“If the future does not include being out there among the stars and being a multi-planet species, I find that incredibly depressing.” — Elon Musk
Me too.
(The link should take you to 34:43 in the video. If it doesn’t, skip to there.)
Cities
“Inhabiting off-planet space offers the chance to experiment with new social and environmental arrangements that incorporate lessons we’ve learned from mistakes on Earth. “If you want to go to Mars, let’s live, and live happily, and live better than here on Earth,” says Vera Mulyani, an architect and founder of the Mars City Design competition. “Let’s design a better place for humanity.””
Fast Company Space Program
“The situation is truly ironic. With the success of Falcon Heavy, America could be poised right now for a breakthrough into space. The cash available is adequate. What is lacking is intelligent direction. We will never get to Mars if we allow our human-spaceflight program to be run as a random walk.”
National Review Margaret Hamilton
Here’s a short video on Margaret Hamilton, whose software got Apollo to the Moon.
https://www.facebook.com/Stemettes/videos/2026536490697757/?hc_ref=ARQJYrNetvVXOj5hlXOHofdnCDZK_CUZorUdHGPdOLete5WUYl7_IpcbDdVuK9Y4OWk
Mission Badge
My youngest daughter overheard us discussing ideas for the series logo, so she got out her pencils and went to work.
What do you think?
Moons Passing
https://www.facebook.com/nasasolarsystem/videos/10155243951042918/?hc_ref=ARQTel8vUluiZhuM1XWT60z8HIE6VGKn1Pm6cCgh3QjvfvMkwU2dD_Cvq0tzUfHsP_8
Promo Video Update
Well, the recent rain has delayed work on the promo video. We had planned to shoot at Lordsburg Playa, New Mexico, in order to get the look of a Martian landscape. An inch of rain this week has left standing water, ’cause that’s what desert playas do.
On Mars, the atmospheric pressure at the surface is so low that liquid water would boil away immediately. Here on Earth, we’ll have to wait for the slower process of evaporation.
SLS
A long but interesting article on the questionable future of the NASA Space Launch System.
Buzz on Mars vs the Moon
Just as appropriate today, with NASA turning its attention back to the Moon, as it was eight years ago.
“The agency’s current Vision for Space Exploration will waste decades and hundreds of billions of dollars trying to reach the Moon by 2020—a glorified rehash of what we did 40 years ago. Instead of a steppingstone to Mars, NASA’s current lunar plan is a detour. It will derail our Mars effort, siphoning off money and engineering talent for the next two decades. If we aspire to a long-term human presence on Mars—and I believe that should be our overarching goal for the foreseeable future—we must drastically change our focus.”
-Buzz Aldrin (Popular Mechanics interview, January 5, 2010)
Promo Video
Gearing up to shoot the promo video later this month.
