Merit Academy Prepares to Open Two Starship Simulators: The Excalibur and the Katina.

The Bridge of the USS Excalibur

     I'd like to officially welcome two new simulators into the growing fleet of starship simulators inspired by the experiential educational methods I developed in Sim1, the USS Pegasus and Sim2 the USS Voyager way back in the day. The world's two newest simulators are the USS Excalibur (Sim34) and USS Katina (Sim35), both located at Merit Academy, Springville, Utah.
      The Excalibur and Katina join a long list of simulators which share many common themes and procedures first developed by myself and scores of others who pioneered this type of simulator based learning.
  
The Fleet of Experiential Education Starships Inspired by the USS Pegasus and the CMSEC's USS Voyager 1984 to the Present.

• Sim1:  USS Pegasus: 1984 - 1990 (Before the Space Center.Housed in the school's gym)       Decommissioned

• Sim2:  USS Voyager: November 8, 1990 - July 31, 2012 located at the CMSEC (Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center).  Decommissioned

• Sim3:  USS Odyssey:  1993 - July 31, 2012 located at the CMSEC. Decommissioned

• Sim4:  X-Craft: Run in Central School's cafeteria. It was a voice operated simulator with no computers.  It was run while the Odyssey was being built.  Decommissioned

• Sim5.  USS Chrion:  A simulator at Silver Hills Elementary School in West Valley Utah. Opened in 1997. It operated for six years.  Program Director: Pat Bown.   Decommissioned  

• Sim6:  USS Questar: Opened in December 1997. Closed January 1999. Operated at Sunset View Elem. in Provo, Utah for one school year.  Program  Director Kyle Herring.  This ship was purchased by the CMSEC and became the Galileo. Decommissioned

• Sim7:  USS Galileo:  April 15, 1999. Closed in winter of 2009. Located at the CMSEC.  Decommissioned

• Sim8.  USS Magellan: Opened in 1999. Currently operating at the CMSEC.

• Sim9.  USS Explorer:  Dates unknown. Operated at Utah State University. No longer in operation. Program Director: Steve Wall  Decommissioned

• Sim10. USS Discovery. Dates unknown. Operated in the Logan Utah.  Not in operation. Program Director: Dave Wall and James Porter. Decommissioned

• Sim11:  USS Falcon: Opened in 2001. Closed in 2005. A simulator in two Starlab domes at the Space Center. It closed when the Phoenix opened.  Decommissioned

• Sim12. USS ?: Dates unknown. A computer lab ship operated at Cherry Hill Elem. for one school year.Program Director: Casey Voeks (he was a 6th grader at the time). Decommissioned

• Sim13. USS Phoenix: Opened in May of 2005.  Currently operating at the CMSEC.

• Sim14. USS ?:  Operated in Matt Long's home in Provo.  It did several neighborhood flights and a few for the general public.  Decommissioned

• Sim15. USS Apollo (ship1): Opened in April 2007. Closed in August 2007.  An iWorlds ship located in Murray.Decommissioned

• Sim16. USS Artemis (ship 2):  2nd iWorlds ship. Opened in May 2007. Closed in Aug. 2007. Murray Utah. Decommissioned  

• Sim17. USS Galileo II.  Opened in December of 2009. Currently operating at the CMSEC.

• Sim18: USS Valiant.  The third iWorlds ship housed in a semi trailer.  Summer of 2011. Closed in the summer of 2012. Decommissioned

• Sim19. IKS Titan:  2013 to present.  Housed at Shaler Area Elementary School in Pennsylvania. Program Director: Gary Gardner.  Dreamflightadventures.com. Dream Flight Adventures Simulator

• Sim20. USS Atlantis: Opened in March 2013. Stone Gate Center for the Arts.  Decommissioned • • Sim21. USS Columbia:  Opened in March 2013. Stone Gate Center for the Arts.

• Sim22. USS Challenger: Opened in March 2013. Stone Gate Center for the Arts.  Decommissioned.

• Sim23. USS Endeavor: Opened in March 2013. Stone Gate Center for the Arts.  Decommissioned

• Sim24. USS Odyssey II: Opened October 2013 at the CMSEC.

• Sim25. USS Leo: Opened December 2013. Lakeview Academy, Saratoga Springs Utah. Program Director. Brandon Wright. Discovery Simulations.

• Sim26. USS Everest: Opened December 2013. Canyon Grove Academy, Pleasant Grove, Utah. Program Director, Kendrick Gines.  Discovery Simulations.

• Sim27. USS Pathfinder: Opened December 2013. Canyon Grove Academy, Pleasant Grove, Utah. Program Director, Kendrick Gines.  Discovery Simulations.

• Sim28. IKS Dreamcatcher: January 2015 to present. Housed at Penn Hills Elementary School in Pennsylvania. Program Director: Gary Gardner.  Dreamflightadventures.com. Dream Flight

Adventures.                                    

• Sim29. IKS Highlander: January 2015 to present. Housed at JE Harrison Middle School in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Program Director: Gary Gardner.  Dreamflightadventures.com. Dream Flight Adventures.   

• Sim30. IKS Buccaneer: January 2015 to present. Housed at Steward Elementary School in

Lower Burrell, Pennsylvania. Program Director: Gary Gardner.  Dreamflightadventures.com. Dream Flight Adventures.

• Sim31. USS Titan: Opened March 2015. Mobile Simulator operated by Discovery Space Center. Program Director: Skyler Carr.  Discovery Simulations.

• Sim32. IKS Horizon: Fall 2015 to present. Mobile simulator (school bus) operated by the Children's Museum of Washington DC and in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution. Program Director: Gary Gardner.  Dreamflightadventures.com. Dream Flight Adventures.

• Sim33. IKS Artemis Charger:  October 2015 to present.  Colegio Internacional de Carabobo, Valencia,Venezuela.

• Sim34. USS Excalibur: January 2016. Merit Academy, Springville, Utah. Program Director

Rick Patterson.   Discovery Simulations.

• Sim35. USS Katina: January 2016. Merit Academy, Springville, Utah. Program Director

Rick Patterson.  Discovery Simulations.

Space EdVentures Ships on the Drawing Board

• Sim36. USS Voyager II: Under construction at Renaissance Academy, Lehi Utah.

• Sim37. USS ? Under construction at Lake View Academy, Saratoga Springs, Utah.   

Merit Academy is a K-12 public charter school located in Springville, Utah. The school built the ships as a franchise of Discovery Simulations. The simulators are directed by Rick Patterson. Sarah Glad is the Assistant Director. Merit Academy plans to open the ships for school field trips next month. Private missions and summer space camps will also be available.    

The Excalibur

Space Center fans will notice the similarities between the Merit simulators and the two DSim ships operating at Canyon Grove Academy in Pleasant Grove.

Excalibur Bridge

The ships are smaller than the Everest, but still able to hold up to 15 students.

The famous turning doors

Of course both ships have revolving doors -a common simulator staple. They provide a transition between the real world and the world of space edventures.

The USS Katina's Bridge

The USS Katina is slightly smaller than the Excalibur and not quite finished.

The chairs are identical to the ones used on the USS Magellan.  Both ships use touch screens for ship control operations. 

Congratulations Merit Academy and Discovery Simulations on your two new additions to the expanding fleet of Discovery simulators!

Mr. Williamson

The Imaginarium

The Nautilus Squadron is No More. May They Rest in Peace. The Imaginarium's Theatre Imaginaire

The Lost Crew of the Magellan. Lindsey, MacKenzie, Drake, Andrew, Lissa, Marcus, and Nolan

A Requiem for Nautilus

     The picture above is one of the last two photos transmitted from the Magellan just before it warped away from earth at the end of the squadron's eighth round.  The ship had been missing for nearly a year when it suddenly reappeared near earth just as the full Romulan attack force arrived. When asked where they'd been, Captain MacKenzie curtly replied, "It's a long story and there isn't enough time to tell it.  It'll all be in my report." And with that said, the Magellan joined the fleet in repelling the Romulans.

     Starfleet Command is faced with four mysteries surrounding the Magellan. Where was the Magellan all this time? Why did it suddenly appear out of nowhere?  What was the powerful weapon that nearly destroyed the entire Romulan fleet? And why did the Magellan warp away at the end? 

     The orbiting space telescope took this picture a few minutes after the Magellan warped away.  What you see is the end of the Magellan and its Nautilus crew.  Thankfully the ship's black box has been recovered. Command is confident it holds the answers to the Magellan mysteries. 

     

     The Troubadour, along with the staff of the Long Duration Mission and Voyager Club, bid farewell to the Nautilus Squadron pictured above with coach Alex Debirk.  The squadron was creative in their problem solving and fearless in executing orders. They will be remembered fondly when the history of the Great Galactic War is written.  They live on in our memories and in the vast oceans of space and time (literally).  

Mr. Williamson

The Imaginarium's Theatre Imaginaire 

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