Contact Victor Williamson with your questions about simulator based experiential education programs for your school.
SpaceCampUtah@gmail.com

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Jon Parker Gets New Job. Death from the Sky. Russian Pirates offer to Save NASA. New Clip from Ender's Game. the Imaginarium.

Hello Troops,
I believe tonight's Troubadour will offer you plenty in which to sink your teeth.  I'm preparing a special Troubadour post tomorrow with new photos of the nearly finished Odyssey II simulator at the Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center.

Now, be good and read on.  It's time to learn something constructive.

Mr. W.

Discovery Space Center Hires New Assistant Director


Jon Parker, Discovery Space Center's new Assistant Director, flight directing a Columbia mission.
This picture was taken just before he transmutified to the CMSEC where he was simultaneously flight directing a Phoenix mission.
     Many of us know Jon Parker, flight director extraordinaire.  We know he has remarkable powers, like his ability to direct two mission at the same time from two different location (don't know how he does it, but some speculate he carries a time / space portal in his back pocket) Well, this mild mannered and modestly humble long time Space Center volunteer and employee has accepted a new position as assistant director at the Discovery Space Center. 
     Congratulations Jon from all of us at The Troubadour.  May all your missions be successful and may all your crews shower you in tears of gratitude.

Mr. W.

Space and Science News

Death from the Sky:  How Our Solar System will Die


From Quarks to Quasars
     Just as the life on Earth is dependent upon the energy from the sun for sustenance, so too does the fate of our solar system hinge on the sun’s survival. Our sun, which is classified as a yellow dwarf (a misnomer since the sun is neither small, nor yellow), is a middle age star that’s approximately 5 billion years old. As a main-sequence star with a finite lifespan, it will eventually die. This end will occur following the depletion of the last of the hydrogen forged in its core. As this happens, the core of the sun will shrink under its own gravity and become so dense that the helium atoms will begin to collide to form carbon and oxygen atoms. The collisions of said elements will churn out more energy than the current amount that is produced by the sun’s fusion of hydrogen into helium (which in turn, provides nourishment to Earth and all of the neighboring planets in our solar system) Read More 


More from Quarks to Quasars
     This, ladies and gentlemen, is a brilliant example showing just how important NASA is to the world.
     The Pirate Party of Russia has offered NASA the use of its dedicated servers to temporarily host the US space agency’s website as it has been shut down “due to the lapse in federal government funding.” NASA was supposed to be marking its 55th birthday this week, but the US space agency gave furlough notices, not birthday invitations, to nearly all of its 18,000 employees, and began fretting about future missions as funding dried up with the US government shutdown.
     “We would like to offer you bulletproof collocation or dedicated servers on our hosting platform till the end of the crisis,” the Pirate Party said in a statement posted on its website Thursday.... Read More 

An Actual Clip from the Upcoming Movie Ender's Game 

Troops,
I'm really looking forward to this movie.
"Because we already have the uniforms."  Sounds so Space Center to me!!



Professor Michio Kaku Shares a Disturbing Vision of the Future

The Dark Side of Technology


An Interactive Portal to Mars

From Science Gymnasium
Use your cell, tablet, or laptop as an interactive portal to Mars. As you move your screen, the view seamlessly moves along the Martian landscape with you! You can zoom in and out to examine things close-up or just lie in the dirt and look up at the sky.
Interactive portal: http://www.360cities.net/image/mars-panorama-curiosity-solar-day-177#-71.66,-77.96,85.0

PS- It's waaaay cooler on your cell or tablet!




UW engineers invent programming language to build synthetic DNA




"Similar to using Python or Java to write code for a computer, chemists soon could be able to use a structured set of instructions to “program” how DNA molecules interact in a test tube or cell.
A team led by the University of Washington has developed a programming language for chemistry that it hopes will streamline efforts to design a network that can guide the behavior of chemical-reaction mixtures in the same way that embedded electronic controllers guide cars, robots and other devices. In medicine, such networks could serve as “smart” drug deliverers or disease detectors at the cellular level."  Read More
The Imaginarium              
The ordinary transposed to extraordinary 


they're on a quest from Hogwarts


















Bus stops with a bit of imagination















Friday, October 4, 2013

The Troubadour and the Government Shutdown. The USS Leo Opens for Business! Space and Science News. The Imaginarium

The Troubadour Hit by Government Shutdown

Hello Troops,
     The Troubadour has been silent for the last few days due to the government shutdown.  Our writers, researchers, photographers and imagineers have been laid off.  We are down to a skeleton staff consisting of myself and the night custodian.  I'm answering the phones and doing my best to manage the extraordinary amount of creativity the Imaginarium produces and distributes daily.
actually, this is parent teacher conference season nationwide and Renaissance Academy is not immune to the bug.  I've been tied to my chair for the last little while.  My voice is nearly gone and I'm totally out of adjectives used to describe children and their work habits.  
    
The USS Leo Opens at Lakeview Academy

      Lakeview Academy in Saratoga Springs has just opened Utah County's 8th functioning starship simulator.  The USS Leo did its first mission for the school's kindergarteners on Tuesday.  "The kids loved it!" Casey Voeks reported.  Casey is the CEO of DSim, the new name for Discovery Space Center.  The Lakeview Center is managed by BJ Warner.  The Leo is a part of DSim's network of simulators.  
     I went out to visit the USS Leo on Wednesday and took a few pictures to share with The Troubadours' readers.

The Transporter / Waiting Room leading into the USS Leo from the school's
main gym

The Transporter Room's main viewer
 There is a sliding door separating the transporter room and the small hallway leading to the Leo's bridge.  The control room is seen in the first photo (where the man is standing).

The front of the bridge

Looking toward the back of the bridge.  The door leads to the small hallway
which in turn leads to the control room and the waiting room.

A better view of the bridge 

Add caption

The Leo's lighting system does normal and red alert

It wouldn't be a simulator without fake smoke

The ship's normal lighting

The Leo is open to Lakeview students only at the moment.  It will open for private missions at the end of October.  

I really enjoyed the feel of the Leo's bridge.  It reminded me so much of the Voyager, my first ship.  I encourage everyone to book your mission on the Leo as soon as you can.  

Congratulations to Lakeview Academy and DSim on the opening of the world's newest starship simulator!

Mr. W.
    

Space and Science News
By Mark Daymont
Farpoint Educator

Cygnus spacecraft docked to ISS



CanadArm helps Cygnus dock to ISS.

Orbital Sciences' Cygnus unmanned cargo spacecraft docked with the International Space STation this morning at about 6:44 a.m. MDT. Using the CanaArm robotic arm, ISS Expedition 37 astronauts grabbed the Cygnus as it approached to within 10 meters of the station, then gradually guided the craft to the docking port on the US-built Harmony station module.



Astronaut Karen Nyberg at the docking controls in the ISS Cupola with a great view.

With the spacecraft safely secured, astronauts will perform all required safety checks and pressurizations before opening the hatch on Monday. Once all cargo is unloaded, the craft will eventually be loaded with trash and waste and undocked, deorbited to burn up in the atmosphere during re-entry.

The successful docking of Cygnus today brings the program up to two commercial enterprises, Orbital Sciences and SpaceX, that can be counted on to provide additional supplies to the ISS. That of course means that any future stations or spacecraft in orbit of the Earth could be provided additional supplies on a regular basis, or in an emergency if it's ready. I don't think we're far off from the time when FedEx or UPS or some other delivery company will be using space orbits to make quick deliveries around the world or into space.

Now, if we can just get humans sent into space as cheaply!

You can see more pictures and a detailed description of the docking at NASA Spaceflight.com:
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2013/09/cygnus-second-attempt-berth-iss/


The Imaginarium
The Ordinary transformed and untethered becomes Extraordinary


Some ideas for Halloween 



















 







Wall art thanks to painter's tape



My instructions to my family.... just in case.