« May 2004 | Main | July 2004 »
June 25, 2004
"Transformation" at NASA
The Aldridge Commission report seems to be rapidly having an effect - at least in increasing NASA's nominal focus by reducing mission areas. I wonder why they always seem to be jumping so quickly to respond to these things?
More info at space.com from O'Keefe's statements yesterday.
Posted by apsmith at 12:47 PM
June 22, 2004
Wired on Wireless Power (from Space)
Wired has a nice article today on solar power from space, and some of the political shenanigans that may be keeping it from becoming a reality. Was there really pressure from the fossil fuel and traditional energy industries to shut it down? Any way we could possibly get them on our side? The reporter quotes me, by the way...
Posted by apsmith at 11:42 AM
June 21, 2004
SpaceShipOne
Apparently made it into space, but just barely! A control glitch knocked the ship off course for a bit, the pilot cut the rocket early, and it broke the 100 km barrier by just 408 feet! And he reached 5 g's on the way down... A wild ride, but a great day for space! Michael Mealling has some photos from Mojave over at RocketForge, including a shot of the NSS party.
Posted by apsmith at 05:56 PM
June 17, 2004
Senate hearing on Aldridge report
Senators Brownback and Nelson questioned members of the commission today : Final Report on the President’s Commission on Implementation of U.S. Space Exploration Policy
Science, Technology, and Space Hearing
Thursday, June 17 2004 - 2:30 PM - SR - 253
Lots of good questions, and good answers from Aldridge, Lyles, and Spudis among the others. They discussed heavy lift, the FFRDC concept, affordability, and how higher or lower funding levels would make a difference to the implementation of the new exploration vision. Sounds like we may have some congressional support building here.
Posted by apsmith at 04:30 PM
June 16, 2004
Aldridge Commission Report released
The report can be downloaded here. An NSS Press release strongly supports the report, in particular emphasizing increasing the role of the entrepreneurial private sector.
Posted by apsmith at 02:11 PM
June 15, 2004
Testing news feeds
A test version of the NSS home page includes a regularly updated list of headlines from this blog, and (so far) spaceref. This item is mainly to test whether the automatic update actually works... Also for the fun of linking in circles.
Posted by apsmith at 05:12 PM
SpaceShipOne in the news
NPR had a nice segment on SpaceShipOne and the X Prize this morning. Should be more like this coming!
Businessweek also has a nice article on this today, with the added news that "By yearend he [Rutan] plans to hand Allen a business plan and designs for commercial space ferries that could hold 6 or 12 tourists and whisk them into space once or even twice a day." !!!
Posted by apsmith at 11:30 AM
June 14, 2004
Pictures from ISDC 2004
Ben Huset just sent this page of pictures to the chapter leaders list - nice shots!
More here: http://www.freemars.org/mnfan/ISDC/2004-OKC/stick.html
And Dale Amon notes the collection of photos from previous meetings at the Island One website.
Posted by apsmith at 04:49 PM
NY Times on SpaceShipOne
Nice publicity today for the June 21st flight in this article. The Washington Post covered it this weekend too: A Rocket Flight for the Common Man?. Somewhere I saw an estimate of 100,000 people converging on Mojave - can that be right? Should be a great event!
Posted by apsmith at 01:54 PM
June 11, 2004
Join the Moon-Mars Blitz!
The following message was just sent from NSS Executive VP Cliff McMurray to all the chapter leaders on the chapters mailing list:
Dear NSS Chapter Leaders,
The following is a message which I request that you share with your chapter members as soon as possible:
JOIN THE MOON-MARS BLITZ
As most of you have heard by now, the second annual NSS Washington Legislative Conference (to be held July 11-13 of this year) has morphed into a much larger event: the Moon-Mars Blitz. NSS members will be joined by volunteer citizen lobbyists from the many other space advocacy organizations in the newly-formed Space Exploration Alliance (SEA). Members of the SEA as of July 8th are a veritable Who's Who of the space movement: American Astronautical Society, Aerospace Industries Association, Aerospace States Association, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, California Space Authority, Federation of Galaxy Explorers, Florida Space Authority, Mars Society, Moon Society, National Coalition of Spaceport States, National Space Society, ProSpace, Space Access Society, Space Generation Foundation, Space Studies Institute and Space Frontier Foundation.
As you can see from the above list, THIS IS THE MOST SIGNIFICANT LOBBYING EFFORT IN THE HISTORY OF THE SPACE MOVEMENT. The message we will be taking to Congress is simple: "The new direction set forth in the Space Exploration Vision outlined by President Bush and NASA administrator O'Keefe is the right direction for our future in space, and it must be supported by Congress with full funding this year -- and in the years to come. Send humans -- not just robots --back to the moon, this time to stay, and then onward to Mars."
Along with the other members of the SEA, NSS understands that unless NASA gets new marching orders from Congress this year, we'll be stuck in low Earth orbit for another decade - or more. America (and the world) deserves something better. We deserve "a space program that goes somewhere." We need EVERY NSS MEMBER to be a part of this campaign. Come to Washington and tell your Congressmen and Senators face to face why they must not let this opportunity slip away. Don't worry that you can't find the right words - you'll be part of a team, and together you'll make a more powerful argument than any of us could make as isolated individuals. And on the first day of the Moon-Mars Blitz, you'll be given training in how to communicate your message effectively.
A copy of the registration form is attached to this note. If you want to join us in Washington, please fill it out and submit it, along with your registration fee, to NSS Headquarters at the address indicated on the form.
I hope each chapter will commit itself to sending a MINIMUM of one of its members to the Moon-Mars Blitz. I realize it's a significant investment of personal time and money. Some people can afford the time away from work but not the monetary expense, and vice versa. So I urge chapters to pool their financial resources to send one or more of their members who otherwise couldn't afford the trip.
You can do a great service to the space movement by making sure as many of your fellow space advocates as possible attend this historic lobbying event. The first job of every chapter should be to get its own members to the Blitz. But there's also a national-level scholarship fund, and the first 'Blitz Scholarship' has already been received and awarded. If you can afford to make a contribution to get more space activists to Washington, please send your contribution to: Moon-Mars Blitz Registration, attn: Scholarships, 1620 I street, Suite 615, Washington, DC 20006. If any NSS member can't afford to come but wants to be considered for a scholarship, they can fill out the attached registration form and send it to NSS HQ with the words 'SCHOLARSHIP APPLICANT' written across the top of the form.
We've waited so long for this day. Let's not waste our best chance to get moving again. Join us in Washington. Together, we'll make our voices heard.
Clifford McMurray
NSS Executive Vice President
Posted by apsmith at 12:48 PM
Preview of upcoming commission report
From
http://space.com/news/commission_report_040610.html
A presidential commission will recommend next week streamlining the NASA bureaucracy and turning at least some of the U.S. space agencies 10 field centers into federally funded research and development centers like the Jet Propulsion Laboratory ...
... scheduled to release its final report June 16.
... recommend the establishment of a so-called Space Exploration Steering Council ...
... the report will say NASA needs to transform its organizational structure, business culture and management processes ...
... * NASA allow the private industry "to assume the primary role of providing services to NASA, and most immediately in accessing low-Earth orbit."
... create three new organizations within the space agency: a technical advisory board, a independent cost estimating organization, and a research and technology organization
Posted by apsmith at 12:44 PM | Comments (0)
June 10, 2004
The Risks to ISS
[NSS Policy Discussion, from Jeffrey Liss]
space.com has posted a comprehensive FLORIDA TODAY series of articles on the flaws and risks of ISS -- http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/ft_iss_report_archive.html.
It seems to me (a) that we have not been able to reduce some risks, (b) we have not been able to afford to reduce other preventable risks, (c) that these extra risks could cause a loss of life among the astronauts on board (or on the ground after ISS re-entry, (d) that therefore we are back to the fundamental question of how much risk we are willing to take.
We built undersupplied and undermanned outposts in the American West. We fought WW II with aging WW I submarines and destroyers that leaked like sieves and barely held together. The Soviets/Russians crewed Mir with what some thought the equiavlent of baling wire and chewing gum. Will we attempt things only if ALL risks are prevented?
What should we urge NASA/Congress to do with the ISS -- spend more money, accept the risks of the status quo, or bail out? Thoughts anyone?
Jeffrey Liss
Posted by apsmith at 10:47 AM | Comments (1)
June 09, 2004
Chapters honored at ISDC 2004
Jim Plaxco, NSS Vice President for Chapter Affairs, writes:
Each year at the International Space Development Conference (ISDC), outstanding chapters and their activities are honored at the ISDC Awards Banquet. Chapters, and the activists who make the chapters what they are, undertake a broad range of activities: events, programs, projects. As the Vice President for Chapter Affairs, it is my honor to present the various chapter awards recognizing these activities, which promote the goals of the National Space Society.
*** Special Merit for Public Outreach Award ***
For the second year, a Public Outreach Award was presented based on the excellence of a chapter's Web site. With every passing year, more and more people turn to the Internet to get answers to their questions and it is important that NSS be there to provide those answers.
For their excellence in design and use of their Web site, the German Space Society, Deutsche Raumfahrtgesellschaft e.V., was awarded with a Special Merit for Public Outreach Award. Their Web site is at http://www.drg-gss.org/.
There to accept the award on behalf of the German Space Society was Nicholas Turcat, founder of the NSS France chapter.
*** Special Merit for Public Outreach Award ***
A second Special Merit - Public Outreach Award was presented based on the more traditional methods of Public Outreach -- that being those activities a chapter undertakes in its community to inform the public about the goals and benefits of space exploration.
The chapter receiving the award this year had displays at numerous venues during 2003 while maintaining an excellent series of speaker programs.
For their numerous activities, a Special Merit for Public Outreach Award was presented to the NSS Seattle chapter, Michael Nelson President.
*** Special Merit for Community Service Award ***
The Community Service Award is presented to that chapter whose mix of educational, outreach, and other local activities are particularly beneficial to their community.
Two events in particular highlight the activities of this year's winner. First, this chapter contributed to a brush abatement program meant to protect the Mt. Wilson Observatory from the wildfires that threatened it during 2003. Second, they helped in the building of the Downey Space Museum through their work with the Aerospace Legacy Foundation.
The Special Merit for Community Service Award was presented to the OASIS chapter of California, under the leadership of President Steve Bartlett
**** Special Merit for Education Award ****
Last year this award was presented to NSS of North Texas for their work on rewriting the Boy Scouts of America Space Exploration Merit Badge handbook.
This year's winner, in addition to their weekly cable TV program, conducted multiple educational programs. Mostly in conjunction with their local university's Dyer Observatory, their Mars Watch programs had audiences of up to 4,000 while their normal monthly programs had audiences of 20 - 200.
The Special Merit for Education Award was presented to the Middle Tennessee Space Society, Chuck Schlemm president.
***** Special Merit Explorer Award Sacramento L5 Society *****
The Special Merit Explorer Award is awarded for engineering oriented projects that are actually all about helping to get us into space. Last year the Special Merit Explorer Award went to the Clear Lake Area NSS Chapter for their work on a Get Away Special project: a Washing Machine for Space, done in conjunction with the Hildebrant Intermediate School.
This year's winners don't have a big chapter but they've got a big idea: to develop a rocket engine to make Cheap Access to Space a reality. They are hard at work on building a prototype Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2)/kerosene rocket engine and have tested the engine in Black Rock desert.
The Special Merit Explorer Award was presented to the Sacramento L5 Society, Robert Compton president.
*** Chapter Excellence for Public Outreach Award ***
This year's award was presented as a joint award to two chapters that worked together to play a key role in bringing about the establishment of Ad Astra Kansas Day, a day to recognize the importance of science and technology to the future growth of Kansas. The Ad Astra Kansas Proclamation announcing the creation of Ad Astra Kansas day was read by the Governor of Kansas at the Kansas State Capitol. This project was initiated by Steve Durst of Space Age Publishing who approached the area NSS chapters seeking their support in the endeavor.
Receiving the Chapter Excellence for Public Outreach Award for their important role in bringing about the creation of Ad Astra Kansas day was the Heart of America chapter, President George Howard, and the Wichita Chapter of the NSS, President Dr. Randall Chambers.
*** Chapter Excellence for Publicity and Media Award ***
The chapter winning this award also won a television industry award. Last year some 10,000 entries competed for Telly Awards, which honor outstanding local, regional, and cable TV programs and commercials. Judging was overseen by a man who himself has won seven Emmys. This chapter was honored when their public access program "Near Earth Asteroid Threat" received one of these awards.
The winner of the Chapter Excellence for Publicity and Media Award was the DC-L5 chapter, Donnie Lowther president.
*** Chapter Excellence - Chapter of the Year Award ***
This year's winning chapter has their own Web site, a monthly newsletter and had public displays that collectively added up to almost 100 days worth of exhibits. They also had member letters published in area newspapers and got air-time on both CBS and NBC news shows. They participated in school programs, local book signings, Yuri's Night, trips, and hosted public lectures.
It is for the combination of all the above activities that this award was presented to the Orange County Space Society, under the leadership of its president Larry Evans.
Posted by apsmith at 10:39 AM
June 02, 2004
Rutan goes for space
Scaled Composites seems to have sent out a press release this morning, this time announcing in advance their next flight: June 21, 2004, and they're going for 100km altitude. Slashdot has an article (I sent part of the story to them), and space.com has an article by Leonard David, also.
This time they're inviting the public to come watch - looks like hotel rooms in Mojave may be filling up quickly!
[Update, June 3] - NSS has just put out a press release encouraging all NSS members to go to Mojave to watch the flight!
Posted by apsmith at 03:41 PM | Comments (0)
June 01, 2004
Visitors!
Just a warning - this is still very "beta" - we're likely to change the look and feel - I just darkened most of the colors, for example. But welcome to those visiting today. I know there's a link from RocketForge. Tell us how you got here!
Posted by apsmith at 03:55 PM | Comments (1)