Sputnik is a Lifestyle

In Tsujido, Sputnik is space-age furniture and housewares. The Russian orb-named industrial and interior design shop is a pad situated on a Japanese beach, embodying the notions of space travel in their designs, products and process. Yukari Iki, spokeswoman for Sputnik, says the concept is threefold: affordable, moveable and adorable. Of these, mobility seems often to be the key, with the Sputnik pod chair the ultimate in mobile, earthy and practical seating.

"Sputnik was the first satellite to orbit the earth. If things are seen from Sputnik's point of view, all might seem so different from its usual circumstance. What if such a point of view is applied to designing?" asks founder, and inspiration, Teruo Kurosaki. It's a theme that captures the bold designs, and the global mix of design talent. Far-out, funky and avowedly postmodern, Sputnik's labyrinth of furniture invention is a monument to the spirit of adventure, says Kurosaki. Sputnik is looking to open another store in Venice Beach, CA, similar to its beach landscape for the mothership pad.

Get your Space Travel Supplies now!

826 Seattle in the Pacific Northwest is a part of a larger non-profit network dedicated to helping students, ages 6-18, with expository and creative writing at six locations across the country. By the back of day, it is a vibrant tutoring center, and by the front of day, it's the Greenwood Space Travel Supply Store. In the essence of the space travel culture, there are creative sessions involved around space themes, though not exclusive to interplanetary travel. The storefront gives tools the imagination needs to take off to other dreamscapes via stories and magazines. According to their motto: "Space travel is all we do!"

The Society of Rockets

It's not unusual to find indie labels in the heart of San Francisco, but the Society of Rockets definitely sound a bit different. Listed as alternative genre, aside from the name of the collective related to space and its website taxonomy, their songs deal with rather mundane topics like "Tangerines and Cigarettes", or "The Longest Mile You'll Ever Walk". Nevertheless the "society" sounds cool.

Hamming it UP

According to a recent survey by Crave, CNet UK , Ham,the NASA chimpanzee from Mercury fame tops the list as the geekiest animal in the Top 10. Go Ham!

Even long after the glorious '50's and '60's for space exploration, Ham is still making a splash as a celebrity geek. And don't we all know that space nerds definitely rank as one of the geekiest indeed.

Cosmic Citizen Carl Sagan

An era ended on December 20, 1996 when the brilliant space popularizer Dr. Carl Sagan died. As a space journalist, I look back fondly to memories of reading his books and watching Sagan’s Cosmos TV show. Cue the spacey title music …

Sagan did an enormous amount to popularize science, especially Space, and no one has yet come close to what he did, although many have tried.

So, I wonder today just what Sagan would say and/or write about the up-and-coming Space Tourism industry and the amazing Space discoveries that have been made in the past decade. Sadly, we can only imagine what he would say of the Space Culture that is emerging. For example, I’m sure he’d be quite amused if I gave him a copy of my Sex in Space book :)

I came across a reference to Sagan’s 1973 book, the Cosmic Connection, and I’ve got to say this stuff still feels somewhat cutting edge. Sagan had a way of making the “general public” feel connected to the Universe. That’s just what we need right now; a way for everyone to feel connected to our beautiful Universe.

Excuse my mushiness, but I’m a life-long space geek :)

Check out the Carl Sagan Memorial Blog-a-thon .

Happy Holidays!

New Scientist: How to think like a rocket scientist

Reposted from NewScientist.com

When you make important life decisions, do you ever ask yourself “What would a rocket scientist do?”

Me neither. But maybe we should reconsider, because a new book called The Seven Secrets of How to Think Like a Rocket Scientist, offers to help us in our everyday lives by teaching us the mental tricks of the trade used by actual rocket scientists.

The book is written by James Longuski, a professor of aeronautics and astronautics at Purdue University in Indiana, US, who used to design missions and spacecraft manoeuvres at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

If advice from a rocket scientists frightens you with visions of obscure mathematical arguments, fear not. "There is not one single equation" in the book, Longuski says in a Purdue University press release.

One piece of advice offered up to readers in the book is to ask dumb questions. Longuski illustrates the need to do so by citing the failure of the Mars Climate Orbiter. It accidentally plunged into the Martian atmosphere and burned up because some mission engineers assumed their fellow team members were working in English units when they were really in metric.

That episode would seem to cast doubt on the utility of thinking like a rocket scientist. But presumably we are being encouraged to think like rocket scientists at their best, rather than when they are forgetting to convert their units.

I haven't read the book yet, let alone tried to put its advice into practice, so I can't say how useful it is. But it sounds like a nice detour from the standard self help book fare.

Reposted from NewScientist.com, David Shiga (Image: Springer Science + Business Media)

The Astronaut Farmer

Warner Brothers has sneaked one by us! This new movie, the Astronaut Farmer, looks to be released some time next year (Hollywood.com slates it for late February release). The film stars Billy Bob Thornton (remember Armageddon?) and Virginia Madsen doing what several new private space ventures have been working to do: build their own rocket and launch into space.

Synopsis:

An astronaut is forced to leave NASA to save his family farm, but he continues to dream of space travel and sets out to build a rocket inside his barn. Though his neighbors consider him an oddity, the media considers him a story, and the government considers him a threat, nothing can deter him from his dream to break through the atmosphere and orbit the earth.

Cosmic Comics

For a long time, comics have captured our imaginations and have taken us to a wonderland in which we live vicariously through each character. And so why should that model not be taken into account for science education? Well, it has!

In Japan, where manga and anime is a main part of the culture, science comics are the way to go. For all my Japanese friends who are space geeks, many of them describe their initial interest comes from anime and manga, like Robotech, Astroboy, and Gundam. Growing up with images of robots, spacefaring societies and interplanetary travel, the Japanese are cultivated with these futuristic dreams. Their culture and society supports a space future, unlike the US.

Hayanon, a Japanese artist illustrated a series of space science comic books to teach students about auroras, global warming, and cosmic rays. This is a great way to reach out to students in a form that is easily accessible and engaging to them.

Knowing the power that comics have in communicating with younger people, there have been several initiatives on this front. For example: Cindi in Space. This is the story of the android spacegirl Cindi and her two dogs who explain the purpose of the CINDI instrument as part of the C/NOFS mission and the science involved. It is aimed specifically at students in grades 6 to 9, but hope that readers of all ages will find it fun and informative. It is a 24-page booklet that can be downloaded as a pdf.

NPR has documented the joining of scientists and artists via comics. Spiderman has inspired the nerdy superhero to join the arts and sciences. Jay Hosler is a biologist and a comic book artist who creates and illustrates stories via comics to communicate the wonders of science. Here he makes an inmate out of an asteroid. Space can use a sci+art collaboration like a Jay Hosler Astroboy.

Web 2.0 hits Space

Version 3 of SpaceAlumni.org just relaunched! After a small hiatus offline due to an internal restructure, they are back and bigger and more potent with social networking tools. Getting people together and creating community, via easier communication tools is the crux of Web 2.0.

The insular space community needs to start talking in a way that can be heard. Always the hearsay is "We need more public support, and get people excited about space." Well so how does that happen when internal NASA communications is a pile of decentralized hubs? If SpaceAlumni can get NASA folks to use these open source social networking tools, perhaps we'll see a friendlier face from the elusive space dinosaur.

Both social and network (not the hardware, but the humanware) is missing for NASA. It's pretty evident that they recognize this problem, when they hired a Communications Architect ( a few years ago) to restructure internal communications from the top down. Three weeks on the job, and he packed his bags due to no progress. Maybe SpaceAlumni can offer some online refresher courses on "Communications 101".

Space Now...Virtual

Second Life now has almost 2M registered residents in its virtual world with more corporations and institutions and universities on board. And of course the International Spaceflight Museum (ISM), located in Spaceport Alpha has been a very populous area with all the cool rocket, consistent presentations and meetings, rocket rides to the ISS and a docking space shuttle, planetary and scientific information, etc.

And everybody wants to put their presence in Second Life. Cnet, Wired, PopSci, IBM, Harvard, Manhattan are all ready there.

And in April 2007, the Space Tourism Society is holding a International Space Experience Symposium in Second Life. Yuri's Night, the World Space Party is talking about having its various parties from all around the world stream and broadcast their movies on multiple screens within a Yuri's Night area. Those who can not physically experience the party can watch vicariously through the screens and chat it up with other avatars as well.

So with museums, space parties and conferences in a virtual journey, one can vicariously experience being in a rocket blasting off into orbit and experience partyers around the world and be open to the multi-cultural impact this virtual tool can access. Who needs to go into space in real life, when you have an alternative life where you can have it all? Standing on planets, flying in between all these international rockets, and taking a ride to the ISS are all things that are definitely attainable at this point or perhaps the next decade. But virtually, all is possible.

Find out more about the ISM here:
http://slispaceflightmuseum.org/drupal/

Sex in space hits Outside magazine

Author, musician, and space enthusiast Vanna Bonta is featured in a story in Outside magazine about sex in zero gravity. Yes, it is another sex in space article, and this one is in an interesting place (an outdoor activity magazine). What has captured so much attention about this one topic that a magazine featuring Lance Armstrong wants to have it on the cover? Are we really that focussed on sex in our culture?

Although there are already honeymoon plans on Virgin Galactic's suborbital flights, the 5 minutes of weightlessness may not be enough to have that kind of fun in space. Until they complete a commercial space station we need to find some other way to enjoy ourselves during those first suborbital jaunts. Other than watching the Earth or playing golf on the ISS, what else will private space enthusiasts do up in space? What activities can we create that are unique and fun in the weightless environment?

Towards an All-Inclusive Space Culture

To me, space has always symbolized the future of humankind. What exactly that future looks like, I’m not sure. But I sure like dreaming about it!

I believe that space is a place for all people, no matter what. And that given the resources, people will do whatever they want in space. Whether that’s making love in zero-gravity (a shameless plug for my new book, Sex in Space), or creating cool new space products and structures, is one’s personal choice.

So, when I read an article late last Thursday afternoon about Stephen Hawking – the great space thinker – dropping a big hint to the folks over at Virgin Galactic – I cheered. And then to learn that the company is actually talking with Hawking about getting him into space – another cheer! The fact that the space culture that exists now is being forced to consider all aspects of traveling into space – from food, to fashion, to sex, to persons with disabilities, is very telling. It appears that we’re at a turning point. (Yeah, I know, yet another “turning point.”) Space is for all people – not just those prime specimens who become government-paid space travelers.

Now if we can just get the cost of space travel down to Earth, space will soon be a place where everyone can be themselves and pursue their own personal passions.

Student Space Networking Event to be held in Houston on Tuesday December 5

[Many thanks to NASAwatch.com for this info!]

Northrop Grumman, Booz Allen Hamilton, SpaceX to Host Networking Event for Current, Future Space Exploration Leaders
"University students, young professionals and first-level managers from NASA and the aerospace industry will be able to meet and share their views on the nation's space exploration program with space leaders from NASA and the aerospace industry at a reception being planned by Northrop Grumman Corporation in partnership with Booz Allen Hamilton and Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX).

The Future Exploration Leaders Networking Reception is scheduled to occur on Tuesday, Dec. 5 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in Exhibit Hall E of the George R. Brown Convention Center, Houston. Registration for the event begins at 4:30 p.m. The reception is being held in conjunction with the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics' (AIAA) 2nd Space Exploration Conference, which runs Dec 4-6 …

The Future Exploration Leaders Networking Reception is one of many educational events that Northrop Grumman supports to help ensure that NASA and the nation have the technically trained workforce required to successfully undertake and fulfill the goals of Vision for Space Exploration."