DSim Begins Filming Mission Briefings. New Pictures of the USS Leo at Lakeview Academy. Sportsmanship at its Best. Space and Science Headlines. The Imaginarium

DSim Begins Filming Mission Briefings

DSim, the new name for the Discovery Space Center company, is changing the way crews receive their mission briefings.  

Brandon Wright is shown sitting in front of a green screen.  A computer generated background can be added putting Brandon anywhere in the universe.  Video mission briefings will replace the long time flight director briefings used at the Space Center for the pasts 23 years.  In your opinion, what are the advantages and disadvantages in using filmed mission briefings?  

Pictures of the USS Leo at Lakeview Academy in Saratoga 

Shores (A DSim Franchise)

The USS Leo is open for business.  It flies several student mission daily (for the students of Lakeview Academy) and will soon be advertising private missions for the general public.  

The Leo's Entrance Door

The Airlock takes you into the short hallway. Turn left, and you'll enter the Leo's Bridge

The Ceiling of the hallway leading to the Bridge.
The control room door is seen on the left.  The Airlock door, which takes you
into a small waiting room and then out into the school's gym, is on the right.
The entrance to the bridge is behind the photographer

The Leo's Bridge in normal light

The bridge at red alert

The stations have illuminated keyboards!

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An Example for Us All

Religion and politics could learn a lesson from this.

Space and Science Headlines

The Creation of a Black Hole Witnessed for the First Time

From Quarks to Quasars

Chances are, all of us know a little something about black holes. They are said to be the vacuum cleaners of the universe (the *very powerful* vacuum cleaners of the universe). They consume asteroids, stars, and entire solar systems. As such, they stand as a kind of sublime horror – the mind is drawn to, and simultaneously recoils from, the awesomeness of these vast cosmological structures. However, despite their grandeur, they are exceedingly difficult to study. But things are changing…

This week scientists saw a gamma ray burst that is more powerful than what many thought was theoretically possible. This event has been dubbed GRB 130427A, and researchers believe that they observed the collapse of a giant star and the birth of a black hole.  Read More

Cancer Meets it Nemesis

From NewScientist

"THE results are holding up very nicely." Cancer researcher Michel Sadelainis admirably understated about the success of a treatment developed in his lab at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

In March, he announced that five people with a type of blood cancer called acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) were in remission following treatment with genetically engineered immune cells from their own blood. One person's tumours disappeared in just eight days. Read More

Was an Exploding Star Responsible for the Red Crucifix of 

774 AD?

From Quarks to Quasars

All the way back in 774 AD, a mysterious red "crucifix" was discovered looming over the sky in Great Britain. Of course, this was over 1,000 years before the first camera or video recorder was invented, so the only evidence of its existence lies in old English manuscripts that charted the history of the Anglo-Saxons, a tribe that invaded (and eventually settled in) Britain in the early 5th century. Before now, its creation has been a long standing mystery for laypersons and scientists alike. Now, there is plethora of evidence that suggest that the eerie apparition was spawned from a undocumented supernova blast that littered the Earth's atmosphere with inexplicable traces of carbon-14 -- over 20 times the standard amount found on Earth at any given moment. Read More

Finding the New Earth

Join astronomers in a race to find a planet that can sustain life. Amid all the space in the universe, is there another world like ours? Astronomers studying a nearby star say they've found the first potentially habitable planet.

Astonishing Picture of Earth 

Compared to All its Water and Air

I've seen Earth compared to all its water before, but this image really gives you a perfect idea on how fragile our planet is by adding all the air in another sphere. The density of the air pictured here corresponds to its density at sea level (one atmosphere.)

Here's the high resolution image made by Globaïa's Félix Pharand-Deschênes, based on a concept by Adam Nieman for the 2002 Earth Summit in Johannesburg: Read More

The Imaginarium
The Ordinary made Extraordinary

Found at a nursing home

Several found scattered around a mall.
Ingenious business cards.

The Troubadours to Rest. We Are Looking for a Few Good Oddballs. Gamma Ray Burst Hit 8th Century Earth? Did Aliens Write our DNA? The Imaginarium

Hello Troops,

     The Troubadours have spent weeks and months vigorously perfecting their performances on the various stages at the CMSEC, DSC and LAKEVIEW.  It is now time for these jolly troupes to take a much needed rest with family and friends. 

     This Thursday, the shire's many stages will darken as these bands of brothers and sisters feast on turkey, cranberries, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie.  Speaking on behalf of all, I want to thank them for their efforts in entertaining and educating us with tales of heroism and daring adventure told with drama and song.  They have done well indeed.  

The Search for Troubadours 

Our stages are in constant search of Troubadours willing to work long hours for little or no pay.  Are you ready to answer the call should this quest land at your doorstep?  

No certified oddballs were used in the production of this ad.  The person depicted is a professional actor who was highly compensated for his work.
The term "Oddball" used by permission from the National Society of Oddballs and Eccentrics.

  

Connor L is an awesomely good sport, need I say more?  

Mr. W. 

Space and Science News

Gamma Ray Burst Blasted 8th Century Earth 

Another could strike anytime

From Quarks to Quasars

Cosmic radiation is constantly bombarding our planet, fragmenting atoms in the upper atmosphere as it does. Every now and again, however, vast cosmic events can have a more dramatic effect on our world.

Occasionally considered as having potentially catastrophic consequences, gamma ray bursts are amongst the most powerful single events in the known universe – so powerful that we can detect them from the other side of the Universe. Now it looks as if Earth was struck by one about 1,200 years ago.  Read More

Could We Prevent an Asteroid Collision?

From Quarks to Quasars
In its early life, the Earth would have been peppered nearly continuously with asteroids and debris. Today, the Earth still receives thousands of tons of matter from space, but this is in the form of microscopic dust particles. Fortunately, a large asteroid colliding with the surface of the Earth is very rare. Nevertheless, it does happen from time to time. You probably heard about the Russian Chelyabinsk meteor which hit in February of this year. It entered at a shallow angle at 60 times the speed of sound, and it exploded in an air burst. The size of this body of rock (before it burnt up and shattered) was estimated to be around 20 m across and weigh 13,000 metric tons. This isn't large by any means, but it was enough to injure over a thousand people and damage nearly 20,000 buildings. Read More

The Answer to Whether Alien Life Exists May be Hiding Inside Our Own Body!

From Science Gymnasium

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

The Imaginarium

Swapping out the ordinary and replacing it with the extraordinary takes so much time, but well worth the effort.

 

Two Photos which help you put things in proper perspective