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16.89J / ESD.352J Space Systems EngineeringKen Murphy / 1:05 am August 25th, 2008  MIT Open CourseWare (OCW) Librarian’s Note: Hat tip to Flying Singer over at Music of the Spheres for pointing this one out. I recognize all three of the texts for the course as top-notch reference books in the field. Kudos to MIT for putting this one out there. Crowling Space at this week’s CarnivalKen Murphy / 3:58 am August 22nd, 2008  Carnival of Space that is, hosted for this week’s 68th edition by Crowlspace. This week’s theme is “star travel won’t be easy”. ad astra! Via SatelliteKen Murphy / 1:08 am August 22nd, 2008  Via Satellite 3D World - The Magazine for 3D Artists (w/CD)Ken Murphy / 12:05 am August 22nd, 2008  3D World - The Magazine for 3D Artists Librarian’s Note: Now this is an interesting find. It offers some intriguing articles, including “A walk on the moon [sic]” about animating a walking character in a 1/6th gravity environment, and how to simulate cometary impacts. The CD-ROM contains supporting materials and animations. Hopefully we’ll be seeing more space-themed animation in the future. Take an Educational Field Trip to the Solar SystemKen Murphy / 4:17 am August 20th, 2008  “Kids to Space Mission Plans: An Educator’s Guide” by Lonnie Schorer and Barbara Sprungman David. Published in 2008 by Apogee Books and weighing in at 204 pages all-in. This book is designed as an educator’s guide to accompany the book “Kids to Space” (K2S) published back in 2006. As full disclosure, Lonnie approached me at the 2005 ISDC about helping out with the Moon chapter, given my avid interest thereof. Having the Lunar Library at my fingertips allowed me to ensure that I answered each question as accurately as possible. Working with Tom Matula, we worked through all of the questions and I think it turned out well. I can read through it today, knowing so much more about the Moon, and I’m still happy with the answers. Planets, Rockets, Books…Ken Murphy / 3:56 am August 15th, 2008  and Olympic Torches, Oh My! That’s right folks, it’s time for this week’s round-up of space-y goodness at the Carnival of Space. The 67th edition is over at Next Generation, the blog home of student space-hardware types which is now hosted by the Discovery Channel. (and not to be confused with the stuff they’re doing out at NASA Ames) Summer Space Reading Camp 2008Ken Murphy / 2:05 am August 15th, 2008 Murphy, Ken Pt I: The New Moon “Solar Sails: A Novel Approach to Interplanetary Travel”Ken Murphy / 12:51 am August 14th, 2008 Vulpetti, Giovanni, Les Johnson & Gregory L. Matloff Librarian’s Note: Next to aerospike engines, I think Solar sails are one of my favorite technologies. The opening scene of Pierre Boulle’s “La Planète des Singes” is set aboard a luxury space yacht that travels around the Solar system, propelled by Solar sails. Once we get a foothold in the high frontier by developing cislunar space, I think Solar sails are going to prove quite useful in shuttling supplies and space probes around the Solar system. Tacking on the Solar wind is rather simple. Assume your spacecraft is facing the top of the page, and the Sun is off to the right. When your sail is angled / then the photons are going to be hitting the sail and bouncing towards the bottom of the page, accelerating your craft along its velocity vector to the top of the page. When the sail is angled \ then the photons will be bouncing towards the top of the page, exerting an equal and opposite force in the downward direction and decelerating your craft. This is what moves you Sunward or starward. It’s what rich people will be playing with in 50 years (and the rest of us poor schlubs hopefully not too long after) if we get our act together in developing space. Station #2 (comic)Ken Murphy / 12:13 am August 14th, 2008  Stokes, Johanna. Illus. by Leno Carvalho Librarian’s Note: It’s the ultimate locked room - the International Space Station. There’s already been one murder, and the danger keeps increasing as the list of suspects narrows. Summer Space Reading Camp Pt. V: Special EditionKen Murphy / 4:19 am August 12th, 2008 Rocket Gyrls Reading Club - No Boyz Aloud Image Credit: Earle Bergey  Frequent visitors to Out of the Cradle know that I have a soft spot in my heart for the women of our space future. (Astronautix’ ‘Women of Space’, past and present) Whilst preparing the Summer Space Reading Camp, Megan McArdle, a blogger at The Atlantic.com (and tall, brainy economist on whom I have a bit of a crush because I’m a tall, brainy banker) posted a blog entry on how sci-fi might be considered unfeminine entitled That’s for girls, he said scornfully . . . This got me to thinking (always a dangerous thing), and I decided to add a special edition to the Summer Space Reading Camp on Solar system science fiction in the Lunar Library that is geared towards a female as opposed to the ‘traditional’ male audience.  Please note, this time around we go all the way up to adult. It’s not just juveniles! In part this is so that I could include the pair of sci-fi bodice-rippers that I’ve found, but also so I can show some of the beautiful artwork of Pamela Lee. Additionally, I’ve had to throw in some video and other media because face it, there’s just not a whole lot of material to work with in this particular niche category. Carnival of Space #66 has alightedKen Murphy / 11:09 pm August 7th, 2008 at A Mars Odyssey. This week’s Carnival of Space is a cornucopia of articles from ongoing Phoenix coverage to a meeting with the incomparable Buzz. Fly on over to check it out! Librarian’s Note: Please be careful when Googling the Carnival of Space. Some folks are starting to use it as a phrase to try to direct traffic to Russian and other areas of internet shenanigans. Readers are advised that only Universe Today has the official list of past Carnivals of Space. You can, of course, always rely on your favorite space bloggers as well. Summer Space Reading Camp Pt. IV: The Old High FrontierKen Murphy / 3:08 am August 6th, 2008 Summer Space Reading Camp In this last episode in the Summer Space Reading Camp, we journey back a few more decades to find the last generation of space stories for juveniles. Since these aren’t Moon-specific I have to admit that I haven’t read a lot of them, at least recently. They’re primarily meant as filler for the High Frontier fiction sections (youth and adult) in the Lunar Library. Once I finish with the reviews of Moon fiction I’ll be able to turn my attention to the High Frontier stuff. “Universal War One Book 2: The Fruit of Knowledge” (comic)Ken Murphy / 2:56 am August 1st, 2008  Bajram, Denis |
Out of the Cradle Classics25 Good Reasons to Go to the Moon Carnivals of Space #112 - The Big Moon Day Show #94 #57 - This One's for the Ladies #31 #18 Best of the Moon 2008 2007 2006 Teacher Tools for the High Frontier Big Moon edition Space Navigation Rocks in Space International Space Station Technology Samples Of a Garden on the Moon Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Summer Space Reading Camp The New Moon The Old Moon The New High Frontier The Old High Frontier Rocket Gyrls Reading Club 
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