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By Christine Nobbe
ISDC 2017 early-bird rates end at 11:59 p.m. your time on November 14! $100 can’t be beat! And won’t be any cheaper! No need to wait. Do it now so you don’t forget!
REGISTER NOW
By Dean Larson, Chair, Projects Committee
Do you long to give-back, to become involved in efforts that will actually contribute to mankind’s expansion into space? NSS has a continuing need for volunteer expertise to support our expanding portfolio of projects. We can use just about anybody who wants to help, from artists and movie-makers to scientists and engineers; from students to Ph.Ds. Our current projects involve education, public outreach, and technical projects that will demonstrate new technologies and concepts by sending spacecraft into lunar orbit and to deep space. See our Projects webpage at http://www.nss.org/about/projects/index.html for more. If you want to roll up your sleeves and support the development of space, we invite you to join our Project Volunteer Cadre. Contact me at dean.larson@nss.org for more information.
| | UPCOMING CONFERENCES AND CONVENTIONS |
By Dale Skran, NSS Executive VP
On Saturday October 8th, 2016, NSS organized a workshop directed at recommending a space policy to the new Administration. Steve Jurvetson, a partner at the well-known Sand Hill Road venture capital firm DFJ hosted the meeting at the DFJ offices. Fifteen thought leaders from government, industry, and academia gathered in a fruitful collaboration to produce a set of five recommendations. NSS Senior VP Bruce Pittman organized the meeting, which included a tour of Steve Jurvetson’s private museum of space artifacts. Additionally, the Alliance for Space Development (ASD), of which NSS is a founding member, is sending a separate position paper to the Trump Transition Team this week. The contents of both papers will appear in a future Ad Astra Downlink.
By Judy Tippett
The SEDS student leadership team organized an outstanding exploration and development conference at Purdue University. SpaceVision 2016 included an inspiring opening keynote with Tory Bruno of ULA; several panels, including one dynamic panel on outreach, with Kevin Metrocavage, Mike Mungo, and Antonio Paris; and an engaging exhibit hall filled with aerospace companies and non-profits. NSS, St. Louis Space Frontier, and ISDC were represented by Fred Becker, Christine Nobbe, Dave Stuart and Judy Tippett. We talked to hundreds of students about the close affiliation between NSS and SEDS and encouraged them to attend ISDC 2017. Every one of the students who visited with us was friendly, well-spoken, and enthusiastic about space.
By Christine Nobbe, Chair, ISDC 2017
Check out ISDC's new web design! The last day for early-bird prices is November 14th at 11:59 p.m., your time. You don't want to miss our fabulous Thursday tours, engaging keynote speakers like Jane Poynter, and our sensational Exhibit Midway. St. Louis is a family-friendly town, so you can geek out on Space and your family can explore St. Louis! Register now!
By David Brandt-Erichsen
In our Roadmap to Space Settlement 2017 International Student Art Contest, the National Space Society (NSS) is looking for student artists to create ORIGINAL illustrations for the NSS Roadmap to Space Settlement. Submitted artwork should REALISTICALLY illustrate one of this year’s two themes.
This year’s themes:
1. People Living and Working in Space Settlements
OR
2. Medicine and Medical Manufacturing in Space.
All full-time students at any grade level between the ages of 13 and 25 are eligible. The deadline for submissions is March 16, 2017.
Example of the first theme, People Living and Working in Space Settlements
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Example of the second theme, Medicine and Medical Manufacturing in Space
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By Karen Mermel, Fundraising Committee Member
It's nearly that time again. If you want to make an easy donation to NSS at no cost to you, use the Amazon link below. Amazon gives NSS a small portion of the money you spend. Costs you nothing and helps us with our mission.
https://www.amazon.com/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=ur2&tag=nationalspa0a-20
By Michael Molitch-Hou
Students, you can 3D print something in space. Help drive innovation forward in space manufacturing technology by entering the Print the Future Contest. Click here for more information.
By Karen Mermel, Fundraising Committee Member
Between Nov. 10 and 29, NSS is having a special crowd-sourced Giving Tuesday fundraiser through Razoo. Please share our link to Twitter, Facebook, any other social media you use. NSS needs all the help you can give to support our many media, educational, policy, and technical projects. Here is the Giving Tuesday link at Razoo.
| | NSS CHAPTERS ROUNDUP
By Claire McMurray
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By Chapter President Eric H Bowen
Beginning at 7 pm on the evening of Monday, November 14th, the Clear Lake Area NSS & Moon Society Chapter will host a "movie night" in the home of one of our members. The exact movie will be chosen by the audience from a selection of space-related videos, including Apollo 13, the recent Gene Cernan biopic Last Man on the Moon, and possibly some Star Trek and/or Star Wars Blu-Rays among others. Feel free to bring one of your own if you think we'll like it better! Refreshments will include popcorn and beverages, and you are welcome to use the evening to dispose of your leftover Halloween candy! There is no charge for the event or the movie, but voluntary contributions for the refreshments will be appreciated. Guests are welcome, as always. Send an RSVP email to info@nss-houston-moon.org for directions and additional information. Chapter website: http://www.nss-houston-moon.org/.
By Claire McMurray and Chapter President Michael Stennecken
When NSS Director Jeffrey Liss asked for information about Michael Stennecken’s home town of Muenster (Munich) Germany, Michael replied with an English translation of the article he had written for his local newspaper. Over a page long, it’s about Neil Armstrong’s family roots in that area. Appropriately, the family farm (see above) is near the Munich airport. From the translated first paragraph:
“Fritz Kötter was the man, who in 1864, around 105 years before the first Moon landing in July 1969, emigrated from Ladbergen into a small town in the US-American state of Ohio. There in Wapakoneta was born later his great-grandson Neil Armstrong. Two plaques for the space pioneer are placed both in his birth town and in the Ladbergan home museum and show the connection of a local farmer family with the first Moon landing.”
The chapter’s newsletter, a digest of European space matters, begins each month with three columns: items in German on the left, pictures in the middle, and English translations on the right. What seems to be the 93rd issue is at the top of its website as I write this.
Chapter website: http://www.deutscheraumfahrt.de/
Bilingual newsletter: http://www.raumfahrt-concret.de/RC-Hefte/2016/index.php/
By Chapter President Eric H Bowen
Houston Chapter Christmas party will be held in a private home in Nassau Bay on the evening of Monday, December 12th beginning at 7:00 p.m. We plan to have a variety of appetizers and snacks as well as adult and soft beverages. If you can bring a dish or dessert, we will accept with thanks. For directions and more information please send an RSVP email to info@nss-houston-moon.org and let us know how many will be coming. We look forward to seeing you there!
Chapter website: http://www.nss-houston-moon.org/.
By Claire McMurray
Some OSA members and guests chat after a meeting
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November is Election Month! But for OSA it’s just about nominations. Any dues-paying member may run for office, but we are happy to report that Chapter President Stephen Swift expects to return for this November 10th meeting from his extended absence while recovering from surgery, and to run for OSA president again. Unfortunately, Sen. James Lankford is not expected to attend this meeting as he had once hoped. However, he has contacted the chapter about space issues in the past. Chapter websites: http://chapters.nss.org/ok/osanss.html and https://www.meetup.com/Central-Oklahoma-Space-Exploration-Settlement-Meetup/.
By Claire McMurray
Looking for pro-space companies in your area? Chapters can help NSS and each other! NSS Director Karen Mermel is working on introducing NSS to top non-aerospace organizations like the multi-million-dollar telecoms and software/hardware companies. She’s also looking for companies which relate to space in their advertising. For example, she’s contacting Rocket Mortgage next week to let them know about NSS. If you know of such a company, please send her as much contact information as you can: company name, physical address, website, phone, and the names of the CEO and the Marketing Vice President. The list of companies which have received such an introduction could be a great resource for chapters contemplating big projects, although one should first find out whether to contact them directly or through NSS leaders.
Karen joined NSS predecessor L5 Society when she saw their ad in Analog. Later she became president of the Northern Illinois Space Advocacy NSS chapter. Now, she serves on five NSS committees, including the Chapters and Fundraising committees. She was instrumental in initiating our strategic planning process and serves on that committee also. Contact Karen at kmermelnss@yahoo.com.
By Marianne Dyson
Space books keep us informed, stimulate our imaginations of the future of human space travel, and make excellent gifts. Your purchases through the NSS link (of books or anything else!) to Amazon also provide a credit to NSS to use for our educational programs. Check out this new title at NSS Reading Space:
Non-Fiction: Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue With His Century: Volume 2 (1948-1988): The Man Who Learned Better, by William H. Patterson, reviewed by Clifford R. McMurray. This volume, taken with the first one, brings this biography to 958 pages of text plus 274 pages of footnotes and bibliography—about three quarters of a million words. For fans, Heinlein was the intellectual father of the space movement and deserving of such comprehensive treatment.
Don't forget to check the archives for books you may have missed, including some classics. Use the "MORE" links to read over 300 reviews of nonfiction, fiction, and children's books.
By Edward Ellegood
Florida Space Development Council, An NSS Chapter
Bridenstine: This is Our Sputnik Moment, Moon Will Ensure U.S. Preeminence in Space (Source: Space Policy Online)
Exclaiming "this is our Sputnik moment," Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-OK) said the Moon is the pathway to American preeminence in space. He also addressed comments made several weeks ago by his colleague, Rep. Brian Babin (R-TX), that seemed to contradict his approach to government oversight of commercial space activities, saying that the two views are closer than they appear. Bridenstine has become a leading advocate in Congress for passing laws that create a stable legal and regulatory environment for new types of commercial space activities. He has a broad outlook on U.S.civil, commercial and national security space issues. He introduced the American Space Renaissance Act (ASRA) earlier this year as a compendium of legislative provisions that can be incorporated into various pieces of legislation, including authorization and appropriations bills. (11/3)
NASA Wants Governments to Collaborate on Space Mining for Humanity's Benefit (Source: CNBC)
Space mining is a reality, so the public and private sector need to collaborate, not compete, to advance humanity, a top NASA official told CNBC on Friday. Alongside tourism, mining is a major hot-button area of research in the multi-billion dollar space industry. The hope is that asteroids near Earth can become developed into mining centers that can send refined materials, rare metals and even clean energy to Earth, Jose Cordeiro, NASA's energy advisor, told CNBC. So much energy lies beyond Earth that it can help resolve earthly issues, such as climate change, water and food security, he added. But with any new frontier lies the thorny issue of regulation. "We shouldn't think about countries when talking about the universe, we should be talking about planets. Thinking just about the U.S.A, Russia or China is not the way to go, we have to think about humanity and its continuation outside Earth," Cordeiro explained. (11/3)
NASA: We're Not Racing SpaceX to Mars (Source: Seeker)
If Elon Musk's SpaceX can get to Mars and bring samples back to Earth before the United States can get there, it would be cause for celebration not lament, said NASA's new science chief. "If Elon Musk brought the samples in the door right now I'd throw him a party out of my own money," Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA's newly named associate administrator for science, told reporters Monday. "I think that would be a huge success out of the strategies that were pursued by this administration of helping … the private industry to really grow capabilities that 10 years ago were not around," he said. During his first sit-down with journalists, Zurbuchen also said that polarizing topics, including science issues, need to be tackled with empathy for and patience with people who have opposing viewpoints. (10/31)
Final Frontier Design Delivers MCP Gloves To NASA (Source: FFD)
Final Frontier Design (FFD) has delivered a pair of functional Mechanical Counter Pressure (MCP) gloves to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. This marks a major milestone in FFD’s fixed-price contract with NASA for MCP gloves and represents a promising alternative in space suit pressure garment design. Click here. (10/28)
China Successfully Launches New Heavy-Lift Long March 5 (Source: CCTV)
China successfully launched the Long March-5, its largest ever carrier rocket, on Thursday night from the Wenchang launch center. The rocket is expected to become the carrier for the core module of China's future Tiangong space station, lunar and Mars missions. (11/3)
Orbiter 2016 and Other Space Flight Simulators (Source: Space Review)
A long-running flight simulator for space missions recently got another update. Bruce Irving reviews the changes to Orbiter and how it stacks up against other options, like Kerbal Space Program. Click here. (10/31)
Where Does Jeff Bezos Foresee Putting Space Colonists? Inside O’Neill Cylinders (Source: GeekWire)
SpaceX’s Elon Musk wants to settle humans on Mars. Others talk about a Moon Village. But Seattle billionaire Jeff Bezos has a different kind of off-Earth home in mind when he talks about having millions of people living and working in space. His long-range vision focuses on a decades-old concept for huge artificial habitats that are best known today as O’Neill cylinders. The concept was laid out in 1976 in a classic book by physicist Gerard O’Neill, titled “The High Frontier.” The idea is to create cylinder-shaped structures in outer space, and give them enough of a spin that residents on the inner surface of the cylinder could live their lives in Earth-style gravity. The habitat’s interior would be illuminated either by reflected sunlight or sunlike artificial light. Click here. (10/29)
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Ad Astra Magazine - Fall 2016
Contents:
- MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS: ISDC 2017 By Gloria Lloyd
- HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON—TO LAND ON MARS By John F. Kross
- DIPPING INTO THE FUTURE - Looking for Life in the Universe By Lance Frazer
- CAREFUL, BABY ON BOARD! ROCKETING THE CRADLE TO MARS By John F. Kross
- SPACE IN THE SWAMPLANDS By Mark Williamson
- U.S. SPACE WALK OF FAME MUSEUM By Mark Williamson
- NEW TO FLIGHT: REDUCING THE COST OF ACCESS TO SPACE By Dale L. Skran
- THE ESSENTIAL SPACE LIBRARY By Clifford R. McMurray
- CISLUNAR EXPLORERS: WATER-PROPELLED CUBESAT TO LUNAR ORBIT By Kyle Doyle
- SPACE INFRASTRUCTURE FOR LUNAR TOURISM By Dave Dietzler
Join Today
Our Vision: People living and working in thriving communities beyond the Earth, and the use of the vast resources of space for the dramatic betterment of humanity.
Volunteer
Be an NSS volunteer!
The National Space Society has unpaid positions described at the link above. If you are interested and have the necessary skills, please respond.
Please send requested information to Help-Wanted-2015@nss.org.
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