Its Time to Take the Space Center to the Next Level. Space News. The Imaginarium.

Hello Troops,
Many of you dedicated Troubadour / Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center fans have been wondering what I've doing with my spare time since I announced my retirement from the Alpine School District a few weeks ago.   The answer to that question will be given this Wednesday when Farpoint is announced.

I started the Space Center nearly 23 years ago with one goal in mind - I wanted to find new, innovate tools and techniques to improve education in Utah, so our students would be better prepared for the 21st century.  My staff, volunteers and I did many remarkable things over those two plus decades.  We created a unique learning laboratory that used simulations staged in theatrical starships to teach core curriculum objectives. We pushed the boundaries of innovation.  We blended the arts with science.  We raised our own operating capital thanks to the good people of Utah.  The Space Center became a destination.

I'm proud of what we accomplished, but still realize how much more there is to do.  My work isn't finished by any means.  In fact, I'm just getting my second wind.  It is time to take the Space Center concept to the next level.  It is time to push the envelope and do more with simulators and simulation based primary and secondary education than has ever been done before.  It is time to restore many of things I use to do with experiential education and simulations before I built the Space Center in 1990. It is time to build a school and curriculum for the 21st century.

It is time for FARPOINT.

Please send an email RSVP if you do not have a Facebook account.
spacecamputah@gmail.com

I'm counting on your help and support.  Please come and join our Space EdVentures Foundation and Renaissance Academy as we work to create a truly one of a kind learning experience.  I'm asking YOU to become a founding member of Farpoint.   

Boldly Go!
Mr. Williamson

Please take a moment to watch this short video with Stephen Hawking entitled, "Into Space".   The future of mankind lies out there and Farpoint will help take us there.

  

Space and Science News

 

Did An Advanced Alien Race Put the Secret of  Life in our Genetic Code?
 
The answer to whether alien life exists may be hiding inside our own body!

According to a new theory, human genetic code is embedded with a "designer label" that may be an indelible stamp of a master extraterrestrial civilisation that preceded us by many millions or billions of years.  Read More

The Logan Space Education Center is working with the Logan City School District to set up shop in Wilson Elementary for a space lab and a special simulator for students.

An organization is hoping to provide an interactive, hands-on experience for space education to students in Northern Utah.
“They will come to the space center and take on the role of a futuristic starship crew,” said James Porter, the curriculum director of the Space Education Center. “So you've got the captain, the officers, the engineer. And they all have different positions that help them operate the ship. And then they'll be given a mission. So they might have to go explore a nebula or a supernova.”
Read More

The Earth, Seen from Saturn

Explanation: In the shadow of Saturn, unexpected wonders appear. The robotic Cassini spacecraft now orbiting Saturn recently drifted in giant planet's shadow for about 12 hours and looked back toward the eclipsed Sun. Cassini saw a view unlike any other. First, the night side of Saturn is seen to be partly lit by light reflected from its own majestic ring system. Next, the rings themselves appear dark when silhouetted against Saturn, but quite bright when viewed away from Saturn, slightly scattering sunlight, in this exaggerated color image. Saturn's rings light up so much that new rings were discovered, although they are hard to see in the image. Seen in spectacular detail, however, is Saturn's E ring, the ring created by the newly discovered ice-fountains of the moon Enceladus and the outermost ring visible above. Far in the distance, at the left, just above the bright main rings, is the almost ignorable pale blue dot of Earth. 

The Best Candidate Planets for Life

As early as the sixteenth century, we have wondered if Earth – and even the other planets in the Solar System – were unique. Our quest to find these extrasolar planets (exoplanets) has been hindered by our technological ability to see them. The first exoplanet wasn’t confirmed until 1992. In just 20 short years, astronomers have observed nearly 800 of these worlds around other stars.

Upon the discovery of the first exoplanets, scientists asked a simple yet profound question, “are any of them habitable?” Not only might one such planet provide a sanctuary for humanity, but, it might even host life similar to ours.

To date, scientists have discovered five exoplanets that might be habitable for our form of life.  
Read More

The Imaginarium
I'm always looking for ways to make the ordinary, extraordinary;  Are you?

One Heck of a Fantastic School in Sweden;  Imagination, off the charts!

Lawn art made from used tires.

Imagination: A

Imagination in Engineering.

Sweden

 Street Art.

London