The Troubadour has been offline for the week for obvious reasons. The holiday is in the rear-view mirror and life returns to normal. Company is gone, food digested, carb hangover
Alka-Seltzered through and house clean. Peace has returned. There is balance in the Force. How has your week gone?
The Discovery Space Center held an overnight camp on Friday. We had fifteen great kids on a new (new for DSC) mission Bracken wrote a few years ago. He told me my reaction to hearing the story for the first time was negative back in the day.
"Worse story you've ever written," Bracken quoted me as saying back then. I told him I didn't remember being so negative toward anyone's mission ideas. "You were that negative with this one," he said as we were getting the campers ready for bed and lights out. He gave me a script to reacquaint myself with the plot. I'll give it another read through to see if my opinion has softened.
I asked the campers what they thought of the story. Their reviews were great. The captain replied that it was the best mission he'd done at the DSC. So, either I was wrong and the story really is good, or Bracken had a really good staff helping him power through a weak script with excellent acting and outstanding away teams :) We shall see....
NEW DSC AD AT UNIVERSITY MALL
The advertisement somewhat reminds me of the obelisk from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.
I think the ad would look better with HAL peering at mall shoppers from the display's side and commenting as they passed.
What kind of creepy things could a HAL 9000 say to passing shoppers to attract their attention to our Space Camp advertisement?
In addition to the new ad, the DSC is offering a Black Hole Black Friday and Cyber-Monday shopping bargain. Check out the ad below.
Have a great week Troops!
Mr. Williamson.
Space and Science News
First 3D Object Printed in Space
"Butch" Wilmore, commander of the current Expedition 42 aboard the ISS, installed the 3D printer a couple of weeks ago on November 17th. In coordination with ground engineer teams, calibration tests were made on November 20. Finally ready on November 24, the controllers sent a command to the printer to create a copy of the faceplate of the casing of the printer. This act proves that the machine can, in fact, make some replacement parts for itself. Then the next day, Commander Wilmore removed the part and inspected it. It was discovered that the adhesion of the printed object to its production tray was very strong, more than anticipated. There is some speculation that the material's bonding may be slightly different due to the Zero-G situation. After each printed object is made, analysis will help the engineers fine-tune the device to prepare it for full operational status.
Picture of the 3D printer before launch and some of the objects that are planned to be printed in space.
The 3D printer on the ISS was designed and built by Made In Space, Inc. based in Moffat Field, California. All of the parts that will be printed will eventually be flown back to Earth for greater study. With the cancellation of the Space Shuttle, that would have been difficult due to the limitations on what can be carried down from orbit on the Soyuz return capsules. However, with the success of the SpaceX Dragon cargo spaceship, experiments and equipment can be safely returned to Earth for further studies.
By Mark Daymont
Farpoint Educator
By Mark Daymont
Farpoint Educator
The Imaginarium
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