm EST: We welcome back Jim Funaro to talk about the upcoming Contact Conference.

3. Wednesday, March 7, 2018: Hotel Mars. See Upcoming Show Menu and the website newsletter for details. Hotel Mars is pre-recorded by John Batchelor. It is archived on The Space Show site after John posts it on his website.

4. Friday, March 9, 2018; 9:30 AM-11 am PST, (12:30 -2 pm EST; 11:30 am -1 pm CST): We welcome Dr. John Charles. Briefly, Dr. Charles was the Associate Director of Exploration Research Planning. Prior to that position, Dr. Charles was the Chief Scientist for NASA’s Human Research Program.

5. Sunday, March 11, 2018: 12-1:30 pm PDT; 2-3:30 pm CDT; 3-4:30 pm EDT. We welcome back the Three Amigos, Dr. Jim Logan, Dr. John Jurist, and Dan Adamo for an all hands all topic space program, project, policy and otherwise you name it comprehensive discussion.

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.

The Space Show - David Livingston
David Livingston
Solar Sci-Fi, Space films and videos

2018 Philip K. Dick Science Fiction Film Festival announces award winners

An announcement from the The Philip K. Dick Film Festival:

THE 2018 PHILIP K. DICK SCIENCE FICTION FILM FESTIVAL
ANNOUNCES SIXTH ANNUAL AWARD WINNERS

The Three Day Gathering Honored Excellence of Independent Sci-Fi Cinema

Actors Armand Assante, Charles Baker, ​Jonny Beauchamp, ​
Nicki Clyne, Nana Gouvea, Tom Sizemore, Melvin Van Peebles
and More Special Guests Attended Screenings of Their Film Premieres

(New York City, N.Y.) February 27, 2018 — The 2018 Philip K. Dick Science Fiction Film Festival has announced the award winners for its sixth annual event which featured exclusive premieres, panel discussions and virtual reality experiences. The festival took place from February 23-25 and featured special guest appearances by Armand Assante, Charles Baker, ​Jonny Beauchamp, ​Nicki Clyne, Nana Gouvea, Tom Sizemore and Melvin Van Peebles at the screenings of their film premieres.

“This year’s festival was a successful entry into the science fiction film world because of its exceptional selections and special guest stars,” said festival founder and director Daniel Abella. “We honored films that reinvented the genre and combined an emotional roller coaster of elements that left attendees refreshed and energized.” The gathering also hosted a lineup of stars who made a lasting impression on the festival. “The air was sparkling with electricity,” said Abella. “The interactivity between the celebrities and the audience was palpable and the charisma brought the festival to a new level.”

The festival awarded films with honors based on originality, creative insight and inspirational storytelling through the prophetic lens of the festival’s namesake.

“With each passing year, more people are learning through our festival of the universal appeal of Philip K. Dick,” said Abella. “Our 2018 winning films capture his legacy and serve as a beacon of hope and possibility for independent filmmakers who are not afraid of being different and rocking the boat.”

Congratulations to the award winners of The 2018 Philip K. Dick Science Fiction Film Festival:

BEST PHILIP K. DICK FEATURE
Alterscape (2018) — World Premiere
Director: Serge Levin
Run Time/Country: 88 min, USA
Synopsis: After a failed suicide attempt, a young man coping with loss and depression submits to a series of trials that fine-tune human emotions but his unique reaction to the tests send him on a journey that transcends both physical and perceived reality. Starring Michael Ironside (Total Recall)

Charles Baker (Breaking Bad), Alex Veadov (Act of Valor), Serge Levin (Welcome to Willits), Debbie Rochon (Model Hunger), Mack Kuhr (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit), Olan Montgomery (The Blacklist) and Sara K. Edwards (Mad Women). Produced by Jon Keeyes (American Nightmare) and cinematography by Richard Clabaugh (Eyeborgs).

BEST SCIENCE FICTION FEATURE
The Child Remains (2017) — NYC Premiere
Director: Michael Melski
Run Time/Country: 120 min, Canada
Synopsis: An expectant couple’s intimate weekend turns to terror as they discover their secluded country inn is a haunted maternity home where infants and mothers were murdered. Starring Suzanne Clément (Mommy), Allan Hawco (Frontier), Shelley Thompson (Labyrinth) and Géza Kovács (Scanners).

BEST HORROR FEATURE
Black Wake (2018) — World Premiere
Director: Jeremiah Kipp
Run Time/Country: 120 min, USA
Synopsis: Specialists gather in a top-secret facility to investigate a series of strange deaths on beaches along the Atlantic Ocean and examine video evidence to uncover a possible parasitic explanation for the fatalities. When a determined detective sends one of the scientists the crazed writings of a mysterious homeless man, she slowly learns that the actual threat may be more dangerous – and far older – than anyone ever imagined. Starring Nana Gouvea (The Fever), Golden Globe Award nominee Tom Sizemore (Witness Protection), Academy Award nominee Eric Roberts (Runaway Train), Screen Actors Guild Award winner Vincent Pastore (The Sopranos), Jonny Beauchamp (Penny Dreadful) ​ and ​ Chuck Zito (Oz). Inspired by the cosmic horror of genre writer H.P. Lovecraft.

BEST DRAMATIC FEATURE
The Wanderers: The Quest of The Demon Hunter (2017) — USA Premiere
Director: Dragos Buliga
Run Time/Country: 90 min, Romania
Synopsis: A vampire hunter and a reporter investigate mysterious circumstances at a castle in Transylvania. Starring Primetime Emmy Award winner Armand Assante (Gotti).

BEST DOCUMENTARY
The Shaman and The Scientist (2017)
Director: Sarah Hutt
Run Time/Country: 15 min, USA
Synopsis: This short documentary explores the topic of traditional plant medicine from two perspectives – that of Don Juan Tangoa Paima, a curandero who works with Ayahuasca medicine in the Peruvian Amazon, and through the research of Dr. Dennis McKenna, who taught ethnopharmacology for over 30 years and is the brother of ethnobotanist Terence McKenna, looking for new medicines to treat schizophrenia and dementia. The story takes viewers from jungle to lab asking what is the value of undiscovered knowledge in the world’s most biodiverse biomes, and what is at stake if we allow those precious resources to be lost.

BEST SINGULARITY, ESCHATON AND BEYOND FILM
It Began Without Warning (2017)
Director: Santiago C. Tapia, Jessica Curtright
Run Time/Country: 5 min, USA
Synopsis: “The time has come,” the Walrus said. And all the little Oysters stood and waited in a row. Produced by Couper Samuelson, the executive producer of the Golden Globe Award nominated film Get Out (2017) and Efren Ramirez (actor, Napoleon Dynamite).

BEST LATINO, AFRICAN AMERICAN AND PEOPLE OF COLOR SCIENCE FICTION FILM
Program (2017)
Director: Gabriel de Urioste
Run Time/Country: 8 min, USA
Synopsis: A young woman goes back to fix a broken relationship with a lost love.

BEST PHILIP K. DICK AUDIENCE AWARD
Paleonaut (2017)
Director: Eric McEver
Run Time/Country: 16 min, Japan/China
Synopsis: A scientist studying the first human time traveller falls in love with her subject. But if her research succeeds they will become separated by eons of history. She must find a way to connect with him across the ages or lose him forever.

BEST SCIENCE FICTION BACKERS AWARD
Metta Via (2017)
Director: Warren Flanagan
Run Time/Country: 10 min, Canada
Synopsis: Set in the future, a young woman wakes up in a mysterious temple-like room and must figure out her purpose.

BEST SCIENCE FICTION SHORT
Paleonaut (2017)
Director: Eric McEver
Run Time/Country: 16 min, Japan/China
Synopsis: A scientist studying the first human time traveller falls in love with her subject. But if her research succeeds they will become separated by eons of history. She must find a way to connect with him across the ages or lose him forever.

BEST HORROR SHORT
Sound From the Deep (2017)
Director: Antti Laakso, Joonas Allonen
Run Time/Country: 29 min, Finland
Synopsis: An international research group is searching natural resources from the Arctic Ocean. They pick up a strange underwater sound from far north, and start to follow it to the uncharted waters. Inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft.

BEST ANIMATED FILM
Astronaut of Featherweight (2017)
Director: Dalibor Baric
Run Time/Country: 27 min, Croatia
Synopsis: From space spa colonies to alien plantations, everybody is forced to take care of their bodies in this dark vision of a hyper-capitalist trans-human society in which body is a commodity and money is immortality.

BEST WEB SERIES
Sounds of Freedom (2017)
Director: Holly Chadwick
Run Time/Country: 5 min, USA
Synopsis: Two veterans, one of the Iraq War and one of the Vietnam War, both suffer from post traumatic stress disorder. From their jobs at the local newspaper and through a series of flashbacks and sessions with a common therapist, they are challenged to the max when a serial killer strikes at home.

BEST VIRTUAL REALITY
The Making of Marine Butterfly (2017)
Director: Alex Bartuli
Run Time/Country: 23 min, USA/Canada
Synopsis: Exploring the invention of the 3-Dimensional Audio System and where will it take mankind.

BEST TRAILER
Impuratus (2017)
Director: Michael Yurinko
Run Time/Country: 5 min, USA
Synopsis: A police detective in circa 1917 is called to a remote mental hospital to witness the death-bed confession of a mysterious Civil War Vet that forces him to believe in the supernatural. Starring Holt Boggs (The Leftovers), John Savage (The Deer Hunter) and Saturn Award nominee Dee Wallace (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial).

About The Philip K. Dick Science Fiction Film Festival:
The Philip K. Dick Science Fiction Film Festival launched in 2012 as New York City’s first festival of its kind and honors the enduring legacy of novelist Philip K. Dick, whose work maintains a strong influence over modern culture and society. Organized by individuals and filmmakers who understand the difficulties and challenges of presenting a unique narrative in a corporate environment, the festival embraces original concepts and alternative approaches to storytelling in the form of independent science fiction, horror, supernatural, fantasy, metaphysical and virtual reality films. Since 2013, the festival has held international gatherings in France, Poland and Germany and many domestic screening events throughout the year. The 2018 festival was held at Village East Cinema (181-189 2nd Avenue, New York, NY 10003) with two screenings at Museum of the Moving Image (36-01 35th Avenue, Astoria, NY 11106).

About Philip K. Dick:
“The core of my writing is not art but truth.” – 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 publishing of 44 novels and 121 short stories. PKD’s enormous library of works led to several film and television adaptations including Blade Runner (1982), Total Recall (1990), Minority Report (2002), Paycheck (2003), A Scanner Darkly (2006), Radio Free Albemuth (2010), The Adjustment Bureau (2011), Total Recall (2012), The Man in the High Castle (2015, Amazon) and Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams (2017, Channel 4/Amazon). PKD’s enormously effective views composed of fictional universes, virtual realities, technological uprising, dystopian worlds and human mutation foresaw a significant observation at 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 present day narratives, films and ideals.

Festival Contacts:
Jonathan Carsten, Public Relations Manager, PressReleased1@gmail.com
Daniel Abella, Festival Director, info@thephilipkdickfilmfestival.com
Program Office: 917-362-9337

Connect With Us:
Website: thephilipkdickfilmfestival.com
Twitter: twitter.com/PhilipKDickFest (tweet the hashtag #PKDFestNYC)
Facebook: facebook.com/ThePhilipKDickFilmFestival

Contests and Games, Education, Rocketry

$100k in prizes for student rocket contest sponsored by Mars Society & FAR

The Friends of Amateur Rocketry (FAR) and the Mars Society are sponsoring a contest for liquid-fueled bi-propellant powered rockets built by college student teams:

FAR/Mars Society Launch Contest
Student Rocketry Teams Compete for FAR-MARS Prize

MOJAVE, CA – Student-built rockets will streak into the stratosphere in Spring, 2018 as college and university engineering teams from around the world compete for $100,000 in prizes in a contest sponsored jointly by the Mars Society, headquartered in Denver, CO and the California-based Friends of Amateur Rocketry (FAR), officers announced today.

The FAR-MARS Prize will grant $50,000 to the team whose bi-propellant liquid-fueled rocket comes closest to reaching 45,000 feet (13,716 meters). A second $50,000 prize will go to the team that comes closest to hitting that same altitude with a rocket-powered by liquid-methane and liquid-oxygen, announced Robert Zubrin, president of the Mars Society, and Mark Holthaus, director and treasurer of FAR.

“If one team can achieve both goals with the same rocket, they’ll win both prizes totaling $100,000,” Holthaus said.

The contest launch window will commence Saturday, May 5, 2018, the 57th anniversary of the launch of Alan Shepard, America’s first man in space, and continue through Sunday, May 13, according to Holthaus and Zubrin. The goal of being the closest to 45,000 feet, rather than simply reaching the highest altitude, was chosen so teams would have to demonstrate the precise control required to create reusable launch vehicles, Holthaus said.

“We see this as a logical follow-on to the Orteig Prize of the 1920’s that sparked aviation, and the X Prize of the 2000’s that jump-started commercial spaceflight,” said Zubrin, founder of the Mars Society and author of the book The Case For Mars, which proposed the Mars Direct manned missions that radically changed ideas about the feasibility of interplanetary space travel in the 1990’s. “We’re looking to get college and university students fired up about rocketry, which is the key to space travel and making humanity a multi-planetary species.”

Funds for the prize have been provided by an anonymous donor whose goal is to advance Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education in general and human spaceflight specifically, Holthaus and Zubrin said.

The $50,000 for each part of the prize will be presented to the college or university sponsoring the winning team, to be used for scholarships for students in the STEM fields related to rocketry.

Teams will have about 15 months to design, build, and test their rockets before gathering at the FAR rocket launch complex called FAR Site, located North of Edwards Air Force Base, on May 5, 2018.

 “Each competing rocket must loft a 2.2 pound (one-kilogram) payload, containing an altitude tracking device, to the target altitude,” Holthaus said. “The payload will be supplied by FAR, rockets must be recovered by parachute, and these rockets are required to clear 30,000 feet (9,144 meters) as a minimum to qualify.”

The competition will continue over two weekends (May 5-6 and 12-13) if needed, Holthaus noted.

FAR Site is equipped with static engine test stands and rocket launch rails so competing teams can try out their engines and rockets and tweak their performance pre-competition, Holthaus added.

Competing teams must be composed of college or university students, with at least one faculty adviser providing guidance, Holthaus said. Teams from the United States and all other nations are encouraged to enter and compete; two or more institutions can combine students, faculty, and resources for a single entry.

“We see the ability to design, build, and test bi-propellant liquid-fueled rockets as a key career skill in the coming decades, with a host of new, innovative rocket companies such as SpaceX, Blue Origin and Orbital ATK taking spaceflight in entirely new directions,” Zubrin said. “Using methane as a fuel is a critical component for missions to the planet Mars, as it is easy to create liquid-methane out of the resources already available on that world.”

Details on how to enter the contest and the exact rules for the competition will be posted on the Mars Society and FAR websites.

The Mars Society is the world’s largest and most influential space advocacy organization dedicated to the human exploration and settlement of the planet Mars. Established by Dr. Robert Zubrin and others in 1998, the group works to educate the public, the media and government on the benefits of exploring Mars and creating a permanent human presence on the Red Planet.

Friends of Amateur Rocketry, formed in 2003 by amateur rocketry enthusiasts, whose mission is to educate the public in STEM fields through the use of amateur rocketry; and to foster rocket technology by supporting individuals, hobbyists, student groups, businesses, and other like-minded non-profit entities. Both The Mars Society and Friends of Amateur Rocketry are 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations.

Author: David S. Michaels
Living in Space, Space Systems, SpaceCasts

Videos: “Space to Ground” report on the ISS – Mar.3.2018

Here is this week’s Space to Ground report from NASA about activities related to the International Space Station:

Here is a nice little physics demo by ISS crew member Randy Bresnik:

Watch NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik demonstrate Newton’s Second Law of Motion on the International Space Station by applying a force to objects of different mass. Do you see the differences in acceleration?

Here are highlights of last week’s departure, undocking, and landing  in Kazakhstan of a Soyuz spacecraft with three ISS crew members:

The Soyuz MS-06 spacecraft hatch was closed at 19:58 UTC, on 27 February 2018. International Space Station Expedition 53-54 crew members, Flight Engineers Mark Vande Hei and Joe Acaba of NASA and Alexander Misurkin of Roscosmos started their journey home at 23:08UTC, when the Soyuz MS-06 spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station. The Soyuz MS-06 spacecraft landed in Kazakhstan at 02:31 UTC on 28 February 2018.

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Astronomy

NASA/ESA: Hubble observes more water in exoplanet atmosphere than expected

A new finding by the Hubble Telescope:

Hubble observes exoplanet atmosphere in more detail than ever before

An international team of scientists has used the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to study the atmosphere of the hot exoplanet WASP-39b. By combining this new data with older data they created the most complete study yet of an exoplanet atmosphere. The atmospheric composition of WASP-39b hints that the formation processes of exoplanets can be very different from those of our own Solar System giants.

A team of British and American astronomers used data from several telescopes on the ground and in space — among them the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope — to study the atmosphere of the hot, bloated, Saturn-mass exoplanet WASP-39b, about 700 light-years from Earth. The analysis of the spectrum showed a large amount of water in the exoplanet’s atmosphere — three times more than in Saturn’s atmosphere. WASP-39b is eight times closer to its parent star, WASP-39, than Mercury is to the Sun and it takes only four days to complete an orbit. [Larger image]
Investigating exoplanet atmospheres can provide new insight into how and where planets form around a star.

“We need to look outward to help us understand our own Solar System,” 

explains lead investigator Hannah Wakeford from the University of Exeter in the UK and the Space Telescope Science Institute in the USA.

Therefore the British-American team combined the capabilities of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope with those of other ground- and space-based telescopes for a detailed study of the exoplanet WASP-39b. They have produced the most complete spectrum of an exoplanet’s atmosphere possible with present-day technology [1].

WASP-39b is orbiting a Sun-like star, about 700 light-years from Earth. The exoplanet is classified as a “Hot-Saturn”, reflecting both its mass being similar to the planet Saturn in our own Solar System and its proximity to its parent star. This study found that the two planets, despite having a similar mass, are profoundly different in many ways. Not only is WASP-39b not known to have a ring system, it also has a puffy atmosphere that is free of high-altitude clouds. This characteristic allowed Hubble to peer deep into its atmosphere.

Using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescopes as well as data gathered by other telescopes in space and on the ground astronomers have analysed the atmosphere of the exoplanet WASP-39b. It is the most complete spectrum of an exoplanet’s atmosphere possible with present-day technology. By dissecting starlight filtering through the planet’s atmosphere into its component colours, the team found clear evidence for water vapour. Although the researchers predicted they would see water, they were surprised by how much water they found — three times as much as Saturn has. This suggests that the planet formed farther out from the star, where it was bombarded by icy material. [Larger image]
By dissecting starlight filtering through the planet’s atmosphere [2] the team found clear evidence for atmospheric water vapour. In fact, WASP-39b has three times as much water as Saturn does. Although the researchers had predicted they would see water vapour, they were surprised by the amount that they found. This surprise, combined with the water abundance allowed to infer the presence of large amount of heavier elements in the atmosphere. This in turn suggests that the planet was bombarded by a lot of icy material which gathered in its atmosphere. This kind of bombardment would only be possible if WASP-39b formed much further away from its host star than it is right now.

“WASP-39b shows exoplanets are full of surprises and can have very different compositions than those of our Solar System,” 

says co-author David Sing from the University of Exeter, UK.

The analysis of the atmospheric composition and the current position of the planet indicate that WASP-39b most likely underwent an interesting inward migration, making an epic journey across its planetary system.

 “Exoplanets are showing us that planet formation is more complicated and more confusing than we thought it was. And that’s fantastic!”,

adds Wakeford.

Having made its incredible inward journey WASP-39b is now eight times closer to its parent star, WASP-39, than Mercury is to the Sun and it takes only four days to complete an orbit. The planet is also tidally locked, meaning it always shows the same side to its star. Wakeford and her team measured the temperature of WASP-39b to be a scorching 750 degrees Celsius. Although only one side of the planet faces its parent star, powerful winds transport heat from the bright side around the planet, keeping the dark side almost as hot.

“Hopefully this diversity we see in exoplanets will help us figure out all the different ways a planet can form and evolve,”

explains David Sing.

Looking ahead, the team wants to use the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope — scheduled to launch in 2019 — to capture an even more complete spectrum of the atmosphere of WASP-39b. James Webb will be able to collect data about the planet’s atmospheric carbon, which absorbs light of longer wavelengths than Hubble can see [3]. Wakeford concludes:

“By calculating the amount of carbon and oxygen in the atmosphere, we can learn even more about where and how this planet formed.”

Notes

[1] Data used to produce the full spectrum was also collected by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope and ESO’s Very Large Telescope. In addition older data from Hubble were used.

[2] When starlight passes through the atmosphere of an exoplanet, it interacts with the atoms and molecules in it. This leaves a weak fingerprint of the atmosphere in the spectrum of the star. Certain peaks and troughs in the resulting spectrum correspond to specific atoms and molecules, allowing scientists to see exactly what gases make up the atmosphere.

[3] Given the large amount of heavy elements in WASP-39b’s atmosphere, Wakeford and her team predict that carbon dioxide will be the dominant form of carbon. This could be measured at a wavelength of 4.5 micrometres with James Webb’s NIRSpec instrument. Such follow-up investigations would allow further constraints to be placed on the ratio of carbon to oxygen, and on the metallicity of WASP-39b’s atmosphere.