NSSChapterProjectsEvents

Oklahoma Space Alliance projects/events, 2007 to date:

* OUTREACH newsletter, usually 8-12 8.5x5.5 pages, Jan, Mar, May, July

* UPDATE newsletter, email only, Feb, April, June

* Yuri's Night party (http://www.yurisnight.net/2007/) at Moore, OK public
library, April 12: refreshments, poster/decorations, botball demo (middle
school students), music, 10-ft screen showing space tourist message from ISS
and 3-min. video of Zero-G flight, ISDC flyers. Featured guests wearing "Ask
me about" buttons were Wayne Wyrick of the Kirkpatrick Planetarium and David
Urie of Rocketplane Global. Spinoffs from this event included donating
"space tree" seedlings as follows:

-->To the Oklahoma Spaceport. This one was planted next to their
flagpole during their May 4 public celebration of license completion, and
announced as an Oklahoma Space Alliance Donation
--> To the Omniplex Space Museum. Planetarium Director Wayne Wyrick
announced during the May 11 Oklahoma City Astronomy Club meeting that this
one will be planted at the entrance to their updated space hardware exhibits
when the exhibits are ready.
Our party was listed (under "Moore, Oklahoma") on the Yur's Night site, but
attempts to get newspaper/radio/TV publicity for these Yuri's Night events
were too little/too late.

* 5 OSA chapter volunteers worked on May ISDC in Dallas, including Space
Business track chaired by Cliff McMurray

* Two panels at SoonerCon science fiction convention in Oklahoma City in
June (topics: Oklahoma Space and Private Spaceflight). Convention web site:
http://www.soonercon.info/dnn/

* July 20 "Space Exploration Day" party (refreshments, decorations, space
calendar & ISDC flyers, conversation) at Conestoga science fiction
convention in Tulsa, OK. Convention web site:
http://www.sftulsa.org/conestoga/

Chapter Name: Oklahoma Space Alliance NSS
Chapter Contacts: Claire McMurray, claire.mcmurray@sbcglobal.net; Syd
Henderson, sydh@ou.edu
Project/Event Title: see above
Project/Event Description: see above
Project/Event web link: chapter web site is
http://chapters.nss.org/ok/osanss.html
PR received for project: not much; see above

This is an announcement to all those who know high school aged students. The Pete Conrad Spirit of Innovation Award registration is now open. This award is for students age 13 to 18. Within the next two months, student teams must develop their own innovative concept to benefit the personal spaceflight industry in 50 year's timeframe. Teams will compile their concept into three documents: a technical document, a business/marketing document, and a graphical representation. Finalists will be brought to the Wirefly X PRIZE Cup to display their concept to the public. Awards include $9000 in prize money, travel grants to attend the Wirefly X PRIZE Cup, inclusion on a national traveling museum exhibit, rocket trophies, and the unique opportunity to connect students directly with commercial companies in the personal spaceflight industry.

Please pass on this information to anyone who may know interested students. Further details are listed on our www.xprizecup.com website under the "conrad award" section. You can also see the attached press release for more information.

All: Time critical! Please forward to any math/science teachers (preferably middle school but also accepting high school) and university students pursuing a career as a math/science educator.

Also, if you have ideas of VIPs important to STEM (celebrities to Superintendents etc) who would be interested to participate, let us know. (Cannot be any government employees from any level (local/state/federal). Example: Alton Brown, Good Eats from the Food Network, incorporates science/math in cooking.

Each applicant will be responsible for their transporation/lodging if necessary, the flights and workshop will be Northrop Grumman's responsibility.

Nobel Laureate - famous physicist - Steven Hawking flew in May - featured on YouTube!!!!! Had thousands of hits!!!

City                       Workshop Date             Flight Date
New Orleans           July 13                           Aug 30
Dallas                    July 14                           Aug 28
Los Angeles           July 28                           Oct 8
Washington DC       Aug 3                            Sep 13
Newport News         Aug 4                            Sep 11
Baltimore                Aug 10                           Sep 12
Bethpage                Aug 11                           Sep 10
Colorado Springs     Aug 18                            Oct 20

NASA's Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Project provides a unique academic experience for undergraduate students to successfully propose, design, fabricate, fly and evaluate a reduced-gravity experiment. The overall experience includes scientific research, hands-on experimental design, test operations, and educational and public outreach activities.

The reduced-gravity aircraft generally flies 30 parabolic maneuvers over the Gulf of Mexico. This parabolic pattern provides about 30 seconds of hypergravity (about 1.8-g's to 2-g's) as the plane climbs to the top of the parabola. Once the plane starts to "nose over" the top of the parabola to descend toward Earth, the plane experiences about 25 seconds of microgravity.

Interested students should submit a letter of intent by Sept. 19, 2007. The letter of intent is optional, but serves as an introductory notice that a team plans to submit a proposal for the upcoming competition. Final proposals are due Oct. 31, 2007.

For more information, visit: http://microgravityuniversity.jsc.nasa.gov/

NEWS RELEASE: 2007-078
July 13, 2007

Caltech, JPL, Northrop Grumman to Celebrate 50 Years of Space Exploration

PASADENA, Calif. -- Before October 1957, space flight was a thing of
fantasy. Today we are experienced space explorers with unlimited
voyages to undertake. Where is space flight's next horizon? What
constitutes sensible space investment? How did the space pioneers
accomplish their goals? These topics will be addressed at "50 Years in
Space: An International Aerospace Conference Celebrating 50 Years of
Space Technology," which will take place from September 19 to 21 at
the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

The conference is hosted by Caltech, the, Northrop Grumman
Corporation, Redondo Beach, Calif., and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
in Pasadena.

NASA Administrator Michael Griffin, JPL Director Charles Elachi,
astronaut Harrison "Jack" Schmitt, space industry pioneers and
experts, and foreign space program representatives will speak on the
history of space exploration, sensible space investment, and the
future of space exploration from the perspectives of the aerospace
industry, academia, government and science. Opening keynote speaker is
Northrop Grumman Chairman Ronald Sugar.

"Our speakers represent all the institutions that essentially created
and successfully sustained space exploration," said Ares Rosakis,
Theodore von Karman Professor of Aeronautics and Mechanical
Engineering and Graduate Aeronautical Laboratories director. "This
group crosses international and institutional boundaries. Each of our
speakers is a preeminent expert in at least one of the many
disciplines required for space travel. Their passion for space science
and technology will make this conference the definitive observance
worldwide commemorating 50 years in space."

"Many technologies developed as a result of space exploration have
become integral terrestrial technologies--and our efforts benefit
society in surprising ways that are completely separate from their
initial impetus. As we look to the future, we will see how this
important aspect of aeronautics continues--especially in the areas of
tracking weather changes, global temperatures, and greenhouse gases,
as well as the formations of the Earth's crust related to seismic
activity," Rosakis said.

The launch of Sputnik on October 4, 1957, began the space age. Within
weeks, the Ramo-Wooldridge Corporation spun off Space Technology
Laboratories, with Simon Ramo as its president. Space Technology
Laboratories and Ramo-Wooldridge became part of TRW Inc. in 1958, and
then eventually part of Northrop Grumman in 2002.

In 1958, the JPL-built Explorer 1 put the U.S. in the space race,
followed soon thereafter by Pioneer 1, built by TRW and the first
spacecraft launched by NASA.

Ramo, the "R" in TRW, earned his PhD at Caltech in 1936. TRW's Space
and Electronics Group became the Space Technology sector at Northrop
Grumman. The president of the company's Space Technology sector,
Alexis Livanos (who earned his bachelor's, master's, and PhD at
Caltech), will give a special tribute to Ramo, 94, at the conference.
Livanos will join JPL's Charles Elachi (who earned his master's and
PhD at Caltech), and Caltech president Jean-Lou Chameau as chairs of
the conference. Elachi and Chameau will also be speaking. Dwight
Streit, vice president, foundation technologies in Northrop Grumman's
Space Technology sector, co-organized the conference. Caltech alumnus
Harrison "Jack" Schmitt, a geologist, one of the last two men to walk
on the moon, and a NASA adviser, will be joined by Ed Stone, former
director of JPL, and Gentry Lee, chief engineer for the Planetary
Flight Systems Directorate at JPL, for a "look back" at the
accomplishments of the past 50 years, many of which they bravely
spearheaded. JPL, which became part of NASA after its formation in
1958, remains at the center of robotic planetary exploration and
Earth-observing science. JPL is managed by Caltech.

Participating representatives of the top-tier space programs around
the globe include NASA's Griffin; European Space Agency Director
General Jean-Jacques Dordain; President of Centre National d'Études
Spatiales Yannick d'Escatha; and Japanese Institute of Space and
Astronautical Science Executive Director Hajime Inoue, all of whom
will discuss the future of space exploration. Miles O'Brien, CNN
chief technology and environment correspondent, will moderate a panel
discussion titled "Space and the Environment: Sensible Space
Investment."

Other distinguished guests include keynote speaker John C. Mather,
James Webb Space Telescope senior project scientist; Elon Musk, SpaceX
CEO; and Hayden Planetarium Director Neil deGrasse Tyson. Mather was
awarded the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work in the areas of
black body form, cosmic microwave background radiation, and Big-Bang
theory. PayPal creator Musk, whose space-transportation company,
SpaceX, has opened up a whole new segment of the aerospace industry,
will be speaking on a panel discussing the future of space exploration
from an industry perspective. Closing keynote speaker Tyson is the
recipient of eight honorary doctorates and was named one of Time
magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2007.

Speakers addressing the aerospace industry's perspective on the future
of space flight include Musk; David Thompson, Orbital Science
Corporation chairman and CEO; Joanne Maguire, Lockheed Martin
executive vice president, space systems; and David Whelan, Boeing
corporate vice president. The perspective from academia will come
from, among others, Caltech alumna and Purdue University President
France Córdova, and Charles Kennel, Scripps Institution of
Oceanography's former director, and Ronald Sega, undersecretary,
United States Air Force, and the Defense Department's executive agent
for space, will also speak on the future of space exploration.

Large replicas of spacecrafts, rovers, and satellites will be on
display, including a full-scale model of NASA's James Webb Space
Telescope, which is the size of a tennis court and two stories high.
The model was recently displayed on the National Mall in Washington.
"This is more than a sit-and-listen event," said Rosakis. "It is an
interactive learning experience. Guests will meet and exchange ideas
with like-minded people and professionals in between formal
presentations. The displays and replicas will also add to the guests'
visual understanding of space exploration. They will be able to
understand what the presence of these structures really feels like."

Full registration is $550, first-come, first-served, with limited
seating. Register at http://www.galcit.caltech.edu/space50 /. Caltech,
JPL, Northrop Grumman, California Space Authority employees, Southern
California high-school and college students and teachers with ID may
attend the talks free, but must register via the website. Information
on the conference hosts is at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov ,
http://pr.caltech.edu/media , and http://www.ngc.com .

To make YOUR NSS Chapter Project and Events Committee successful for 2007 and beyond, please make sure you check out the NSS Chapter Resource website located at: http://chapters.nss.org/a/nss_resources.shtml

For additional information about the NSS Chapter Project and Events Committee please contact Veronica.Zabala@NSS.org

NSS Chapter Project and Events Committees

Archives