Some space stuff going around...

Postcards to Space

The nice dude in the campsite next to ours has started a company to send postcards to space, and you can do it for only $25!





He talks about the experience of X Prize Cup here. Mike, Kevin, and I get a mention :-)


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SI Time Capsule

A cool time capsule project by Yahoo! and the Smithsonian Institute.

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NSS Space Settlement Calendar Art Contest

From the NSS website:
"The National Space Society (NSS) is looking for artists to create visions of a spacefaring future — a future of space settlement, be it on the Moon, on Mars, on asteroids, or orbiting independently in space. To bring attention to our goal of creating a spacefaring future, NSS is sponsoring a contest for such artwork to be used in a calendar promoting a future of humans living and working in space. The best of the submitted artwork will be selected for inclusion in the 2008 NSS Space Settlement Calendar. "

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Fly Your Name to Mars on Phoenix

From the Planetary Society website:
"Simply fill out the form below and your name will be included on the Phoenix DVD along with Visions of Mars, a collection of Mars literature and art, and personal messages to the future by space visionaries of our time such as Carl Sagan, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, and Arthur C. Clarke."

Cool project

Cool project:
http://timecapsule.yahoo.com/capsule.php

X Prize Cup pictures

XPC Best of

Space Week on The History Channel

It's Space Week on The History Channel!
Here's the schedule of space shows from their website:


Space Week Schedule

Monday, October 16 @ 7pm EST
Modern Marvels: Apollo 11
As mankind's greatest achievement of the 20th century, Apollo 11 stood as the apogee of science, exploration, flight, and technological prowess. In scarcely 10 years, America went from rocketing monkeys to landing a man on the moon. Leaving Earth on July 16, 1969, Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin, and Mike Collins pushed the limits of skill and endurance. See and experience the flight of Apollo 11 through the eyes of the astronauts, mission controllers, engineers, and designers who made it happen.

Tuesday, October 17 @ 7pm
Modern Marvels: Apollo 13
The Apollo 13 mission was intended to be a "routine" trip to the moon. But when an oxygen tank exploded, the spacecraft was crippled and its 3-man crew placed in mortal danger. The Lunar Module, intended for deployment on the moon's surface, instead became a lifeboat. Scientists and engineers on earth fought a race against time to save the crew. We'll examine the mission, which nearly ended in tragedy, but instead was a resounding success, and in some ways became NASA's finest hour.

Wednesday, October 18 @ 7pm
Modern Marvels: ET Tech
In 2003, with Mars closer to Earth than it had been in 60,000 years, scientists launched three life-seeking planetary landers. If the long journeys prove successful, all should be hard at work on the Red Planet's surface by January 2004. NASA's Spirit and Opportunity and the European Space Agency's Beagle 2 represent the pinnacle in the history of the search for extraterrestrial life. Leading scientists, who believe life may exist beyond Earth, explain skepticism about ETs having visited Earth.

Thursday, October 19 @ 7pm
Modern Marvels: Observatories: Stonehenge to Space Telescopes
From Stonehenge to the Hubble Telescope, man has always been a species of stargazers. Unforgettable film footage and expert accounts reveal the facts of astronomy's most mind-boggling discoveries.

Friday, October 20 @ 7pm
Modern Marvels: Satellites
Strong enough to survive their fiery launch into orbit, sophisticated enough to provide life-saving images or relay tens of thousands of phone calls at the same time. By monitoring weapons systems and troop movements, these "eyes in the sky" may be the difference between security and annihilation. From the futuristic visions of a British sci-fi writer to creations of a German rocket designer for the Nazi war machine to the Cold War technological race, we review the satellites that link our world.

Friday, October 20 @ 8pm
How William Shatner Changed the World
You've got a cell phone at one ear, an iPod at the other. You know that Blackberry is now a verb and Spam is not only canned meat. But just how did we get here? Blame William Shatner--yes, that William Shatner--Captain Kirk. We'll boldly go where few have gone before to reveal how scientists, inspired by the series, would revolutionize medicine and are surpassing the far-out vision of the future foreshadowed in Star Trek in the 1960s. From cell phones to computers to even leading-edge medical advancements, this 2-hour special explores how those sci-fi inventions have now permeated everyday life as we know it. Hosted and narrated by Shatner and based on his book, I'm Working on That, we'll meet the brightest minds of Silicon Valley and the Trek-inspired inventions that have help change the world.

That last one is actually really good and talks a lot about how our top scientists and engineers have been very inspired by science fiction.

The History Channel also has a contest to win a trip to KSC for a Shuttle launch.

I'm off to Arizona, then New Mexico on Wednesday for the X Prize Cup and NASA Academy Alumni Event. Pics next week!

"NASA Announces New Student Aeronautics Competition"

NASA Press Release:
"NASA Announces New Student Aeronautics Competition

NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, Washington, announced a new aeronautics competition for high school and college students. The competition is sponsored by the directorate's Fundamental Aeronautics Program, and it is part of NASA's mission is to inspire the next generation of engineers, scientists, and explorers.

High School students are challenged to put themselves 50 years into the future to describe how air transportation systems have evolved with vehicles flying at various speeds. Entries are due by March 15.

College students are invited to propose solutions for complex technical problems in hypersonic and supersonic flight; subsonic fixed and rotary wing transports; or Mars entry, descent, and landing. College entries are due by April 27.

Monetary awards ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 may be available for first place winners in each category. There will be awards for second and third places and honorable mention recognition. Winning university students may be offered a 10-week summer internship at a NASA field center.

For details about this competition, visit:

http://aero.larc.nasa.gov/competitions.htm
"