EVA / 1:19 am February 12th, 2010

Welcome back to EVA Interviews: The Business of the new Space Age™ as we leave the Lunar Editions and return to Earth orbit. Our next guest is Hoyt Davidson, Founder and Managing Partner of Near Earth LLC. Near Earth specializes in providing Investment Banking and Advisory Services to companies and investors in the commercial Space, satellite, telecom and aerospace industries. Hoyt Davidson has extensive expertise in Space financing, and has many insights into the emerging commercial Space sector to share with us in this very informative discussion.

 

EVA:     Welcome Hoyt! I’m delighted to have you join us at EVA Interviews and Out of the Cradle. I am really looking forward to our conversation and hearing your unique perspective on Space commerce, the industry and Space investment activities! As these interviews are about Space, as well as the economic aspects of our exodus Out of the Cradle, I like to begin by asking about Space. You operate an investment bank specializing in, among other areas, satellites, and you write extensively about commercial Space activities in your newsletter. Which came first? Have you always had a interest in Space or was the creation of Near Earth LLC exclusively a business decision?  How did you decide to open a firm with such a unique specialty?  

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Ken Murphy / 1:36 am February 7th, 2010

The space program announcement on Monday was, in my view, status quo shattering.

It engages a lot of risk, but if you look carefully at what it says (as opposed to what the mass media says it says), you will see that it unlocks an enormous realm of opportunity. In my view, the opportunity far outweighs the risks.

When NASA operates the only crewed vehicle to space, then NASA decides who gets to go. NASA’s choice is a select cadre of individuals, highly trained not only in the systems and environment of space, but also in how to keep it together when the crap hits the fan. Taking this training to the private sector will no doubt prove remunerative for many.

From a company perspective, not being able to send the employee you choose because NASA said no rather works against your business decisions. When a company can pay a launch provider to take their chosen employee to an orbital site to do whatever, then a barrier to entry has been removed, making it easier for a company to make the decision to send an employee to orbit to do research or production in space.

By choosing to end NASA’s monopoly on the provision of crewed transport to orbit, the President (via his advisors, I’m sure) has made the decision to open space commerce to all of the American enterprise.

The challenge is the provision of transport to orbit. I’ve seen a lot of negative comments regarding whether U.S. industry can step up to the plate and deliver on their potential. Given that Boeing and Lockmart are the legacies of the companies that have built our spacecraft, it seems a bit unreasonable to say that they cannot provide a crewed vehicle for their existing launch vehicles. They may choose not to take that route, but I have a strong feeling that they can in fact do so.

There are folks who say that we shouldn’t rely on the private sector, yet that is what everyone does every day. As I look around my apartment I the only thing that I can think of that is actually government-provided is my clean water. Sure the government has touched pretty much everything in my apartment in some way, shape or form, but for my DVD player I rely on Dynex. For my laptop I use Fujitsu. The bowl with all my pens in it is from Clark of the Navajo. My desk was made by Leopold Co. of Burlington, Ohio. My ride to work is a Volkswagen.

Let’s talk about rides to work for a minute. The shuttle and Soyouz are, right now, the rides to work for those on orbit. The Soyouz has a long track record of getting its passengers home alive. Not spotless, but definitely solid. The Shuttle has had two major stand-downs in the last quarter century, for a hair’s breadth over 20% of that time. In essence, one year in five was non-performing. Imagine if your car could only get you to work four days out of the standard five day work week.

So when people say that only government can provide transportation to orbit, they’re saying that the U.S. is limited to the transportation that NASA provides, when NASA can provide it, and who they say can go. I don’t know about other folks, but I tend to chafe under that kind of diktat.

“Oh, but there’s no business up in space!” cry the nattering nabobs of negativity. As if they have any clue of what business is about. Their lack of imagination should not be my burden.

So what kinds of things are there to do on orbit? My first suggestion would be to scrounge up a copy of the book “Space Industrialization Opportunities“, edited by Jernigan & Pentecost, and then actually read through it. Sure it’s long at 601 pages, and there’re sections that can be skipped over, but reading through it is absolutely eye-opening as far as seeing what kind of research still awaits us.

So there are going to be two initial approaches - a continuation of the existing Mid-Deck Locker (MDL) model, and infrastructure pieces that allow for more crewed work, the orbital equivalent of the lab bench. It’s unknown (or at least, I don’t know) whether the Bigelow facilities will conform to the ISPR standard (which the MDLs fit in), but my guess is that would be the decision of the lessor or the lessee and the terms of the contract.

Microgravity science research is not a make-believe industry. People paid Richard Garriott to take their experiments to orbit. The former SpaceHab (now AstroTech) is doing breakthrough research on orbit. Before Challenger, NASA had a long list of private companies queueing up to send their payloads to orbit. After Challenger, and then catching up with the military payloads, and then the NASA science payloads, and then the runs to Mir, and the private companies could never get back on board. You can’t blame them, they don’t have the capital to keep people on payroll on standby waiting for NASA to take their payload up maybe at some point. Business can’t operate like that, but that is where we have been for the last couple of decades.

And who’s going to provide human crewed transport to orbit in competition with NASA and Energia? That made no business sense, but everyone talked as if that was the way it had to be.

Now we have a different path to not only the ISS, but additional (thank you Mr. Bigelow) destinations on orbit. And Man, in the generic species-wide sense, does not live on science alone. What other things could we be doing in enclosed microgravity environments? I imagine part of the reason that Mr. Cameron wrote such a glowing editorial in support of the changes proposed is that he has his eye on a large hollow three-dimensional space with cameras everywhere, as could be provided by a Bigelow balloon. He could pay a company to take his team and equipment to orbit, and he would be able to film in a way that no one ever has before, although the IMAX films come close. I can also see Hong Kong filmmakers doing away with the wires and filming radical new combat scenes. I don’t know about the Apollo folks, but my generation grewup on Ender’s Game, and I was a huge fan of the Battle Room. Laser Tag in 3-D? You know that’s going to be a popular workout.

Habitation is a de rigeur requirement of humans in orbit, so there exists any number of opportunities in that domain. From the design of sleeping quarters to the provision of supplies, there are a number of niches for companies to exploit. Final Frontier Beef Jerky seems to have already cornered the market on dried beefstuffs on orbit, but there are lots of other things that go well with the microgravity environment.

What to do in space? Sightseeing is already a favored pastime on the ISS, so I have no doubt it will be popular in that regard amongst a broader audience. Certain adult recreational activities are oft cited, and if you want to do some research in that regard I would point you to the 3-DVD set “The Uranus Experiment” [Link absolutely totally not safe for work or children]. This is an adult film that is absolutely not for amateurs, but does contain the first cinematic instance in microgravity of what is colloquially referred to as the Money Shot. And no, things don’t behave the way they do here on Earth.

There’s actually an interesting story behind the movie. A German adult film company decided to make a science-fiction film sometime in the mid to late 1990s. They toured NASA, but when NASA found out what they wanted to film on the Vomit Comet, they declined to license their services. So the company went to the Russians, who said “You pay us how much? Okay! And you clean up afterwards!” Having flown on Zero-G, I have a great deal of respect for the professionalism of the actors and actresses who performed under unique and difficult circumstances. I’ve already got an idea for “Murphy Straps” to help facilitate the process, perhaps do a licensing agreement with Victoria’s Secret. So is there a market for that sort of stuff? Duh! Because in addition to The Uranus Experiment there is also Rocket Girls, Emmanuelle in Space, Space-Thing and others. Oh, can’t forget Wham! Bam! Thank you Spaceman!

One obvious piece of orbital hardware, part of the “infrastructure” that people talk about, is a Universal Docking Node (UDN). This would allow unlimited modularity of vehicles and modules. Setting universal interface standards is a key way to accelerate cislunar development. Provision of a UDN would more easily allow a private venture to cobble together a couple trans-LEO vehicles, some Bigelow balloons for habitation and storage, and sufficient fuel for a trip to take-your-choice destination. GEO, EML-1, LLO, a visit to an asteroid, maybe park out at L5 for a while to get some preliminary environmental readings. That’s the power of opening space to private interests. It allows for a much greater variety of projects, and more destinations can be explored.

That of course, is not enough to sustain a LEO economy, so let’s consider other ways to add value. One obvious way is post-launch inspection and repair of satellites. The roughest part of the trip for a satellite is the launch through the atmosphere of Earth. Stuff ends up not working right after launch, and being able to inspect and repair satellites may be a key part of the service sector in LEO. There’s also going to need to be an aggregation of materials in LEO for pushes further out. Things like research and development on propellant depots will help to accelerate this process. As will the availability of storage so that longer-term assets can be parked in orbit for a while.

So where would one have facilities in LEO? Given how tough it is to change inclination that deep in the gravity well, facilities are likely to spring up at inclinations of particular utility. Equatorial would provide a fair amount of GEO CommSat traffic that might be interested in a post-launch overhaul. Jon Goff over at the Selenian Boondocks (one of my old haunts) suggested something in the low-40s that would be readily accessible to most inland spaceports, making it of particular interest to the tourist trade. ISS has the benefit of passing over 85% of the land mass of Earth over the course of its orbits, making it an excellent platform for Earth observation. So different markets are going to be available.

Looking further out, the Earth-Moon L-1 point (EML-1) is the next logical destination, as it is indifferent to the LEO inclination. This is not necessarily intuitive, but the best way to think about it is like this - imagine the Earth and Moon in three dimensions, about 240,000 miles (384,000 km) apart. Now draw a line from the center-of-mass of the Earth to center-of-mass of the Moon. Hold that line fixed in 3-D space.

Now drop the Earth and Moon into gravity wells. The Earth’s gravity well is quite deep, the Moon’s a dimple in comparison. Perched about 86% of the way to the Moon along that fixed line is where those gravity wells peak, at EML-1. This is the lowest delta-V launch point in cislunar space to more places than anywhere else.

Now draw a Hohmann ellipse from LEO out to EML-1. This is traditionally done in the plane of orbit of the Moon, but we’re dealing with space, you have to think in three dimensions. Rotate that ellipse around the fixed line, and you have your map of orbits to EML-1, and they basically all cost the same delta-V, which helps to standardize fuel delivery requirements. Polar orbits are the exception, as the Earth is a bit pudgy around the middle and that messes things up a bit.

EML-1 serves as a crossroads in cislunar space, making it a key logistics point. It will also serve as a stockpiling point, enabling missions to the Moon, the asteroids, and even Mars. I would love to be the bartender on that facility.

Cargo and Machinery is going to be heading out to the Moon, eventually you want LOX to head back all the way down to LEO. Hydrogen we really need to be getting from asteroids, but the Moon’s polar deposits can help serve as a stopgap measure to supplement shipments from Earth.

Dropping back down to GEO, one long-term business plan is to provide near-constant Solar power as baseline electricity. It has been noted that we have been beaming Solar power to Earth for decades now, via our communications satellites, so to say that solar power satellites are a flight of fancy is patently false. What is a flight of fancy is to presume that terawatt-scale facilities are going to be launched from the surface of the Earth. That’s just not going to happen. Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do space-based Solar power, we just have to consider alternate paths to that end.

One of the most valuable exports from the Moon is going to be mass. Luckily, it’s a lot easier to get stuff into cislunar space from the Moon than the Earth. LOX is the most frequently cited export, and it is one of the easier business cases to close, thanks to its manifold utility and abundant availability on the Moon, just locked up in minerals. LOX/LH is pretty much our best possible chemical propellant combo (unless you want to deal with some really, really nasty stuff), but oxygen represents about 7/8ths of the combined mass. Lifting that from the Earth’s gravity well is hard, and we could be sending more useful mass up instead. That’s why, over the long term, there is even a market for Lunar LOX in LEO.

A byproduct of Lunar oxygen production is slag. This could be exported to serve as radiation shielding for long-term facilities out beyond the Earth’s magnetosphere.

Another possible Lunar export could be the high-mass/low-value added components of a GEO Solar Power Satellite system, such as structural members and cheap and plentiful, if not terribly good, solar cell arrays.

The point is that the only thing you need to be lifting out of the Earth’s gravity well is the kind of high-value-added stuff like electronic components or high-precision parts. Earth is like the Switzerland of cislunar space; its contributions to commerce have to be small-mass/high-value-added items, at least until we can get a space elevator in place.

As capabilities grow on the Moon, more value-added can be brought to bear on the raw resources found there. Commerce will start stepping up the value-added chain. Foodstuffs is a good example. It’ll be easier to get foodstuffs from the Moon to LEO, even with a detour to EML-1, than to get it up from the Earth. Not by much, but it’s still a transport advantage. Given the unique terroir of the Moon, it’s not difficult to imagine a trade springing up in specialty food items, akin to the spice trade of yore.

If you’re interested in Lunar commerce, there are a few books I can recommend. First and foremost is Neil Ruzic’s “The Case for Going to the Moon“, written in 1965. Mr. Ruzic was editor and publisher of Industrial Research magazine, so he had a pretty good handle on what industry was all about. Decades have passed and the book is still relevant, as Mr. Ruzic understood the roles of things like vacuum and extreme temperatures in industrial processes. If you ever only read one book about Moon business, make it this one.

Another title I would highly recommend would be “The Once and Future Moon” by Dr. Paul Spudis. Dr. Spudis is one of the leading Lunar scientists in the world, and I’ve long considered him something of a Moon mentor. His book lays out a lot of geological background on the Moon, but also talks about how commerce and industry can take advantage of that. He blogs at “The Once and Future Moon” blog, and has, to my surprise, expressed a certain amount of disdain regarding the new policy. I can understand his point. The strategic objective of “Provide the tools and the processes to open up cislunar and translunar space to American enterprise” allows for a lot of interpretation. That’s not the NASA way. They want something like “Go to the South Pole of the Moon, explore, go to Asteroid B612, characterize, go to Phobos, set up base camp.” This makes it easier to design an optimized system, close out all the variables in the parametric models, and run some Monte Carlo simulations to nail down the budget.

However, as nice as those would be to have, that’s not the point of opening space to private industry. We don’t need a transport system optimized for going to the South Pole of the Moon. We need a transport system that allows for multiple destinations, because there’s no surer way to set off a rancorous frenzy in the space community than to assign a particular goal such as the Moon or Mars. I’m a known Moonatic. I have zero interest in Mars, and I don’t see it as THE Goal of our space efforts. That doesn’t mean that I don’t want to help the folks who want to go to Mars to get there (for a fair price). But I’m not going there, so if Mars is set as NASA’s (and by extension the U.S.’s) goal, bypassing the Moon, then I’m being excluded and will react accordingly. This is no different from the resentment felt by Mars Advocates when they see the Moon, what they consider a cul-de-sac, given a priority over their goals. And then there’s the long simmering angst of the asteroid folks, who know that their destinations are the best (and they’re right), but everyone ignores them. There’re also the L-5 colonists, who think the gravity-well-bound-thinkers are ignorant and can’t understand the human cultural potential that could be unleashed by micro-cultures in the different L-5 colonies. (Sort of what the U.S. is supposed to be about with the different cultures in the different states) We also can’t forget those who thought we would be exploring the Jupiter Moons by now.

So while I think I understand Dr. Spudis’ perspective, I have to disagree with his conclusions. I have no doubt that if we set the folks at NASA on, say, optimizing the design of inflatable fuel depots that use straps to transfer propellant, what I call Murphy Bags, then they would blow our minds with their results. By using straps controlled by electric motors, you’re doing away with the need for pumps. And by having multiple electric motors used to tighten the straps, the failure of a couple of them doesn’t negate functionality of the propellant bag (whereas if your pump breaks you’re hosed). How do you best place the restraining guides for the straps so that they don’t tangle? What are the actions/reactions at work during that kind of transfer process? That’s the sort of stuff that the NASA folks eat for breakfast. They have much, much to contribute to where we’re going.

Another obvious book choice, and of much more recent vintage is “The Moon: Resources, Future Development, and Settlement“. Lots of good stuff in there on Lunar industries. A little more hardcore is “The Lunar Base Handbook“, and beyond that is the first ISU Summer Session Project, the “International Lunar Initiative Organization“, which contains the best discourse I’ve found on Lunar Medicine. There’re over 2000 pages of densely packed info in those three. Other good titles include “Moonrush” and “Return to the Moon“.

Given how extensively these questions have been examined over the past few decades, it amazes me that there is so much ignorance being displayed in the comments and responses around the blogosphere. It’s almost as if there is a national schizophrenia at work regarding space activities. No one ever really supports space activities that much. Public polls show that time and again. Were that not the case then NASA would have no problem getting funding from Congress each year, and certainly at a higher level than 0.5 - 0.7% of the regular budget. Yet those who follow the process can tell you it is a fight year after year. But have the media trumpet that “The Moon program is dead!” and people start coming out of the woodwork.

There are also the logical disconnects. Some people point to the cancellation of the Orion capsule as the end of trans-LEO human spaceflight. Never mind that Space Adventures has already sold one Lunar free-return trajectory visit to the Moon (they need two for the flight). It is claimed that Orion could be ready by 2014, and yet the vehicle on which it would ride won’t be ready for another 4-5 years. The original Vision for Space Exploration (VSE) (pdf) called for the Orion to have its first test flight in 2010 and operational by 2014. Here we are in 2010 about 4 years from test flight.

I can remember back to the heady days of 2004, when various space companies were proposing solutions for the CEV during the Concept Exploration & Refinement (CE&R) stage of the process. This was in line with what the VSE had proposed, and which had also stated, and I quote:

“NASA does not plan to develop new launch vehicle capabilities except where critical NASA needs - such as heavy lift - are not met by commercial or military systems.” [p. 15]

Which brings us to another topic - that of heavy lift. There is a widespread and ingrained belief in the space community that a heavy-lift launch vehicle (HLLV) is required to do anything in space. My guess is that it stems from the “economics for engineers” analysis which demonstrates that the best way to scale down the cost of a kilo to orbit is to scale up the volume launched on any one vehicle, thereby distributing the fixed and variable costs amongst a greater number of kilos. Which is a fine analysis as far as it goes, but bears little relationship to the actual existing market of space launch vehicles.

There is a vehicle that can take heavy payloads to orbit, the Energia rocket. The Russians looked at the global market and saw that there was no demand for that volume of mass to orbit in one shot, and so don’t manufacture the rocket for the marketplace. And apparently the NASA version, Ares V, won’t be ready until the late 2020s. If all of your budget is being sucked into the design and manufacture of the rocket, then what can you afford to put on top? This particular path of logic seems to assume that there will be NASA budget increases in the future to pay for the equipment to ride on top. I question that assumption.

What became the Ares rockets were proposed back in 2004 at about the same time that the CE&R studies were being reviewed. I know this because I have an ATK marketing DVD for the shuttle-derived rockets and the files on it are dated August 2004. But it wasn’t part of the CE&R process, even if it was marketed as Safe, Simple & Soon. My guess is that it was because the SS&S rockets were a solution to a requirement that NASA didn’t have, that of “develop[ing] new launch vehicle capabilities”.

So what did we get? A new rocket development program and not a trans-LEO CEV. NASA was supposed to be out of the launch business and back into the exploration business, but here we are five years later and it’ll be nigh on a decade before NASA can get us into LEO, and another decade still until the Ares V allows us to go trans-LEO. And private industry is supposed to wait on that before we’re ready to develop space? I think some folks are really, seriously underestimating the capabilities that exist in the U.S. Do I think the private sector can get us back to the Moon in less than two decades? Heck yes!

By refocusing NASA’s capabilities on accelerating the development of the tools necessary for cislunar, Lunar, and translunar space, we can ensure that it happens a lot faster.

I’m excited by this new direction. Especially because as an investor I can put some capital into the industry and, if I do it carefully, profit from where we are now going. That excites me a whole lot more than watching a cadre of select government employees planting a flag on [pick your celestial destination]. I want human spaceflight to be a growth industry for our economy, not a government program delimited one.

The U.S. is desperately in need of industries and trades that will lead to economic growth. We have no choice, as we are leveraging our existing future to an unsustainable level. Space is a domain in which the United States has a competitive advantage. We need to exploit that advantage, to the ends of providing energy and resources so that we can start remediating the damage we do to our own planet to get those things.

This new direction opens the door to more than just NASA to achieve those ends. Therefore I applaud the President’s choices, and look forward to American enterprise taking us into space.

EVA / 2:11 pm December 22nd, 2009

From Russia, we welcome Team Selenokhod to EVA Interviews: The Business of the new Space Age™ in the fourth of this series of Lunar Editions. As one of the most recent entrants in the Google Lunar X Prize competition, Team Selenokhod looks to build on Russia’s early lunar robotic successes of the 1970 Lunokhod-1 and 1973 Lunokhod-2 remote-controlled rovers in their efforts to win the prize. I’m excited to have Nikolay Dzis-Voynarovskiy, the CEO of Team Selenkhod, join us to discuss their team and activities to date.

 

EVA:       Thank you so much, Nikolay, for participating in the Lunar Editions of EVA Interviews: The Business of the new Space Age™! Can you please tell us more about the formation of your team? How was your decision made to compete and what do you (and your team) hope to get out of your involvement? How is it going so far?

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EVA / 3:49 pm November 15th, 2009

Welcome to the third in this series of Lunar Editions of EVA Interviews: The Business of the new Space Age™. To start this series, EVA went directly to the source and interviewed the Moon about its expectations for future lunar commercial activities. Coming back down to Earth, the second interview focused on the organization whose actions and incentives are most helping to make business on the Moon a reality and talked to William Pomerantz Senior Director of Space Prizes for the X PRIZE Foundation about the exciting Google Lunar X Prize competition. Now we will talk to the teams themselves who are hard at work, taking the first steps necessary towards expanding commerce beyond Earth, and to the Moon.

The first team to reply is Next Giant Leap and its founder, Michael Joyce. I met Mike this summer at the Space Frontier Foundation NewSpace Conference and the NLSI (NASA Lunar Science Institute) 2nd Annual Lunar Science Forum, both at NASA Ames in July, and again at the Space Investment Summit 7 in Boston where Mike, along with other impressive members of his team, was one of the Business Plan presenters. I’m delighted to have Next Giant Leap and Michael Joyce as our first Team guest!

 

EVA:    Thank you so much, Mike, for participating in the Lunar Editions of EVA Interviews: The Business of the new Space Age™! I am very interested to hear more about the formation of your team. How was your decision made to compete and what do you (and your team) hope to get out of your involvement? How is it going so far?

READ MORE…

Ken Murphy / 4:35 am November 3rd, 2009

Ah, your Lunar Librarian can well recall his student years, hitting the books and starving more often than not in the pursuit of knowledge. Ramen noodles, rice & beans, ravioli. I seemed to have a very R-rich diet.

So that you won’t have to suffer as I did in my space studies, I’ve gathered together a number of different scholarship and competition opportunities for all different fields.

There’s a lot of money out there for space studies, and one thing you should realize from the following list is that you need to be creative in seeking out funding and learning opportunities. The real question is how much scholarship fundage can be brought into the space field through creative application. That’s for y’all to find out.

And treat yourself to a nice dinner at least once per semester.

Nininger Meteorite Award

The 2009 application deadline is November 13, 2009.
http://meteorites.asu.edu/nininger

Recognizes outstanding student achievement in the meteoritical sciences as embodied by an original research paper. Papers must cover original research conducted by the student and must have been written, submitted or published between November 15, 2008 and November 13, 2009. Applicants must be the first, but not sole, author of the paper and must be studying at an educational institution in the United States. The Nininger Award recipient receives $1000 and an engraved plaque commemorating the honor.

Amelia Earhart Fellowship Program

All applications for 2010 Amelia Earhart Fellowships, recommendations, transcripts, and letter of current standing must be received or post-marked by 15 November 2009.
http://www.zonta.org/site/PageServer?pagename=zi_issues_programs_amelia_earhart_application

Women of any nationality pursuing a PhD/doctoral degree who demonstrate a superior academic record in the field of aerospace-related sciences and aerospace-related engineering are eligible. Please note that post-doctoral research programs are not eligible for this Fellowship.
The Fellowship of US $10,000 may be used at any university or college offering accredited graduate courses and degrees.

Conrad Foundation
Spirit of Innovation Awards

Team Nutrition Bar Submissions Due: November 20, 2009
http://www.conradawards.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=152&Itemid=183

Space Nutrition
Design and formulate a nutrition bar for use in space flight.

Finalists – top teams invited to participate in the final competition (selected January 8, 2010)

* $1000 travel stipend for Mattson Inc. manufacturing program.
* $1000 Matching Grant for Innovation Summit program.

Pete Conrad Scholars – winning teams chosen from finalists (selected April 12, 2010)

* 10,000 of the team’s Nutrition Bars
* Recognition medallions
* Promotional media opportunities
* Consideration for selection into the Conrad Portal to support the commercialization of their product.
* Sigma Xi Associate membership.

8C Business Plan Competition 2010

http://www.8cproject.com/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=20

Coming November 2009 - The 8th Continent Project will be accepting entries from around the globe for its 2010 Business Plan Competition for university students.

$50,000 in prizes will be awarded including cash and in-kind services, and an unforgettable ride on the Zero Gravity Corporation aircraft. Final Rounds will be held April 9-10, 2010, on the campus of the Colorado School of Mines in Golden.

The 8C Business Plan Competition (formerly Lunar Ventures) challenges students in business, engineering and science to collaborate in creating business plans that employ space-derived technology in products and services with immediate commercial application here on Earth.

2010 CanSat Competition

Application forms due November 30, 2009.
http://www.cansatcompetition.com/Main.html

The mission is to launch an autonomous cansat carrying one large hen’s egg intact for the
entire duration from launch to landing. The descent control system must not use a parachute,
para-foil, or any similar device. During the flight and descent, data shall be transmitted once
every five seconds to a relay balloon station. The cansat must land without damaging the egg.

Launch Location for 2010 is Amarillo, Texas June 11 - 13

Society of Women Engineers

http://societyofwomenengineers.swe.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=222&Itemid=111

Scholarship information for the 2010-2011 school year will be available starting in December for undergradate/graduate students, and February for incoming freshman.

The SWE Scholarship Program provides financial assistance to women admitted to accredited baccalaureate or graduate programs, in preparation for careers in engineering, engineering technology and computer science.

Geological Society of America

Deadline of December 10, 2009
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2010/documents/lpsc2010.studentapp.pdf

Each year the Planetary Geology Division of the Geological Society of America (GSA) gives the Stephen E. Dwornik Planetary Student Paper Awards for the best student research presentations, one for an oral presentation and one for a poster presentation. The purpose of these awards is to provide encouragement, motivation, and recognition to outstanding future planetary scientists who are U.S. citizens. Winners will be introduced and awarded a plaque and a cash prize of $500.00 at the following years’ LPSC.

To apply for the award, students MUST complete the student award application form and MUST send the original application, with an original signature by their advisor, to LPI on or before the deadline of December 10, 2009.

SPACE CAMP/AVIATION CHALLENGE
Scholarship Program

The 2010 scholarship applications are due December 11, 2009.
http://www.spacecamp.com/details.php?cat=Scholarships&program=Scholarships

The scholarship program is managed by the U.S. Space & Rocket Center Foundation. Full Scholarships cover tuition, room & board for any weeklong, age-appropriate camp and are good for one year. Transportation and incidentals are the responsibility of the scholarship recipient.

Applicants may apply in one of four categories - Financial Need/Disadvantaged, Special Needs, Academic Achievement, or General. Each applicant must answer an essay question, design a mission patch, describe a science project using the scientific method, and provide three letters of recommendation.

Moon Tasks

Notice of Intent is requested as soon as possible, or no later than December 15, 2009
http://moontasks.larc.nasa.gov/

The NASA Exploration Systems Mission Directorate and the Exploration Technology Development Program encourage college students to design tools and instruments needed for future human and robotic exploration of the moon. Student projects will tackle real problems required for successful lunar missions.
All awards are subject to available funds. We expect to award prizes in the form of travel stipends to the NASA lunar rover analog testing in the fall of 2010.

Conrad Foundation
Spirit of Innovation Awards

Team Product Submissions Due: December 15, 2009
http://www.conradawards.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=87&Itemid=182

Aerospace Exploration Category
The Aerospace Exploration category encompasses a wide variety of topics ranging from vehicles to spacesuits to planetary exploration to satellites, and many other related subjects including space medicine.

Finalists
* $1000 matching grant (pending matching funds raised by the team)
* Recognition certificates
* Promotional media opportunities
* Invitation to the Innovation Summit and final awards competition
Laureates
* $5000 Next Step grant.
* Access to online fundraising tools
* Recognition medallions
* Promotional media opportunities
* Conrad Portal selection consideration.
* AIAA student membership.
* Sigma Xi Associate membership.
$5,000 National Space Biomedical Research Institute Prize for Innovation in Space Exploration Health Care will be awarded to one team for the best aerospace-related human health product.

Each of the winning student-up to 30- will receive a 1 year student membership to AIAA.

IAU/Peter & Patricia Gruber Foundation
Gruber Cosmology Prize

Nominations for the Gruber Cosmology Prize 2010 will close on 15 December 2009
http://www.iau.org/grants_prizes/gruber_foundation/

The Cosmology Prize honors a leading cosmologist, astronomer, astrophysicist or scientific philosopher for theoretical, analytical, conceptual or observational discoveries leading to fundamental advances in our understanding of the Universe.

The Cosmology Prize of the Gruber Foundation is awarded annually to one or more scientists of any nationality working in the fields of astronomy, physics, mathematics, and philosophy of science, for scientific advances in our understanding of the Universe and how we perceive it.

The Cosmology Prize consists of a gold medal and a cash prize of, as of 2008, US$ 500,000.

NASA Great Moonbuggy Race

INTERNATIONAL REGISTRATION ENDS JANUARY 1, 2010
US REGISTRATION ENDS FEBRUARY 1, 2010
http://moonbuggy.msfc.nasa.gov/compete.html

Students are required to design a vehicle that addresses a series of engineering problems that are similar to problems faced by the original Moonbuggy team.

Each Moonbuggy will be human powered and carry two students, one female and one male, over a half-mile simulated lunar terrain course including “craters”, rocks, “lava” ridges, inclines and “lunar” soil.

National Society of Black Physicists

Applications are due by January 8, 2010
http://www.nsbp.org/scholarships/

The organization seeks to develop and support efforts to increase opportunities for African Americans in physics and to increase their numbers and visibility of their scientific work. It also seeks to develop activities and programs that highlight and enhance the benefits of the scientific contributions that African American physicists provide for the international community. The society seeks to raise the general knowledge and appreciation of physics in the African American community.

EntryPoint 2010

Deadline for NASA applications is January 15, 2010
http://ehrweb.aaas.org/entrypoint/index.htm

ENTRY POINT! is a program of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) offering outstanding internship opportunities for students with apparent and non-apparent disabilities in science, engineering, mathematics, computer science, and some fields of business.

ACCESS (Achieving Competence in Computing, Engineering, and Space Science) is a summer internship program for students with disabilities sponsored by AAAS and NASA.

NASA Academy

Application Deadline: January 18, 2010
https://academyapp.com/

The NASA Academies are an immersive summer programs for highly motivated and successful undergraduate and graduate students. These summer NASA internships are intensive. Their purpose is to bring together the likely future leaders in space activity and train them in research, leadership, team building and networking. The program’s structure is set so that the work day is spent on an individual research project specifically working with a NASA Principle Investigator, the evenings are filled with work on the group project and weekends are devoted to traveling to different NASA centers, research institutes, and commercial space-related businesses so that the students learn at an early stage how NASA operates from the inside-out.

Lunar Exploration Summer Intern Program

Deadline for Application: January 22, 2010
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar_intern/

The Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI) is hosting a special summer intern program to evaluate possible landing sites for robotic and human exploration missions. Four to six interns will work with LPI science staff and other collaborators to evaluate the best landing sites to address each of the NRC’s science priorities. This will be a unique team activity that should foster extensive discussions among students and senior science team members. This Lunar Exploration Summer Intern Program will operate parallel with LPI’s regular summer intern program.

This program is open to graduate students in geology, planetary science, and related programs. It is also open to undergraduates with at least 50 semester hours of credit so that they, too, can participate in lunar exploration activities.

The 10-week program runs from June 1, 2010 through August 9, 2010. Selected interns will receive $5,000.00 and a $1000.00 travel expense reimbursement.

Lunar and Planetary Institute
Summer Intern Program in Planetary Science

Deadline for Application: Friday, January 22, 2010
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/lpiintern/

The Lunar and Planetary Institute invites undergraduates with at least 50 semester hours of credit to experience cutting-edge research in the lunar and planetary sciences. As a Summer Intern, you will work one-on-one with a scientist at the LPI or at the NASA Johnson Space Center on a research project of current interest in lunar and planetary science. Furthermore, you will participate in peer-reviewed research, learn from top-notch planetary scientists, and preview various careers in science.

The 10-week program runs from June 7, 2010–August 13, 2010. You will receive a $5,000.00 stipend plus $1000.00 U.S. travel stipend, or $1,500 foreign travel reimbursement for foreign interns.

The National Society of Black Engineers

Applications Due January 22, 2010
http://national.nsbe.org/Programs/Scholarships/tabid/84/Default.aspx

NSBE’s mission is ” to increase the number of culturally responsible Black Engineers who excel academically, succeed professionally and positively impact the community. ”

The National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) with more than 30,000 members, is one of the largest student-managed organization in the country. NSBE is comprised of more than 233 chapters on college and university campuses, 65 Alumni Extension chapters nationwide and 89 Pre-College chapters.

NASA ESMD
Research Paper Competition

The deadline is midnight EST January 25, 2010.
http://education.ksc.nasa.gov/esmdspacegrant/ResearchPaper.htm

Join NASA’s mission to bring us to the moon, Mars and beyond by submitting a research paper on one of the four ESMD topics listed below. Your research may be used as the solution to current NASA challenges.

1. Spacecraft Landing and Recovery Architecture: Historical Approaches and Ideas for the Future
2. Synergistic degradation effects of materials exposed to radiation, micrometeors, thermal sinks and lunar dust
3. Loading of Cryogenic Propellant in Space Launch Vehicle
4. Determination of the Optimum Internal Cockpit Layout

Four 1st place prizes of $3500 cash scholarships–one for each research topic and VIP seating to an upcoming launch

AIAA

Deadline for applications: 31 January 2010
http://www.aiaa.org/content.cfm?pageid=211

The AIAA Foundation’s undergraduate scholarship program offers 30 scholarships of $2000 - $2500 to college sophomores, juniors, and seniors each year. All recipients can apply to renew their scholarship annually until they graduate. And through the annual graduate scholarship program, the AIAA Foundation presents ten graduate awards worth $5000 each and four graduate awards of $10,000 each.

NSBRI Summer Internship Program

Application deadline for the 2010 summer program is January 31, 2010.
http://www.nsbri.org/Education/SummerInternship.html

NSBRI has a summer program that provides the opportunity for undergraduate, graduate or medical students to join ongoing projects in laboratories at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, and the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. Applicants must have completed their second year of undergraduate studies by the start of the internship. The program is open to U.S. citizens. Interns receive an hourly wage, but the program does not cover housing or travel.

ISU Space Studies Program

SSP10 applicants who are requesting financial aid must apply before the deadline of 31 January 2010.
http://www.isunet.edu/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=61&Itemid=204

SSP 2010 lands in Strasbourg, France - 28 June to 27 August 2010

The SSP’s interdisciplinary curriculum emphasizes international cooperation and provides students with varied perspectives on the world’s space activities—perspectives normally reserved for those with years of diverse professional experience. The program includes a wide variety of activities, including lectures by renowned experts, hands-on activities and projects, team work exercises and professional visits, and each year it evolves to better meet the needs of its students and their employers.

American Astronautical Society

http://astronautical.org/awards/scholarships/

The American Astronautical Society (AAS) is pleased to offer the $10,000 Lady Mamie Ngan Memorial Scholarship for students to attend the International Space University’s 2010 Space Studies Program in Strasbourg, France and Stuttgart, Germany, or the 2010-2011 Masters of Science (Space Studies or Space Management) programs conducted at the ISU Central Campus in Strasbourg.
Scholarship available for any progam (SSP, MSM, MSS)

National Space Society ISU Scholarship

http://www.nss.org/education/ISU_scholarship.html

For the 2010 scholarship, we are excited to support the Space Studies Program (SSP) to be hosted at the ISU University in Strasbourg France next summer (26 June - 28 August 2010.).

The 2010 scholarship will be available only for those applying to the Space Studies Program. The scholarship is worth up to $12,000, and may be allocated by the scholarship committee to meet the needs of one or more worthy students.

Applications for the 2010 scholarship will be coming soon.

Society of Manufacturing Engineers

SME Education Foundation online scholarship applications must be submitted by February 1, 2010.
http://www.sme.org/cgi-bin/smeefhtml.pl?/foundation/scholarships/fsfstudp.htm&&&SEF&
Since 1998, the SME Foundation has provided over $3.5 million dollars in financial aid through its various scholarship programs. The Foundation awards scholarships to graduating high school seniors, current undergraduates and masters or doctoral degree students pursuing degrees in manufacturing and related fields at two-year and four-year colleges.

Mars Society
University Rover Challenge

Indication of Participation Deadline: February 1, 2010
http://www.marssociety.org/portal/c/urc

The Mars Society’s University Rover Challenge (URC) is a competition for college students to design and build the next generation of Mars rovers that will work alongside astronauts in the field. Teams square off every June at the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) near Hanksville, Utah.

RASC-AL
REVOLUTIONARY AEROSPACE SYSTEMS CONCEPTS ACADEMIC LINKAGE

Deadline for Abstract submission: February 5, 2010
http://www.nianet.org/rascal/index.html

LUNAR OUTPOST TO SETTLEMENT
NASA’s goal for a lunar outpost is to gain experience that will reduce risk for future human missions to Mars and establish core infrastructure from which economic development and permanent settlement could occur.
* Utilizing lunar, space, and other planetary resources for infrastructure development, power, and consumables to minimize the logistics supply chain needed from Earth
* Converting lunar oxygen, hydrogen, and water ice into propellants and transfer to a propellant depot in lunar orbit or at a libration point
* Lunar transportation system(s) for routine access to the settlement and for exploration of remote regions for discovery of new resources.
* Durable lunar settlement designs and settlement layouts, including all required utilities and infrastructure
* Dramatically improved Earth-to-orbit and in-space transportation systems that can significantly reduce cost and improve safety.
* A business plan on how to develop a self-sufficient lunar economy with unique utilization of lunar resources

TECHNOLOGY-ENABLED HUMAN MARS MISSION
NASA is interested in eventual human mission to the Martian surface. Current Mars design reference architectures that use chemical or nuclear thermal propulsion require several years to complete, a large number of heavy lift launches and over 500 days on the surface the first time humans visit the planet. Approaches that lead to sustainable human Mars exploration leading up to the establishment of an outpost are encouraged.

BRINGING THE WORLD ALONG WITH PARTICIPATORY EXPLORATION
An important element of NASA’s exploration program is engaging the general public in human exploration missions. To capture the attention of a large cross section of the general population, NASA must use a variety of innovative and diverse approaches. The approach should yield a cultural shift in and outside of NASA that results in awareness and excitement about what NASA is doing at the moment, not what it did in the past.

COMMON LUNAR SORTIE / NEAR-EARTH OBJECT (NEO) MISSION DESIGN
NASA is interested in architecture approaches that provide cost-effective Earth neighborhood exploration with minimal infrastructure. Assuming that commonality with currently planned Constellation architecture elements is not required, what low-cost options are available to accomplish such a mission?

Teams presenting at the 2010 RASC-AL Forum June 7-9th will receive $5,875.00 for travel expenses and registration fees.

Rice University
Business Plan Competition

Intent to Compete: Friday, February 5, 2010
http://www.alliance.rice.edu/alliance/RBPC.asp?SnID=1375247303

The Rice University Business Plan Competition (RBPC) has become the premier intercollegiate business plan competition in the world. The three-day event is intended to simulate the real-world process of entrepreneurs soliciting start-up funds from early-stage investors and venture capital firms. The Competition is hosted by the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship and Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University.

Forty-two teams from top MBA programs will be selected to compete at Rice University, in Houston Texas, for more than $800,000 in prizes; including an investment opportunity of $125,000 for the grand prize winner

NASA ESMD
Lunabotics Mining Competition

Competition registration deadline: February 28, 2010
http://www.nasa.gov/offices/education/centers/kennedy/technology/lunabotics.html

The purpose of the Lunabotics Mining Competition is to engage and retain students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, or STEM, in a competitive environment that may result in innovative ideas and solutions, which could be applied to actual lunar excavation for NASA.

Undergraduate and graduate student teams enrolled in a U.S. college or university are eligible to enter the inaugural Lunabotics Mining Competition.

1st place: $5,000 and VIP Kennedy launch tickets.

Space Medicine Association

Application Deadline: Postmarked by March 1, 2010.
http://www.asma.org/Organization/smb/scholar.htm

The Space Medicine Association of the Aerospace Medical Association (AsMA) is pleased to announce an opportunity to apply for a scholarship award for 2010. The purpose of the SMA Scholarship is to encourage students, who have demonstrated academic achievement and shown an interest in Space Biology and Space Medical Operations to further pursue a career in Space Medicine.
A scholarship of $500 will be awarded.
Scholarship sponsored by Dr. Jeffrey R. Davis.

Society of Exploration Geophysicists Foundation
Scholarship Program

Applications and supporting documents must be received by 1 March.
http://www.seg.org/SEGportalWEBproject/portals/SEG_Online.portal;jsessionid=wvyLKzKBpRvl2TSZwWWBB2gcfTSPkb367Wv57NS2FlKVRgRvGvpR!1252845693?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pg_gen_content&Doc_Url=prod/SEG-Foundation/Foundation-Scholarship-Program/scholarship.htm

In 1956 the Society of Exploration Geophysicists began a program of encouraging the establishment of scholarship funds by companies and individuals engaged or interested in the field of geophysics. SEG saw the need for a more appropriate organization and caused the SEG Foundation to be organized.

The awards to recipients range from US$500 to US$14,000 per academic year, with average awards being approximately US$2,700 per academic year.

American Society of Mechanical Engineers

Applications for each academic year are accepted online each year only from February 1 through March 15, when our online application is closed.
http://www.asme.org/Education/College/FinancialAid/Scholarships.cfm

Over $100,000 in academic scholarships are awarded annually to ASME Student Members worldwide. You must be a current undergraduate ASME Student Member

AIAA Undergraduate Team Space Design Competition
L2 Space Weather Monitoring Constellation

Letter of Intent — 19 March 2010
http://www.aiaa.org/content.cfm?pageid=221

Future observatories such as NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and the ESA/NASA Hershel/Planck telescopes, are being placed away from Earth orbit, into heliocentric orbits at locations such as the second Lagrange point of the Sun-Earth system, L2 (see Figure 1). The advantages of L2 include a stable thermal environment, and low light pollution from Moon, Earth, or the Sun. However, these spacecraft must be placed into orbits around L2, since it is a quasi-stable gravitational point. Significant propulsion is needed to arrive at L2 and perform an orbit insertion maneuver. While a family of Lissajous orbits exists around L2, most observatories are scheduled to enter a long baseline halo orbit, some 100,000’s of km in semi-major axis. This means that the spacecraft may be entering and exiting the Earth’s magnetotail and magnetosheath.

It is of great interest and need to characterize the radiation environment at L2, not only to understand the strength and extent, but more importantly, to understand the time variability of magnetotail. With no less than 5 major observatories scheduled to be at L2 in the coming decade, concerns about its radiation and space weather environment will only increase. In addition, there is also intrinsic scientific value in monitoring activities on the magnetotail. Interactions at the magnetotail causes charged plasmoids to travel back up the tail and interact with the Earth’s magnetosphere.

First place-$2,500;
Second place-$1,500;
Third place-$1,000 (USD)

AIAA Undergraduate Team Space Transportation Design Competition
Design of a Human Asteroid Exploration System

Letter of Intent — 19 March 2010
http://www.aiaa.org/content.cfm?pageid=301

The goal of this project is to design a Human Asteroid Exploration System (HAES). The HAES should consist of a transportation system capable of sending two or more astronauts from Earth to a Near Earth Asteroid (NEA) and returning them safely to the Earth. The transportation system should be designed for a mission opportunity to a specific asteroid during the 2018-2030 timeframe.

First place-$2,500;
Second place-$1,500;
Third place-$1,000 (USD)

NASA Ames/National Space Society
Space Settlement Design Competition

All submissions must be received by March 31, 2010.
http://www.nss.org/settlement/nasa/Contest/index.html

This annual contest, co-sponsored by NASA Ames and the National Space Society (NSS), is for 6-12th graders (11-18 years old) from anywhere in the world.

The best submission wins the grand prize, consisting of the space colony submission being placed on the NASA Ames World Wide Web site.

Fabricators and Manufacturers Association

Applications available after Jan 1, due April 1.
http://www.nutsandboltsfoundation.org/Scholarships.cfm

Since 1990, FMA’s foundation has awarded scholarships annually to students in courses of study that may lead to careers in manufacturing.

College scholarships for non-members are $2,500 per school year and college scholarships for members are $5,000 per school year. Trade school and two-year college scholarships up to $2,000 require membership.

Moon Art 2009 -2010 Contest

Entries are due no later than April 15, 2010.
http://artcontest.larc.nasa.gov/

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration invites high school and college students from all areas of study to enter, including the arts, industrial design, architecture, computer design, and the fine arts. Students are asked to submit their work on the theme: Life and Work on the Moon. Artists are encouraged to collaborate with science and engineering students. Such collaboration is not required, but would help to ensure that the art is valid for the Moon’s harsh environment. Any full time student can enter, regardless of major or area of study. Entries will be accepted in three categories: two-dimensional, three-dimensional, and digital, including music and video.

For the first time, we will also accept entries in literature (poetry and short stories). Entries will be evaluated on creativity, artistic qualities, but also on whether they depict a valid scenario for the moon’s harsh conditions. Prizes include awards and exhibit opportunities. Cash prizes, certificates of achievement, and exhibit opportunities are planned.

The Barringer Family Fund
for Meteorite Impact Research

April 2010
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/science/kring/Awards/Barringer_Fund/index.html

The Barringer Crater Company has established a special fund to support field work by eligible students interested in the study of impact cratering processes. The Barringer Family Fund for Meteorite Impact Research will provide a small number (3 to 5) of competitive grants each year in the range of $2,500 to $5,000 USD for support of field research at known or suspected impact sites worldwide. Grant funds may be used to assist with travel and subsistence costs, as well as laboratory and computer analysis of research samples and findings. Masters, doctoral, and post-doctoral students enrolled in formal university programs are eligible.

Mineralogical Society of America

Completed applications must be returned to the MSA Business Office by June 1, 2010.
http://www.minsocam.org/MSA/Awards/Min_Pet_Award.html

2011 MSA Grant For Student Research In Mineralogy And Petrology from an endowment created by contributions from the MSA membership. The grant comprises two awards of up to $5000 each for research in mineralogy and petrology. Graduate and undergraduate students, are encouraged to apply. However, all proposals are considered together. The award selection will be based on the qualifications of the applicant, the quality, innovativeness, and scientific significance of the research, and the likelihood of success of the project.
The grant is for research-related expenses only.

Starfleet - The International Star Trek Fan Association

The application period runs from January 1st through July 1st.
http://www.sfi.org/portal/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=122&Itemid=117

Ever since 1990, our organization has presented monetary scholarships to special active STARFLEET members who are attending community colleges, four-year colleges, most technical schools, junior colleges and universities or graduate school.

Scholarships are awarded in amounts of up to $500 based on number of applicants and availability of funds.

Eugene M. Shoemaker
Impact Cratering Award

Proposals for the 2010 research award will probably be due in early September 2010
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/science/kring/Awards/Shoemaker_Award/index.html

The Eugene M. Shoemaker Impact Cratering Award is for undergraduate or graduate students, of any nationality, working in any country, in the disciplines of geology, geophysics, geochemistry, astronomy, or biology. The award, which will include $2500, is to be applied for the study of impact craters, either on Earth or on the other solid bodies in the solar system, which areas of study may include but shall not necessarily be limited to impact cratering processes, the bodies (asteroidal or cometary) that make the impacts, or the geological, chemical or biological results of impact cratering.

American Astronomical Society

Deadline is October 1st 2010
http://aas.org/grants/awards.php

Has a number of Grants and Awards
includes
Annie J. Cannon Award in Astronomy

The Annie Jump Cannon Award is given to a North American female astronomer within five years of receiving her PhD in the year designated for the award. The Cannon Prize is for outstanding research and promise for future research by a postdoctoral woman researcher. The prize will amount to $1500 and the winner will give an invited talk at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society and travel expenses will be paid. Self nominations will be allowed.

L. RON HUBBARD’S ILLUSTRATORS OF THE FUTURE CONTEST

http://www.writersofthefuture.com/17/rules/ilofrules.html

All themes of science fiction and fantasy illustrations are welcome: every entry is judged on its own merits only. No entry fee is required and all rights in the entries remain the property of their artists.
There will be three co-winners in each quarter. Each winner will receive an outright cash grant of U.S. $500.00, and a certificate of merit. Such winners also receive eligibility to compete for the annual Grand Prize of an additional outright cash grant of $4,000, together with the annual Grand Prize trophy.

State Space Grant Consortium

http://www.nasa.gov/offices/education/programs/national/spacegrant/home/Space_Grant_Consortium_Websites.html#VI

The 52 consortia fund fellowships and scholarships for students pursuing careers in science, mathematics, engineering and technology, or STEM, as well as curriculum enhancement and faculty development. Member colleges and universities also administer pre-college and public service education projects in their states.

Texas, e.g. has the Columbia Crew Memorial Undergraduate Scholarship Program with a $1,000 Stipend and a Graduate Fellowship Program with a $5,000 Stipend.

Each NASA Space Center typically runs a number of its own program opportunities

KSC
http://education.ksc.nasa.gov/students/undergrad.htm
GSFC
http://university.gsfc.nasa.gov/
JSC
http://www.nasa.gov/offices/education/centers/johnson/classroom/index.html
GRC
http://newbusiness.grc.nasa.gov/university-affairs/
JPL
http://education.jpl.nasa.gov/higher_ed/index.html
SSC
http://education.ssc.nasa.gov/highered.asp
ARC
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/postsecondary/index.html

Full list of NASA programs at:
http://www.nasa.gov/offices/education/programs/descriptions/Students-rd.html

If you’re looking for some European travel, there are a couple of newer European programs:

EuMAS

European Masters Course in Aeronautics and Space Technology
http://www.aerospacemasters.org/

EuMAS is a two-year MSc programme jointly offered by five European aerospace schools: Università di Pisa (Italy), Technische Universität München (Germany), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (Spain), Institut Supérieure de l’Aéronautique et de l’Espace (ISAE-Supaero) of Toulouse (France), and Cranfield University (United Kingdom).

SpaceMaster

Joint European Master in Space Science and Technology
http://www.spacemaster.se/

The main objective of the Course is to combine the great diversity of space expertise at six European universities and two Third-Country universities to a common platform of competence within the guidelines of the Bologna process. The educational cooperation is supported by scientific and industrial organisations, thus providing direct contacts with professional research and industry.

Another objective is to give the students cross-disciplinary extension from laboratory and computer simulation environments to hands-on work with stratospheric balloons, rockets, satellite and radar control, robotics, sensor data fusion, automatic control and multi-body dynamics.

SUCCESS

A competition for European university students* from all disciplines to propose an experiment that could fly on board the International Space Station (ISS).
http://www.esa.int/esaHS/SEMU9TGHZTD_education_0.html

The goal of the competition is to make today’s students the International Space Station users of tomorrow. The first prize of the competition is a one-year internship at ESA’s space research and technology centre, ESTEC, in the Netherlands. At ESTEC, the winner of the contest can work on his/her experiment with the possibility of qualifying it for flight to the International Space Station.

A new SUCCESS Student Contest is currently foreseen for 2010.

FIRST Robotics Competition

http://www.usfirst.org/aboutus/content.aspx?id=508

Our mission is to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders, by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering and technology skills, that inspire innovation, and that foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership.

Association for Women in Science

http://www.awis.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=69

AWIS is a vibrant, highly charged organization committed to helping women in STEM at every stage of their career achieve their greatest potential. We work on multiple levels to lower the barriers and create opportunties for success.

American Radio Relay League

http://www.arrlf.org/programs/scholarships

The American Radio Relay League Foundation offers a number of college scholarships to students who plan to study engineering and hold a valid ham radio license.

American Society for Metals
ASM International

http://asmcommunity.asminternational.org/portal/site/www/Foundation/Students/Scholarships/

Since 1953, the ASM Materials Education Foundation and leading ASM Chapters nationwide have awarded scholarships totaling over $1 million. Currently 37 scholarships are awarded annually through the ASM International Foundation.

Astronaut Scholarship Foundation

(for select schools)
http://www.astronautscholarship.org/scholarship.html

The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation was created to ensure that the United States would maintain its leadership in science and technology by supporting promising students in science and engineering.

USRA

http://www.usra.edu/cs/usra_scholarship_program

The USRA Scholarship Program provides college scholarships to students who have shown a career interest in the physical sciences or engineering with an emphasis on space research or space science education.

An undetermined number of undergraduate scholarships are available in amounts up to $1,000. The McLucas Research Prize is $400.

National Space Club

http://www.spaceclub.org/goddard.html

Awards a $10,000 scholarship each year, in memory of Dr. Robert H. Goddard, America’s rocket pioneer. The scholarship is presented at the Goddard Memorial Dinner each spring, for the following academic year. The award is given to stimulate the interest of talented students in the opportunity to advance scientific knowledge through space research and exploration.

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

http://www.ieee.org/web/membership/students/scholarshipsawardscontests/SAG_homepage.html

IEEE offers a variety of awards, competitions, contests, scholarships and fellowships

International Academy of Aviation and Space Medicine
Aviation Medicine Scholarship

http://www.iaasm.org/scholarship.cfm

The International Academy of Aviation and Space Medicine has a well-established Scholarship Programme, the aims of which are to enable young physicians commencing a career in aerospace medicine to undertake training in the specialty. The Scholarship can be used to facilitate attendance at a formal training course, or participation in a work programme (one year or more, structured towards educational goals) in a recognized aerospace medicine institute. The scholarship is for US $15,000.

Aerospace Medical Association

http://www.asma.org/aboutasma/careers.php#AerospaceMedecine

Careers in Aerospace Medicine with information on scholarships and programs

American Institute
of Chemical Engineers

http://www.aiche.org/Students/Scholarships/index.aspx

Each year, students are awarded scholarships based on outstanding academic achievement and their involvement in AIChE programs and activities.

Ken Murphy / 5:52 pm September 13th, 2009

Howdy everyone!

Here in North Texas we had a treat this weekend as Armadillo Aerospace made its bid for the $1,000,000 purse of the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge at the Caddo Mills Municipal Airport just east of Dallas.

Festivities kicked off in the hangar shortly after 9am on Saturday as folks got registered and hung around waiting for the rain to let up. Anticipating such a wait I had brought my bag of Moon goodies with me, and after getting permission I set up a small display of genuine fake Moon rocks and real regolith simulant. Many a youngster was engaged for long stretches of time learning about Moon rocks and asteroids. One budding geologist was even curious about the smell and taste of anorthosite.

The delay turned out to be a long one, and it wasn’t until later in the afternoon that the weather cleared enough to make an attempt. This left some time to wander about the facilities and check out some fine American engineering.

Pixel is one of my favorites. It’s the hardware that Armadillo showed off at the ISDC here in Dallas back in 2007, and the most popular exhibit in the display room. It looks a little worse for wear now.

I didn’t expect to see an X-Racer there, but it was an opportunity to check out the plumbing and peek into the cockpit to compare the control panel with the one I had seen in the simulator at the last ISDC. Since I like taking pictures of the business end of rockets, here’s one of the Rocket Racer motor.

What’s interesting is to compare the scarring in the combustion chamber with the scarring in the combustion chamber of the Scorpius. I’m not an engineer, nor do I play one on TV, but the pattern in the Scorpius chamber appears to me to be a more efficient design, in the context that the ‘flares’ coming out from the center are more cleanly defined and regular. This tells me that the Armadillo team is getting better at what they do, and their success in this year’s Challenge is testament to that.

Local families continued to wander through, and the police and fire department folks were hanging out as well. I went through my Moon spiel more times than I can remember, but at least all of the kids now know more about the Moon than their teachers. Most folks would have given up, but we Texans knew better. There’s an old saying here in North Texas that if you don’t like the weather, just wait around a bit and it’ll change. The local weather radar was on the mission control laptop, and experienced eyes were watching the patterns for breaks in the slow gentle rain. Periodically the VIPs would stop down to check on developments, but they mostly kept to themselves. Then, mid-afternoon, the tenor changed and we got the mission briefing. It was tough to hear with the rain still coming down on the hangar roof, and the video I took only seemed to pick up on baby wails and white noise.

Concerned about the rain-slicked soil, the crane truck was fired up and the vehicle moved to a different trailer. The crane truck by itself was probably okay, but crane plus trailer plus rocket was just playing chicken with Murphy’s Law. Everyone moved out to the viewing area to wait while the rocket fueled up at the launch area. Then the countdown crackled out of the radio, and like something out of the movie “October Sky” the whole gaggle of spectators joined in - 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0…ker-thunk. Hold up, wait a minute, main igniter issue, let’s try again…ker-thunk…okay, one more time - ker-whoosh, and away she went. Like a refined lady she delicately worked her way to altitude, precisely slid through the translation, then demurely descended to a soft landing. Cheers arose amongst the spectators as the first stage of the challenge was completed.

Believe it or not, this was my first rocket launch. I’ve never seen a shuttle launch, nor anything other than model rockets. I’ve gotta say, it was pretty darn cool. I should have stuck around for the second flight, but it was after 4 in the afternoon, my lower back was in severe pain from having stood at the display since 9:30am, and my throat was raspy from jabbering away about the Moon all day, and I could tell that some kind of illness was trying to set up shop in my chilled, damp body. My memory cards were all full, so I was pretty much done for the day.

I didn’t just talk with all the kids during the day; I did speak with many of the adults as well, though the message I try to convey is a bit more sophisticated. I don’t talk about inspiration and discovery, I talk about commerce and economics. The U.S. has a competitive advantage in this industry, and the space industry has very high barriers to entry. I think Armadillo is a great example of the kind of entrepreneurial spirit that will commercialize the space industry, and they’re clearly getting better at what they do, working their way up the learning curve.

So congrats to Armadillo on their successful run. These kinds of successes are crucial for the nascent commercial space industry, so a big thank you to Armadillo Aerospace for adding another success to the growing list.

Ad Astra!

NB: Alan Boyle has more details over at the Cosmic Log, and the local Dallas Morning News has video, as does Clark over at RLV & Space Transport News.

And speaking of refined ladies, here’s a video from the beautiful and talented Cariann over at SpaceVidcast:

EVA / 8:08 pm August 20th, 2009

Welcome to the second in a series of Lunar Editions of EVA Interviews: The Business of the new Space Age™. In the first of this series, EVA went directly to the source and interviewed the Moon about its expectations for future lunar commercial activities. Coming back down to Earth, this next interview focuses on the organization whose actions and incentives are helping to make business on the Moon a reality. My guest is William Pomerantz Senior Director of Space Prizes for the X PRIZE Foundation.  With 19 teams now entered into the competition for the Google Lunar X PRIZE, these contestants and this prize are at the forefront of expanding commerce beyond Earth, and to the Moon.

 

EVA:     Hi Will, I’m delighted to have you here at EVA Interviews and Out of the Cradle. I often assume that everyone is familiar with the Google Lunar X PRIZE, as you have received a great deal of publicity so far. In case that assumption is incorrect (or as a refresher, if true), could you please tell us how the Google Lunar X PRIZE came in existence and what the X PRIZE Foundation, and Google, are hoping to achieve with this prize?

READ MORE…

EVA / 7:33 pm July 7th, 2009

Welcome to this next, unique edition of EVA Interviews: The Business of the New Space Age™. This conversation started on a cold winter day in January over 2 years ago. A friend of mine at NASA asked me to look over a matrix he was creating on commercial lunar opportunities. Could I think of any other potential businesses that might become economically viable within his planning time horizons, any other ideas that he might be missing? After giving my own feedback, I suggested to him that I talk to “the source” to see what more I could learn. This interview starts with those questions. 

 

In the FAQs for EVA Interviews: The Business of the new Space Age™, remembering this conversation and thinking about a few other unusual ideas I had for interviewees, I included this disclaimer * While the main focus will be economic, we reserve the right to present the occasional fictitious, frivolous or marginally related interview. With that in mind (and with the risk of looking foolish), on a clear night recently, I went back to continue the conversation and expand it into an interview.  

 

I hope you will enjoy this conversation with one of my favourite evening (and very occasionally, daytime) companions – our Moon. 

 

***** January 2007 ***** 

 

EVA:       So, my beautiful Moon, what will we be doing on you in @ 15-25 years from now?  

The Moon:       You’re coming to visit me? 

 

READ MORE…

EVA / 11:11 pm May 21st, 2009

Welcome to the next edition of EVA Interviews: The Business of the New Space Age™ with our guest Paul Eckert Ph.D. - Coordinator of the Space Investment Summit Coalition, and International & Commercial Strategist for the Space Exploration division of The Boeing Company. Paul and his colleagues at the Space Investment Summit coalition have created an exceptional series of events focused exclusively on Space and business (my favourite subjects!). Starting in 2005 as Roundtables which explored the potential for Lunar Commerce, they now bring Space entrepreneurs together with investment capital of many sorts – seed, venture capital, Angel investors and corporate finance – and with those who are interested in developments within the emerging new commercial Space industry. Space Investment Summit 6 (SIS-6), the next event, is happening soon! It will be held on Wednesday May 27th, 2009, just prior to, and in conjunction with, the International Space Development Conference (ISDC2009) in Orlando, Florida.

 

EVA:     Hi Paul! Thank you very much for joining us at EVA Interviews and Out of the Cradle. I’m delighted to have you here to talk about the Space Investment Summits. Since 2005, you have created a unique series of events, designed to promote Space commerce and bring together investors and Space entrepreneurs.

Before we discuss the next event, SIS-6, which is quickly approaching, can you tell us how the idea for the Roundtables and Summits came about and how they have evolved since the first Lunar Commerce Roundtable in 2005?

READ MORE…

EVA / 11:05 pm April 16th, 2009

Business Stripped Bare: Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur

Richard Branson, as you might guess, is on my list of people who I would love to interview for EVA Interviews: The Business of the new Space Age™. I haven’t yet asked him to be my guest as I have a few glitches in the process of conducting these interviews that I need to work out. Until then, I thought you might be interested in a taste of what such an interview might be like with a review of his latest book Business Stripped Bare: Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur.

READ MORE…

EVA / 12:56 am March 22nd, 2009

Welcome to the third edition of EVA Interviews: The Business of the new Space Age! Our next guest is Rex Ridenoure, Space entrepreneur and CEO of Ecliptic Enterprises Corp. - a successful small Space startup famous for its RocketCam™ equipment and images.

EVA:     Hi Rex! It’s great to have you join us at EVA Interviews and Out of the Cradle. Welcome! As a successful Space entrepreneur, you have had a lot of experience with the issues and challenges facing Space Startups today. We’ve discussed some of these in the previous editions of EVA Interviews. I’m very much looking forward to hearing your actual experience with these, how you have built Ecliptic from scratch and what insights you have to offer us!

Since these interviews are about Space as well as the business and entrepreneurial aspects of our exodus Out of the Cradle, I always like to start by asking about Space. I know you do have a personal interest in Space. Can you tell us how your interest started and how it has evolved?

READ MORE…

Ken Murphy / 3:04 am March 7th, 2009

There are an increasing number of entrepreneurial space-related events and conferences happening, and here are a few that I’ve gotten notice of recently:

On short notice is the half-day symposium on THE SPACE ECONOMY, occurring next Friday morning, March 13th in D.C. The agenda can be found here. There are some interesting names supporting the event, from Cisco to Phillips & Co., in addition to the usual suspects like AAS, AIAA, CSE, GMU, ISU and SEC.

[Update: Robert Hoskins of Phillips & Co. uses some of the output of the event in an editorial in Florida Today in response to short-sighted political maneuvers, found here. Hoyt Davidson of Near Earth LLC also provides a nice summary in the June issue of From the Ground Up (pdf)]

Near Earth LLC, a capital advisory firm, has their March newsletter (pdf) out, From the Ground Up. This month they put the markets in the context of space developments, and are optimistic for the future.

Later this month, also in D.C., is the Satellite 2009 conference, from March 24-27. This is for industry, which means there’s quite a list of exhibitors. Eva and I bandied about the idea of her attending to get some interviews, but no one is buying any books, so there’s no capital to underwrite the trip. Plus, it’s unclear if we’d qualify for a media pass. And I’m going to be at the LPSC down in Houston that week.

The next week starts with the National Space Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, CO, running through April 2nd. This one also has an impressive list of exhibitors, making it a good place to look to put some money to work.

Filling out the week in early April, from the 2nd to the 4th, is the Space Access ‘09 conference in Phoenix, AZ. This is the conference where all the rocket guys get together to talk about access to space. There’s a strong entrepreneurial spirit to this one, making it a great place to scout for talent.

Back when I was co-chair of the 2007 ISDC, I campaigned hard to get as many pre-conferences as possible held just before the ISDC, so that the results could be presented at our citizen space conference. So in addition to the Aerospace Technology Working Group (ATWG), we also had the Space Venture Finance Symposium (often considered the 2nd Space Investment Summit), and folks from both groups stuck around for our conference. That was repeated again in 2008 in D.C., and will be repeated again this year in conjunction with the 2009 ISDC in Orlando, FL. The 6th Space Investment Summit will be on Wednesday, May 27th. From the website:

Presentations will focus on the latest developments in the rapidly growing space tourism industry (vehicles, funding, destinations, timeframes, numbers of customers and more), as well as new cross-industry business.

Be sure to stick around for the International Space Development Conference, the largest citizen space conference in the world. From May 28-31, it will feature luminaries from all aspects of our space endeavours. I know from experience that the program will keep evolving right up to the last minute, so be sure to check regularly for updates.

Further out in the year is the NewSpace 2009 conference from the Space Frontier Foundation, from July 18-20 at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Mountainview, California. Waitaminit…that’s what I thought - the ISU Summer Session Program is going to be at NASA Ames from June 29 to August 28. OMG, I so have to be there for that party. I may need to bring lots of beer and Texas vodka to the festivities. Rick always appreciates a nice ice-cold Shiner Bock.

Still further out, September 14-17, is the AIAA SPACE 2009 conference & exposition in Pasadena CA. This one is a more technically oriented, and may not be as much fun as the NewSpace 2009 conference.

I’m sure there are a few that I missed, but this should give you a start on getting the lowdown on the business of space.

Ken Murphy / 4:01 am March 6th, 2009

“Who Owns the Moon” by Virgiliu Pop. Published in 2009 by Springer as Vol. 4 in their Space Regulations Library, it weighs in at 175 pages all in. A handful of editing errors, mainly in the last half.

While this could be considered a follow-up to Virg’s earlier work “Unreal Estate”, which was as thorough a Title Search on who owns the Moon as you’ll find, really it stands alone by taking a different approach. While the prior book looked backwards at who was trying to do a land grab of Lunar real estate over the years, this one instead looks at how we can move forward by taking a look at how the law stands now, its context, including historical, and how it is interpreted.

READ MORE…

Ken Murphy / 3:52 am February 26th, 2009

Back in the good ol’ days when I went to ISU, it was just the year-long Master of Space Studies and 10-week Summer Session Program. Now they’ve got an Executive MBA (pdf), and it’s the kind of program that only ISU can put together.

It’s divided into six modules over an 18 month period. Over the first year, three modules are covered, each of which requires a two-week period in-residence at several interesting locations:

1) Core Lectures module at ISU at the Strasbourg campus.
2) Space Commerce & Economics module at International Business School in the Isle of Man
3) International Policy & Law at GWU Space Policy Institute in the US

The next six months cover the last three modules:

4) Project Management module with varying sites depending on the class. As an example, during my MSS program, we visited ESOC in Darmstadt, Astrium & CNES in Toulouse, and Snecma Moteurs, Arianespace and the Paris Air Show near Paris over the course of the year.
5) Thesis Project module (wherever)
6) Project Sales Presentation at SES and Thesis presentation at ISU

ISU is really a unique institution, and its huge network of graduates spans the globe. My classmates were from China, Israel, Libya, Nigeria, Ireland, the Netherlands, France, Canada, Japan, Brazil, and more countries. We’re everywhere, and always popping up in unusual places. The teaching program draws on a global network of instructors. When it was time to talk about the Hubble, it was Dr. Jeff Hoffman who was doing the lecturing. When it was time to talk about space medicine, it was Dr. Oleg Atkov who did the lecturing. When it was time to talk about pulsars, well, it was Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell who was twirling a kitchen timer at the end of a long string over our heads. Who will be lecturing at the ISU EMBA? Who knows - but you can be sure it’ll be the top folks in the field.

It’s an investment, as much for business people to learn about space as for space people to learn about business. The two fields have long been interwoven, as the recent EVA Interview with James Dunstan here at OotC amply demonstrates, but now more than ever the bonds need to be strengthened to ensure that more realms of space endeavour enter the private sector to the benefit of everyone as we venture Out of the Cradle.

EVA / 10:51 pm February 13th, 2009

Welcome to the first edition of EVA Interviews: The Business of the new Space Age!

I’m delighted to welcome our first guest, James E. Dunstan, partner and lawyer with Garvey, Schubert and Barer in Washington D.C. who focuses on Space, business and the technologies of the future.

Great businesses start with ideas, especially ideas that can solve problems for potential customers. They next build the structure necessary to take those ideas from concept to reality and then (hopefully) on to prosperous endeavour. The first outside professional advisor that a new business hires, to formally get the business off the ground, is a lawyer. It is therefore fitting that this is where we will start. Jim Dunstan has been actively involved in the formation of many new Space ventures as well as those involving other exciting new technologies.

 

EVA:    Jim, thank you very much for joining us at EVA Interviews and Out of the Cradle! Welcome! I look very forward to our conversation!

Since these interviews are about Space as well as the economic aspects of our exodus Out of the Cradle, I like to start by asking you about Space. I know you do have a personal interest in Space. Can you tell us how your interest started and how it has evolved?

READ MORE…

Ken Murphy / 4:14 am December 12th, 2008

I sooooo want to do this! I even said so over a year ago when Popular Science did an article on this topic. If this is suborbital space tourism then sign me up!

(h/t to Hobbyspace)

Ken Murphy / 1:05 am September 29th, 2008

The Out of the Cradle team wishes Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) the warmest congratulations on their successful attainment of orbit with the Falcon I. May all their launches be this smooth.

Ken Murphy / 6:13 pm June 14th, 2008

Librarian’s Note: This is a reprint of a blog post that I wrote for Selenian Boondocks, where I guest blog. I haven’t really needed to change the text, but I have updated it with some pictures and weblinks.

25 Good Reasons to Go to the Moon

READ MORE…

Ken Murphy / 4:18 am June 5th, 2008

Howdy everyone! Welcome to this week’s spectacular Carnival of Space!

I’m your host Ken, the Lunar Librarian here at Out of the Cradle.

We don’t have to go far this week to find space. This last weekend in Washington, D.C., the National Space Society held their 27th annual International Space Development Conference. As the largest citizen space conference in the world it is open to all, even internet bloggers. And blog they did, extensively, over the three day period. The conference was even on C-SPAN! I’ve rounded up most of the links for the Lunar Library, which can be found here:

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3

The Space Cynics want you to be sure to get a dash of cold-water reality in the face, because, well, that’s their job. Several of them were at the conference and they did some recruiting in A Gathering of Cynics, which led to a very interesting discussion and an upcoming radio show on The Space Show.

Everyone’s favorite Babe…in the Universe was there for the Space Investment Summit as well as the main conference. She’s put up a number of blog posts on the event, starting with “ISDC”. Her latest post, Convergence, has her in slightly more traditional garb. As she summarized the event:

Aloha Carnival!

Thursday saw Elon Musk and announcement of the first Space Solar Power demonstration. At Friday’s dinner, a lifetime award was given to Burt Rutan. Saturday an enthusiastic crowd saw a documentary on Apollo and live coverage of Discovery’s launch to ISS. We end at the Air and Space Museum, seeing humanity converge on a future in Space.

Thank you for hosting this week’s Carnival.

Well you’re certainly welcome Ms. Riofrio, we’re always happy to see you here at the Carnival of Space.

One of the bloggers noted in the round-up, Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit fame, and who also happens to be the co-author of the space law book “Outer Space: Problems of Law and Policy”, noted the increasing balance between the genders at these space conferences, something that I’ve noticed myself. In light of that fact, this week’s Carnival of Space is dedicated to:

The Women of Our Space Future

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Ken Murphy / 8:41 pm May 3rd, 2008

Spring is in full bloom here in the metroplex, so I had to dig the rollerblades out of the closet. This will be my fifteenth year rollerblading, and I think the main reason that I continue to do so is that it is absolute joy. There’s a small park here in Addison Circle with a nice loop over by the airport that I like to blade around, in part because it reminds me of the ‘roller rink’ in Central Park, NYC.

READ MORE…

Ken Murphy / 2:21 am April 19th, 2008

or: The quest for answers continues

In our quest to answer the question of whether plants can grow in Lunar regolith, the main obstacle to a definitive answer seems to be that we are limited in our research by the availability of actual Moon dirt to work with. This time around we’re going to look through NASA’s Lunar e-Library to see if we can find anything of interest, and also do a little speculating on what some of the possibilities might be for Lunar agriculture (cynthiculture?).

READ MORE…

Ken Murphy / 9:01 pm April 12th, 2008

or: Let’s consult the most comprehensive text to date.

Henninger et al’s “Lunar Base Agriculture: Soils for Lunar Plant Growth”, published in 1989 by the American Society of Agronomy, the Crop Science Society of America, and the Soil Science Society of America, weighing in at 255 pages. I’m not qualified enough to determine if there were factual errors hidden in the text, but no typographical errors were noted.

READ MORE…

Ken Murphy / 12:15 am April 6th, 2008

or: How are we going to grow plants in sterile rock dust?

One of the key questions for early Lunar selenologists was whether or not the regolith of the Moon could support life. The results were pretty conclusively no, as most of the elements that we consider important for life such as carbon and nitrogen are scarce to be found. This would seem to make the Moon a pretty rotten place to try to grow plants, but there’s a strong likelihood that the Moon could turn out to be a fantastic place to grow the plants of Earth.

READ MORE…

Ken Murphy / 3:00 am April 1st, 2008

Space Access Society
Space Access 2008
Phoenix, AZ
03/27 - 03/29/2008

Librarian’s Note: Not a fancy website, these are guys who are working on making sure we have frequent and regular access to low-Earth orbit outside of NASA. They’re focused on rockets, not pretty graphics.

Blog Coverage

Henry Cate’s Agenda (I think he covered most every single thing!)

Thursday

Rocket Pilot Session

Friday

Session One: Hobbyspace.com

Session Two: Hobbyspace.com / Space Prizes

Session Three: Hobbyspace.com / Transterrestrial Musings

Session Four: Hobbyspace.com / Transterrestrial Musings / Space Politics

Session Five: Hobbyspace.com / Selenian Boondocks

Saturday

Session One: Hobbyspace.com / Transterrestrial Musings

Session Two: Hobbyspace.com

Session Three: Hobbyspace.com

Session Four: Hobbyspace.com / Transterrestrial Musings