More than 20 renowned experts in the fields of space, science, media, and humanitarian services have joined forces to raise public awareness of the Overview Effect, a term used to describe the experience astronauts have when seeing Earth firsthand from outer space, and the resulting sense of unification that is brought on by this unique perspective.
On May 31st, at the National Space Society’s annual conference in Washington, D.C., these individuals, formally known as The Overview Group, will issue a joint declaration calling for the formation of an Overview Institute to promote awareness of the Overview Effect. The potential cultural impact of the Overview Effect is expected to become increasingly significant as space tourism begins.
The Overview Group includes: Dr. Edgar Mitchell (Apollo Astronaut, sixth man on the moon), Dr. Barbara Marx Hubbard (author and President of the Foundation for Conscious Evolution), Frank White (author of the Overview Effect), Douglas Trumbull (Oscar Award winning Special Effects Supervisor of 2001: A Space Odyssey), Dan Curry (Emmy Award winning Visual Effects Supervisor for Star Trek), and George Whitesides (Executive Director of the National Space Society). A panel composed of several Group members will make the presentation. The moderator will be Keith Ferrell, former Editor of Omni Magazine.
Things seem to be going well with NASA’s Phoenix lander, which touched down near the planet’s North Pole on Sunday. Controllers in Pasadena are reporting a few minor issues, the most serious being a communications problem with the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter that delayed the uplink of commands for movement of Phoenix’s robotic arm.
In the meantime, NASA has been releasing stunning images from the mission (images credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona). The image below shows the surface, part of a solar panel, an American flag, and a mini-DVD from The Planetary Society containing names, science fiction stories, art and other materials for future Martian explorers.
The photo below shows an overhead shot of the lander taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
The orbiter also captured this stunning image of the spacecraft parachuting down to the surface, showing part of the “seven minutes of terror” Phoenix enduring during entry. This is the first time such an event has been ever captured on film.
Only days before his agency faced down the dreaded Galactic Ghoul at Mars, NASA Administrator Mike Griffin gave a rather dour assessment of his organization’s current status to a Washington Space Business Roundtable luncheon.
According to an account over at Jeff Foust’s Space Politics blog, Griffin said this is a “time of incredible turmoil” due to the:
pending retirement of the space shuttle, which will cause mass layoffs;
upcoming change in presidential administrations; and,
failure of Congress and the President to agree on a new budget.
Apparently, none of the chaos engulfing NASA results from any bad decisions by Griffin, although the administrator did acknowledge the severe budget and schedule pressures affecting NASA’s shuttle replacement, Constellation. The system may not be ready for human flights until five years after the shuttle is retired and may need billions in additional funding.
On this, Griffin’s basic message was something akin to the USC Trojans fight song: Fight On. “When the going gets tough, let’s not reoptimize for low Earth orbit,” Griffin said.
Well, perhaps this isn’t quite as inspiring as the USC fight song, penned in 1922 by dental student Milo Sweet as his entry into the Trojan spirit contest. So, if this will help boost morale of anyone at NASA experiencing incredible turmoil, here’s the USC Marching Band performing Fight On. Just substitute “NASA” for “‘SC”, “space agency” for “alma mater,” and make it gender neutral. And maybe try to make it rhyme.
Popular Science has an interesting DIY guide to how you - YES, YOU - can win the Google Lunar X Prize. It seems that all you need is a little bit of moxie, a rover that can survive extreme temperatures, a launcher, and…oh yes…somewhere between $20 to $100 million.
Simple, really. All too easy.
All kidding aside, it’s a really cool story that breaks down the major components that one needs succeed in winning the $20 million prize. There are quotes from Odyssey Moon CEO Bob Richards, Astrobiotic’s Red Whittaker, and other competitors.
Meanwhile, Space.com has a story on four additional teams that have joined the great race. The teams include Advaeros, out of Malaysia; JURBAN, which is focused teaching disadvantaged students to build robots; and STELLAR, a North Carolina group headed by Dick Dell. There is also a mystery team, which apparently has no connection to Scooby-Doo’s outfit, Mystery, Inc.
Defying the nettlesome Galactic Ghoul, NASA successfully set down its Phoenix spacecraft on the Martian surface on Sunday. The lander, which will search for evidence of life, touched down near the planet’s north pole at 4:38 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time.
Just before 7 p.m., controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena burst into applause as the first pictures from the lander were relayed from the surface via the Mars Odyssey orbiter. The images showed the Martian horizon, deployed solar arrays, and a landing pad. Early telemetry indicates that the spacecraft landed on a flat surface and is in good shape. The spacecraft’s robotic arm, which will scoop up soil for analysis, appears to be deployed properly.
This marks the sixth successful landing on Mars in seven attempts for the American space agency, raising NASA’s on-Mars percentage to 85.7.
As NASA’s Phoenix lander barrels toward a Memorial Day weekend landing at the Martian north pole, the Red Planet is once again morphing from the subject of endless fascination into something far more sinister.
Yes, the old death planet label is being trotted out again to describe the difficulty of sending anything to Mars. NASA officials are talking up the seven minutes of “terror” the spacecraft will endure on May 25 as it enters the atmosphere and attempts a soft landing.
Perhaps these labels are appropriate for a rust-colored planet named after the Roman god of war where a number of spacecraft have indeed vanished. The Galactic Ghoul, as NASA has dubbed it, may be eagerly awaiting Phoenix’s arrival, ready to smash the lander into a thousand pieces on Mars’ perpetually frozen surface.
Colorado Springs, Colo. (May 19, 2008) - Additional noteworthy individuals have confirmed their participation in the Space Foundation’s new event, Space Business Forum: New York.
The inaugural Space Business Forum: New York is designed for Wall Street analysts, investment bankers, institutional advisors, and high-risk insurers to engage in meaningful dialogue with industry leaders about aerospace financing and investment opportunities across the $251 billion space economy. This one-day, exclusive event is scheduled for Wednesday, June 18 at the Hilton New York Hotel in New York City.
In addition to the previously announced featured speakers and moderators at this diverse forum, the following leaders from across the space and financial communities will speak at Space Business Forum: New York.
The California Space Authority is hoping to build a $175 million education center just outside the gates at Vandenberg Air Force Base in Lompoc, Calif., the Santa Maria Times reports.
CSA officials are negotiating a lease for use of 66 acres of Air Force property. The land sits on a bluff that is used as the primary viewing area for rocket launches from the military spaceport.
“The purpose of the space center is to primarily inspire young people to look to Vandenberg and learn the story of the land - what’s happening there today, and what’s going to happen there in the future,” CSA Executive Director Andrea Seastrand told KSBY-TV.
The Boston Globe’s Drake Bennett takes a look at lunar property rights and other space settlement issues in a story titled, “My space: If we really want to explore space, maybe we should sell it off to the highest bidders.”
Writing for The Sunday Times, Mike Peake is worried that Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic flights will replicate the experience with one of the billionaire’s other travel ventures.
“To get an idea of what the flight into space will really be like, you have to extrapolate from the experience of riding on one of Beardie’s Virgin trains. They’ll have closed the buffet before you even arrive in space and then the craft will be kept in a holding stack for four hours before you can land, during which time the air-conditioning will be switched off and the air will smell like the steam from a pressure cooker full of cabbage. Then, when you write to Branson at Necker Island to complain, you’ll get an automated reply from the customer services department in Slough.”
Speaking of which, New Mexico officials are pushing ahead with plans to build Spaceport America, where Virgin Galactic is set to become an anchor tenant. Next up: a public vote in Otera County on a tax increase to support construction. The Alamogordo Daily News has the latest. The Las Cruces Sun-News also has an update here.
The Sunday Mirror quotes Richard Branson as saying that Virgin Galactic tourism flights are still about 30 months away. The British billionaire, speaking in Kenya where his company has rebuilt a school, said that he expects to begin flights in November 2010 after a rigorous test flight program for SpaceShipTwo and its White Knight carrier aircraft.
“NASA have [sic] lost three per cent of all their customers so our testing will be intense,” Branson said. “We are planning 50 test flights before we go up so we will be confident of getting it right.”
He plans to take his parents and children on the first tourism flight - but not his wife, Joan. “She’s not terribly keen on the idea of the kids coming up with me although I think she’s not too bothered about what might happen to me!” Branson joked.
