Category Archives: Education

Astronomy, Education, Simulators

The Space Engine freeware simulator

The Space Engine is

a freeware space simulation software that lets you explore the universe in three dimensions, starting from planet Earth to the most distant galaxies. Areas of the known universe are represented using actual astronomical data, while regions uncharted by astronomy are generated procedurally. Millions of galaxies, trillions of stars, countless planets – all available for exploration.

Here are a couple of videos describing the program:

Find more space sim links in the HobbySpace Space Simulations section.

Education, Spaceflight & Parabolic Flight

Charles Simonyi at the Kansas Cosmosphere

Billionaire Charles Simonyi, who flew twice to the ISS at his own expense (see Charles in Space), visits the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center in Hutchinson, Kansas and there is a lot of mutual admiration :  Kansas Cosmosphere impresses visiting billionaire space tourist – Wichita Eagle.

Education, Rockets

Rocket launch by the Portland State Aerospace Society

Via Ben Brockert comes news of the launch on Sunday of the Portland State Aerospace Society of the student built  LV2.3 rocket with active roll control: PSAS Launch-10 — June 30, 2013.

There were lots of Twitter posts during the event: PSAS (pdxaerospace) on Twitter

They posted this today – PSAS (pdxaerospace) on Twitter

A picture of yesterday’s launch: pic.twitter.com/RLAoTinuPB

pdxaerospaceLaunch_450x299

It looks great at liftoff but they posted this today – Twitter / pdxaerospace:

@wikkit Thanks! The bad news is roll control failed for an unknown reason about 5 seconds into the flight.

It nevertheless released its parachute properly and was recovered intact.

 

Astronomy, Education, Space participation

Planetary Resources exceeds $1.5M for Arkyd space telescope Kickstarter

The Planetary Resources Kickstarter  campaign to fund the ARKYD public space telescope ended this evening with 17,612 backers pledging $1,505,276 towards the original goal of $1,000,000. Richard Branson is adding another $100k.

Congratulations to the PRI team on a very successful crowdfunding effort and a great public participation project that will be active for many years.

Astronomy, Education, Space participation

Richard Branson adds $100k to Arkyd public space telescope Kickstarter

Live webcast from 6:00 – 9:00 pm ET:

A message from Planetary Resources:

In the final hours, we’re $100K closer to $2M —
Sir Richard Branson supports the ARKYD!

Hi there,

Well here we are, in the final hours of our crowdfunding campaign.  We have a lot in store for you during our LIVE FINALE EVENT, beginning at 3:00 p.m. PDT today (convert to your time) through the close of our Kickstarter campaign at 7:00 p.m. PDT.  But before all of that fun starts, we wanted to share with you some exciting news.

We are pleased to announce that Sir Richard Branson has joined Planetary Resources’ core group of investors.

“I’m excited to be part of the Planetary Resources’ team working on extracting precious minerals from near Earth asteroids.  The only way to truly explore our Solar System is to develop the technology and means to sustain our presence in space without depleting resources of Earth.” — Richard Branson, Chairman of the Virgin Group.

AND . . . he is so excited that the ARKYD will provide unprecedented public access to space, he has generously made his own campaign pledge of $100,000 to support interactive programming to strengthen STEM education, and to move us closer to our remaining three stretch goals.

The remaining stretch goals have been reduced by $100,000 thanks Sir Richard Branson’s substantial pledge to ARKYD – A Space Telescope For Everyone:

$1.4 Million — THE BETA-SELFIE: Double your selfie experience and see yourself in development! Every selfie pledge or higher receives an exclusive digital Beta-Selfie, taken in 2014 during the crucial integration phase of spacecraft build! Become a part of the build and catch a glimpse of our clean-room squad in action!

$1.6 Million — ASTEROID ZOO: We will team with Zooniverse to develop a platform that will allow YOU to find asteroids at home, and help train computers to better find them in the future. Support citizen science that helps astronomers to identify more asteroids today, and the ARKYD to find asteroids when it arrives in orbit.

$1.9 Million — ALIEN PLANETS: We will add exoplanet detection capability to the ARKYD by enhancing the space telescope’s stability systems and dedicating time to monitoring candidate star systems.

We thank you Richard for your support of Planetary Resources and for your contribution to inspire and excite the next generation of explorers!

Let’s keep kickin’ to $2 million!!!  Our campaign closes at 7:00 p.m. PDT today!

Finale-Banner-w-Bill-Nye

Thanks!

Chris Lewicki, President & Chief Engineer
Eric Anderson, Co-Chairman and Co-Founder, and
Peter Diamandis, Co-Chairman and Co-Founder 

Planetary Resources logo