Long Island Space Society - Initial Meeting

Saturday August 10, 1-2 PM

Present: Arthur Smith, Shelly Shumway, Marcelo Vazquez, Stephanie Otto.

The first matter of some urgency was a discussion of what we
needed for the visit with Congressman Grucci the following Tuesday.
Marcelo gave an overview of the research going on at
Brookhaven lab, funded by NASA. Major funding comes through
the NSBRI (National Space Biomedical Research Institute);
this goes to groups working in the medical department (Marcelo's group),
biology department, and AGS (accelerator). There is also some
non-NSBRI space research funding in life sciences (Dick Setlow)
and Marcelo thought also in the physics department, and with the NSLS
(light source). There is also the new Booster Application Facility (BAF)
that will be funded at the level of $2-3 million/year from NASA.
Arthur mentioned the Touro college work (Morris Benjaminson), and
the geosciences research at Stony Brook.  Marcelo planned to
find out more details about NASA research funding levels in
our area; it looks like the total is about $10 million/year.

While the funding level may not be huge compared to
other major projects at the lab and elsewhere, it's a significant
effort in space researh and a major link with NASA. So it seemed
like the best thing we could do with Grucci would be to
talk about the link with NASA here, and suggest he make some
efforts to strengthen it; an increase in NASA funding for research
into long-term/deep-space human spaceflight in particular.

Arthur mentioned the note from Richard Ohlrogge suggesting a project
to develop a local "Challenger Center" - see:
   http://www.challenger.org/clc/clc_tell_set.htm
Richard mentioned in his email message that Dowling College had
started work on a center a few years ago, but not managed to
get it up and running.  Marcelo was very interested in this. It
turns out he had suggested one of these centers to the staff at
the on-site museum at Brookhaven Lab. The idea is to go beyond
just being a center for research, to becoming a community focal
point for information and education about space.

The other logical place on the island for such a center is the Cradle
of Aviation Museum in Nassau county. Maybe something joint could
be done, or maybe there's room for two centers? One advantage at
Brookhaven, if Dowling is still interested, is the Dowling
campus in Shirley just a few miles south of the lab.

This might also fit in well with a proposal Brookhaven is involved
with to create a research oversight group for research on the
space station (similar to the Space Telescope Science Institute that
oversees Hubble research) - there's a national competition for this
right now, but Marcelo thought their proposal was one of only
two serious contenders.

We spent a bit of time discussing the formation of the society.
Unfortunately the appointment with Grucci had made this initial
meeting urgent with only a few days notice; a half-dozen people had
communicated to Arthur that they were interested, but would not
be able to make it today. Arthur has a list (electronic and printed,
ordered by distance from Selden) of over 1000 people in Nassau
and Suffolk counties that were on the National Space Society headquarters
list (current and former NSS members, and perhaps some others).
He has been calling people on the list, and gathered about 12 people
who were interested out of about 50 calls so far (most did not answer
and a message was left). Only half or less of the records have phone
numbers (many may be years out of date). Shelly will continue the work
of running down the list. Shelly also promised to look into what
was necessary for getting IRS recognition as a non-profit. Going
through NSS might be easier.

What should the goals of the local society be? Gathering people
with common interests together is part of it. Arthur mentioned
the success of the Long Island Software and Technology Network -
Stephanie was very familiar with that or another similar
organization; these can do a lot of good by getting companies
and others with common interests to work together.

We discussed the next meeting: we need to do a better job of
getting people to come.  Notifications need to be further in advance,
and the meeting should probably not be on a Saturday... A postcard
with the NSS logo or something official would help attract people.
Also getting a speaker: Arthur will call NSS HQ to see if anybody
is available, and Marcelo will be checking with some colleagues who
may be able to speak. Also, Arthur will check with NSS HQ on what
else is needed to be "official" - we do need to work out bylaws,
appoint officers, etc.

When should the next meeting be? Arthur will be away August 22-28 and
September 9-10, and Marcelo will be out of town the first week of
September organizing a session for the World Space Congress in Houston
(October 10-19). So the earliest would be September 11 or 12; given
what happened last year on Sept. 11 we might not want to do anything
big on the first anniversary. The following week might be better.
Arthur promised to poll the mailing list he was putting together
for the best dates in early-mid September.

Arthur mentioned a meeting of the New York City chapter later that
afternoon - he was planning to attend at least part of it and
get some ideas from them. Elaine Walker, the NYC president, has
been very helpful.

Action items from the meeting:
1. Marcelo and Arthur meet again Monday to prepare for Grucci
on Tuesday.
2. Get mailing list organized, poll members on best date for
next meeting, schedule it (probably 2nd or 3rd week in September)
3. Gather pieces needed to make chapter "official": suggested bylaws etc.
4. Continue down NSS list of local "members" 
5. Check on possible speakers for next meeting and later
6. Investigate Challenger center idea further
7. Get started on a goals and projects list...