Ken Murphy / 3:02 am November 10th, 2009

I’m going to Strasbourg!

I recently got the e-mail from the Selection Committee for the next ISU Symposium coming up in February, and they’ve accepted me as a speaker for the morning session of the first day, “Public Outreach, Promotion and Awareness”.

This is actually a bit of a surprise. I’ve submitted abstracts to other conferences and always been declined, so there was no reason to think things would be any different this time around. I had noted to Dr. Spudis that I put the odds for this conference at less than 40% of being selected to speak vs. 80% for being offered a poster space. So I’m more than just a little bit excited.

Tempered by the fact that now I do have to put together a presentation and compress it down to 15 minutes as well as write a paper of no more than 8 pages. The title of the paper is “Give the Public What They Want”, and in its present amorphous gestative stage the basic idea is that part of selling space to the public is by doing it the way they want it done. The way to find out what the public wants is not by lecturing at them about what you think will work, but by talking with them one-on-one and seeing directly what ideas work and what doesn’t work because you’re getting instant feedback.

Oh man, I can’t wait to get back, even if it will be the middle of February. I’ve definitely got to check out the bookstores to see if I can find any new titles for the La Lune section of the Lunar Library. A pack of Gitanes Blondes and the latest issue of Ciel et Espace at the local tabac. Wandering through the back streets and along the canals. This will be my first time at the new campus (below), as ISU was still in the ULP (above) when I did my Masters program (class of 2001).

During my year there I had a tiny top-floor studio tucked back on Rue des Drapiers (Street of the Drape-makers), which was through the arch seen on the right in the photo below.

And here’s a picture of the tram I used to take to get to school

I have no idea who else is going to be there at this point as the final program won’t be set until they have confirms from everyone. I have a strong feeling that Loretta Whitesides will be there, as she’s well known for her outreach work. I imagine there will be more than a few usual suspects, and I leave it as an exercise for the reader to guess who. I will post more details as they become available.

I can’t believe I’m going back to France. I’ve got to stop in Paris, visit Gibert Joseph and some of the antiquarian booksellers over on the Rive Gauche. Maybe stop by La Villette. Too bad the Observatoire de Paris is closed to the public, but maybe the Palais de la Découverte will do.

Speaking of découverte, the 127th Carnival of Space can be discovered over at Next Big Future. This week’s 128th Carnival of Space can be found down under looking up at the stars at Aartscope Blog

(If anyone can point me to where this postcard can be found on the net I’d surely
appreciate it)

We’ve got a few items for this week’s Carnival of the Moon

I’m not sure which is more newsworthy here in the Metroplex - the fact that we just got a Moon Tree up in Plano, or the fact that the local newspaper actually covered the story. I do have to give the media credit that I am seeing more reporters at space events than I did a few years ago, but it’s still pretty scattershot (both quantity and quality).

Of far more interest to Lunar scientists, Moon Daily tells us that JAXA, the Japanese government space program, is making their data from the SELENE/Kaguya probe available online.

Over at On Orbit, Dennis Wingo takes a look Beyond Augustine to what the report missed, including the important concept of In-Situ Resource Use (ISRU) and how it can change our architecture of space exploration.

Over at The Space Show, Dr. Livingston had a couple of interesting guests recently. More on the Moon side, David had a very interesting discussion with Dr. Arlin Crotts about a variety of Lunar science topics, as well as how the resources on the Moon can be put to good use.

He also had a fascinating discussion with Miles O’Brien, who laid out some harsh realities regarding the general knowledge level of the general public regarding things space. From my own experience it’s as bad as he describes.

Going back to the Moon also involves the development of infrastructure assets in cislunar space. Over at New Scientist, Paul Marks describes how “Space junk piles up into threat to future launches“.

One piece of cislunar architecture is orbital habitation space, and according to Popular Science, some folks in Europe have a Space Hotel Reportedly On Track for 2012 Opening, Already Has Paying Guests. Their current issue has some good articles on space and the new astronaut corps in Astronaut 3.0.

If you happen to find yourself over on the European side of the pond you can always stop by the UK National Space Centre for their new interactive experience “Project Apollo: The Lunar Landings. Hmm, maybe I should take the Chunnel over to London to check it out while I’m in Europe.

Finishing up this week’s Moon Carnival, we have a manga that is well overdue, Earthlight Vol. 3, that seems to be making some progress, in that the publisher, TokyoPop, has put up the first three chapters of the next installment of the series. Enjoy!