The Discovery Space Center's Simulators Revealed. Space and Science News. The Imaginarium

Hello Troops,
     What you are about to see is highly classified so shoo everyone out of the room, shut the door, scoot up close to the screen and prepare yourself for some heavy duty imagineering.
   

     Earlier this afternoon I stopped by the Discovery Space Center to take a few pictures of their last Galaxy Camp of the 2013 summer season.  I found the DSC's computer designer hard at work on something that looked technical and hush hush.  He was mind melded with his computer which made me hesitate to ask him what it was he was working on.   Curiosity won me over.
     "Kevin what is it you're working on?"
     "You talkin to me?" Kevin Roberts mumbled, his face no more than two inches from the screen.  His voice was wrapped thickly with a Brooklyn accent.
     "Sorry to bother you, but what are you working on.  It looks good."
     Kevin sat up straight and looked me in the eye.  "You ain't suppose to see these, but because we got history, so to speak, I'll tell ya."  He motioned for me to come closer.  "They're the specs for the ships here at the DSC, and ya didn't hear it from me, kapeesh?"
     I knew I had to share them with you, our readers.  The question was, would Kevin allow it?                 "Kevin, I want to share these with the readers of The Troubadour.  Can it be arranged?"
    Kevin smiled as he sat up straight.  I snapped a photograph.  The smile disappeared.  "You want to put my work on yer Truth or Dare blog?  Did I get that straight?"
    "I'm sure we can work something out, and its Troubadour, not Truth or Dare." I knew I was in some pretty deep water.  
    He thought for a moment before speaking. "Oh, we can work something out."  Kevin looked over his shoulder to make sure we weren't being overheard by one of the DSC's interns.  They ratted him out two weeks ago for talking to Megan Warner, the director of the CMSEC, over a few of the DSC's technical plans.
     "Here's whatcha going do...." Kevin explained in detail how the whole thing was going to go down. I followed his orders to the T.  I stopped by my bank, withdrew the required amount of money, put the money in a blue NIKE bag, drove to the Provo bus station and locked the bag with the money in one of the public lockers.  The plans came through to my email once one of Kevin's associates confirmed the drop off.
     Here they are Troops.  The top secret plans to the Discovery's four simulators; shown as they would be in the DSC's universe.

Mr. W.  

 

Space and Science News

As a highly respected and beloved British astronomer, when Sir Patrick Moore spoke, the people of England listened. Such esteem afforded him an excellent opportunity to perpetrate pranks, and on April Fool's Day 1976, he pulled off a doozy. That day, he went on television to announce that at precisely 9:47 A.M. a gravitational alignment would reduce Earth's gravity ever so slightly, and those who jumped into the air would feel a strange floating sensation.

Apparently, a lot of people took his advice. The BBC was flooded with gracious calls from people claiming to have floated.  It was the perfect science prank played on an entire nation.  

Deep Space Industries Concept of the Future of Space Travel

Legions of scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs are gathering in Silicon Valley this week to discuss the rise and impact of the commercial space industry.  Read More

Here, an artist's concept of a wheel habitat under construction at an asteroid, a vision of space settlement by the asteroid-mining company Deep Space Industries.

More on Earth's Photo from Saturn

If you haven't seen most of them, here are a few of the images taken by Cassini of Earth among the Saturnian system.  Read More

Watch the Short Video

Will it feed a family of four?

Its a free for all

A Yellow Submarine Bathroom

The first menu and prices

You do it your way and he'll do it his way

The best cookie in the world

The Dragon made of cookies

The perfect pacifier for a distraught driver caught in a traffic jam

See what happens when you plant a basketball

This may not end well

Star War's Lawn Furniture

Another Home Starship Simulator. New Trailer for the Space Thriller Gravity. Space and Science News. The Imaginarium

Hello Troops,
It has come to my attention that there soon will be another private home starship built by one of our Farpoint Cadets.

Mr. Williamson
It all started about a month or two ago.  I was bored out of my mind and sat down at my computer.  I had nothing to do and was think about space camp and so I started programing controls.  I didn't plan to use the controls and didn't know why I was making them, I just wanted to.  When I had a thought.  If I could network these.... and find enough computers... I might, might be able to do a small mission for my cousins.  So I started working on the controls even more and found a PERFECT section in my basement
(its about the exact size of the Phoenix bridge).  I haven't finished them yet, but I'm hoping to finish the controls by the start of school.  I bought some cool rope lights and okay-ed the mission with my parents.  I found 5 or 6 computers I could use.  I'm not sure if Ill do more missions for friends or just end it after this one mission, but I must admit, I cant believe how well everything is working!  I wrote a new mission and made a tactical.  Its funny to think how far I've come, from writing a pointless set of controls to making a working simulator in my basement!  I just wanted to say good luck to Matthew and Aaron, and anyone else making their own "Star ship Simulator"!  Thanks!

-Isaac

Thanks for sharing your story Isaac, and thank you for being one of our top cadet volunteers.

It will be a busy week at both space education centers.  The Discovery Space Center has an overnight camp tonight and a three day Galaxy Camp starting tomorrow.  The CMSEC has an EdVenture Camp starting Friday, ending Saturday morning.

The summer is winding down.  School starts on August 20th (in the Alpine School District).  Time to book your camp or private party before your life is taken over by the bureaucrats.  Visit
spacecamputah.org  to link to both space education centers.      

Mr. Williamson

Hollywood's Next Space Thriller 

New Trailer for Gravity

GRAVITY, directed by Oscar® nominee Alfonso Cuaron, stars Oscar® winners Sandra Bullock and George Clooney in a heart-pounding thriller that pulls you into the infinite and unforgiving realm of deep space. Bullock plays Dr. Ryan Stone, a brilliant medical engineer on her first shuttle mission, with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalsky (Clooney). But on a seemingly routine spacewalk, disaster strikes. The shuttle is destroyed, leaving Stone and Kowalsky completely alone—tethered to nothing but each other and spiraling out into the blackness. The deafening silence tells them they have lost any link to Earth…and any chance for rescue. As fear turns to panic, every gulp of air eats away at what little oxygen is left. But the only way home may be to go further out into the terrifying expanse of space.


Space and Science News

Life Based on Metal and not Carbon? 

Scientists trying to create artificial life generally work under the assumption that life must be carbon-based, but what if a living thing could be made from another element?

One British researcher may have proven that theory, potentially rewriting the book of life. Lee Cronin of the University of Glasgow has created lifelike cells from metal — a feat few believed feasible. The discovery opens the door to the possibility that there may be life forms in the universe not based on carbon, reports New Scientist. Even more remarkable, Cronin has hinted that the metal-based cells may be replicating themselves and evolving.

 "I am 100 percent positive that we can get evolution to work outside organic biology," he said.

Read More

Inside Boeing's New Commercial Space Capsule

From the outside, Boeing’s CST-100 spacecraft model resembles a high-tech gumdrop. On the inside, it’s a spacious, LED-glowing dream. The new commercial vehicle is designed to transport NASA astronauts to and from low Earth orbit. Boeing recently unveiled the interior for the first time.

Bigelow Aerospace constructed the capsule’s exterior shell, which is 14.8 feet wide. Inside the vehicle are two rows of seats for five astronauts. Two additional seats can be added if necessary to fit up to seven passengers.  Read More

Mar's Curiosity Rover Takes Longest Red Planet Drive Yet

This image captured by Curiosity's Mars Hand Lens Imager camera looks toward the south, showing a portion of Mount Sharp and a band of dark dunes in front of the mountain. The photo was taken on the 340th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars, shortly after Curiosity finished a 329-foot drive on that sol. Image released on July 23, 2013.  Read More and See More Photos

NASA Photos Show Outburst From 
Potential Comet of the Century

These images from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope of Comet ISON were taken on June 13, 2013, when ISON was 312 million miles (502 million kilometers) from the sun. The lefthand image shows a tail of fine rocky dust issuing from the comet, blown back by the pressure of sunlight. The image at right shows a neutral gas atmosphere surrounding ISON, likely created by carbon dioxide fizzing off the comet at a rate of 2.2 million pounds per day. - See more

I'm thinking I'd like to take this idea (above) and do something similar on the walls of our Control Rooms as a way of keeping track of how many crews we've taken down and how many times we've taken the bridge etc.

Now here's a child that appreciates a good Christmas gift. This kid will make a great
Space Center fan one day.

Imagination in advertising.

Humbling when you stop and think about it.

And finally, a series of painting I classify as brilliant done by a Russian artist. I don't know is name but admire his work. Each painting contains a face, yet it doesn't. The Space Center is all about imagination and creativity. Bravo!

Home Simulators. A New Cosmos TV Series on Fox. LA to San Francisco in 30 Minutes. The Imaginarium

Hello Troops,
A week ago I received an interesting email from two Space EdVenture fans that I'd like to share with you.

Mr. Williamson! 

This summer has been filled with craziness! So much stuff going on.  Parties, bbqs, and a whole lot of fun!  But the trick to this summer is that it is the last summer then I leave on my mission, which I am so excited.  But for it being my last summer, I wanted to do something INTENSE, a dream come true! So, naturally while remembering that the Space Center was the best thing I've done...(The only reason why I know about the space center is because of my best friend); so my friend and I devised a plan - MAKE OUR OWN SIMULATOR! 

Ok, let me give you a little background.  This isn't our first time trying to make a simulator.  My friend's very first "simulator" was a tent on the ground with two OLD laptops.  It passed the time and it was fun, but we had to go further.  So I took a shot.  I had one laptop, which was my moms, and a tv/av cord to hook up to our TV.  We used power point.  I think we sent you some of the slides we made.  But anyway, for one of the stations we used graph paper which was used for the distance the ship traveled and other traveling purposes. I put my family through a mission. They all loved it! My friend and I were very excited!  That was last year.  This year is very different.  I've always loved the space center! I wish I would of went more.  But now my friend and I have reached that age where the space center is just an amazing memory.  So... We decided to go big!  I bargained with my parents to give me the unused side in our basement that was at that time just holding A TON of supplies, and 80% of that stuff is stuff that can be thrown away.  So I bargained.  My mom agreed that if my friend and I cleared the space, we could have it.  So, we went to work.  A labor of love that dragged on for 2 hours.  Not the most exciting day.  Once clean, we started.  

1st attempt at making the simulator....  Well our TV for the main screen was about 26 in' and our lights were LED lights, which was great... But didn't cut it.  Time went on.  Our simulator turned into a game room for Xbox.  We had fun... But we didn't clean for 2 hours to play Xbox.  NOW, it just all seemed to click.  All the planets perfectly aligned.  This was going to happen.  So we worked! We have jobs.  Which gives us good money, well... for a teenager, so things are in motion we bought a projector, we bought 6 computers off of public surplus for cheap, but good condition.  Me and my friend CANNOT BELIEVE IT!  We now have a really good main screen and six computers! No way this dream is happening.  Now, when I say worked for everything.  I mean WE WORKED!  Just yesterday my friend and I spent 9 hours constructing a wall to give us some space to set up a control room making us invisible to the crew on the ship!  It was hard.... Tons of work.  But we were willing to do it.  Just today we spent all day making a ceiling mount for our projector to go on.  Needless to say, the last two days have been hard, but completely amazing!  We hope to be done in August sometime!  This is a dream coming true.  We can't thank you enough for having that one idea one day to make your own space center to inspire so many kids, including us!  The space center is our inspiration!  Thank you!

Sincerely:
Matthew  and Aaron 

Matthew and Aaron aren't the only two Space Center fans who were bitten by the bug and built a simulator of their own.  I've heard of several teens who somehow talked their parents out of some section of their basements for their very own starships.  In fact, the most successful of these 'home' ships was built by Matt Long.  Matt is currently working on his engineering degree at BYU and programming new controls for the Magellan simulator at the Space Center at Central Elementary.  Matt is also working with us at Farpoint, using his creative talents in the creation of our soon to be built ships.

Are you one of these visionaries who built a home starship of your own?  If so, please share your story with us.  Email us at SpaceCampUtah@gmail.org

Congratulations Matthew and Aaron.  Please keep us up to date.

Mr. Williamson 

So, Let Us Go Forth: The Spirit of Farpoint

"What the space age was seeking all along was not so much an expansion of physical space as an expansion of mind." 
-Marina Benjamin

COSMOS is Back, New on Fox in 2014

In 1980, Carl Sagan changed the face of science forever.

In that year, PBS broadcast the TV series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage. Sagan’s words and voice drove the show, taking the 500 million people who watched with him as he showed us the Universe, from the distant reaches of its redshifted expansion to the chemical processes as our brains create our minds.

As Sagan himself said, “We are a way for the cosmos to know itself.”

That show transformed how people saw science and also how scientists informed the public. But it was more than 30 years ago, and it’s time, I think, to launch it once again for a new generation.

My old friend and brilliant science communicator Neil Tyson is doing just that. With Fox television, and executive producers Seth MacFarlane and Ann Druyan, the show has been retooled and updated. The result is Cosmos: A Space-Time Odyssey, and it premiers in February 2014. A trailer has been released, and it’s beautiful:

Los Angeles to San Francisco in Less Than 30 Minutes?  

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk stands next to the company's Falcon 9 rocket, which blasted SpaceX's Dragon
 capsule into orbit in December 2010.

How would you like to zip from Los Angeles to San Francisco in less than 30 minutes, on the cheap and on your own schedule? Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk says it can be done, and he's going to tell us how next month.

Elon Musk, the visionary behind electric-car firm Tesla and the private spaceflight company SpaceX, has been teasing us for a year about something he calls the "Hyperloop." This new solar-powered travel technology, Musk says, would go twice as fast as an airplane and be completely crash-proof. The Hyperloop would also be a cheap way to get around, with tickets costing much less than a seat aboard a plane or train. And there would be no scrambling to make a set departure time — you'd be sent on your way whenever you showed up at the station.

This British Paper had a Creatively rebellious way of announcing the royal birth.
The Queen was not amused and ordered, "Off with their heads!"

An awesome Dutch jet fighter

A creative solution to the heat

The flies will never see it coming

Building the porch around the trees.
A good solution, until the mother of all storms sweeps through.

Anti Stress tissues
Imagination: A

From a British Health Clinic

A creative take on the traditional lemonade stand.

Getting directions from the natives

Hand painted.
Creativity: A

The imaginative way of showing off the new prince.