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WINTER 2015 BACK TO THE Getting There Faster for Less

ISDC® 2015: Space Beyond Borders ‘Tis Not Too Late to Seek a Newer World Tweeting From Space NSS OFFICERS NSS BOARD OF DIRECTORS NSS ADVISORS HUGH DOWNS Larry Ahearn Janet Ivey-Duensing David R. Criswell Chairman, Board of Governors Dale Amon Aggie Kobrin (Region 1) Marianne Dyson Daniel Faber KEN MONEY Al Anzaldua (Region 3) Ronnie Lajoie (Region 5) President Mark Barthelemy Jeffrey Liss Don M. Flourney Stephanie Bednarek Mermel Graham Gibbs KIRBY IKIN Brad Blair (Region 4) Ken Money Jerry Grey Chairman, Board of Directors David Brandt-Erichsen Geoffrey Notkin Peter Kokh MARK HOPKINS Myrna Coffino (Region 8) Bruce Pittman Alan Ladwig Chair of the Executive Committee Hoyt Davidson Joe Redfield Florence Nelson Art Dula Dale Skran Ian O’Neill DALE SKRAN David Dunlop (Region 6) Michael Snyder (Region 2) Chris Peterson Executive Vice President Anita Gale John K. Strickland, Jr. Seth Potter BRUCE PITTMAN Peter Garretson David Stuart Stan Rosen Senior VP and Senior Operating Officer Al Globus Paul Werbos (Region 7) Stanley Schmidt Daniel Hendrickson Lynne Zielinski Rick Tumlinson DAVID STUART Vice President, Chapters Alice M. Hoffman Lee Valentine Mark Hopkins James Van Laak HOYT DAVIDSON Kirby Ikin Paul Werbos Vice President, Development RONNIE LAJOIE Vice President, Membership NSS VISION NSS BOARD OF GOVERNORS

LYNNE ZIELINSKI The Vision of NSS is people Hugh Downs, Chair Arthur M. Dula Marvin Minsky Vice President, Public Affairs living and working in thriving Mark J. Albrecht Freeman J. Dyson Kenneth Money ANITA GALE communities beyond the Buzz Aldrin Edward Finch Nichelle Nichols Secretary , and the use of the Eric Anderson Don Fuqua Scott N. Pace vast resources of space for Norman R. Augustine Newt Gingrich Glenn H. Reynolds MICHAEL SNYDER the dramatic betterment John H. Glenn John B. Slaughter Assistant Secretary (ex officio) of humanity. Howard Bloom Jeffrey Greason Harrison Schmitt JOE REDFIELD Ben Bova Michael K. Simpson Treasurer Frank Borman Barbara Marx Hubbard Anthony Tether Bruce W. Boxleitner Mark Jannot Maria Von Braun Daniel C. Brandenstein Edwin R. Jones Gordon Woodcock Lon Levin Simon “Pete” Worden Hugh Downs John S. Lewis James Wyeth K. Eric Drexler James A. Lovell

NATIONAL SPACE SOCIETY MAJOR DONORS NSS appreciates the financial support of all of its members, and would like to recognize the top donors. BUZZ ALDRIN COUNCIL Mark Herrup Edwin Sahakian Gerald W. Driggers J. Michael Lekson Matthew Abrams Daryl Hester Allan Schiffman Stephen Donaldson Georgette Koopman Steve Adamczyk David Hindi Randall Skinner Michael Downey Evan Malone Kennith G. Amour Robert Hunter Don Springer Vernon Edgar Alla Malko Janet Asimov John Irwin Trevor Stone Eugene Ely Donald McClellan Jack Bader William Jaeger Mike Symond Bob Everett George McIntyre -Roddenberry Dana Johnson Eric Tilenius Amy Freitas Karen R. Mermel L. Baxter Edwin Jones Michael Tomkins Dan Geraci Kenneth Money Richard Beers David Peter Kapelanski Jeffrey Walker Joseph Gillmer Eugene Montgomery Michael Blum Don Kimball Alan Wasser Steven Goddard M. Montoure Kenneth Bowdon PJ King Dave Welden The Gryphon Fund Ronald Murdock Christopher Butcher Jeffrey Kodosky Barry Watson David Hampton James O’Neil Paul Canolesio Ronnie Lajoie Glen Wilson estate Jim Haislip Joseph Orr Lori Cooke-Marra J. Michael Lekson Jay Wittner Mark Herrup Ed Post Michael Cronin Charles Lenzmeier Alice Hoffman John Pritchard Stephen Donaldson Dean London VISIONARY DONORS Adrian Hooper James L. Rankin Hugh Downs Raymond Marshall Edward Apke Mark Hopkins Edwin Sahakian Mike Dudley John McQuilkin Jack Bader Hugh Hotson, Jr. James Skaggs Lars Easterson Mary Morss Keith Barbaria Robert Hunter Dale Skran Robert Edwards Michael Blum Mijan F. Huq John Swanson Walter Ellison Florence Nelson Kenneth Bowdon Dave Jacques Neil Thomas Edward Ewell Stanley Novak Randal D. Buss Carol Johnson Adrian Tymes Howard Finch Frederick I. Ordway III Greg Brand David & H.B. Kaplan George Walden Gregg Foote John Pascoe John Brennan Major James Keaton Rich Wall Marc Foulkrod Jared Polis Randall Buss Randy Kelley George Whitesides Guillermo Rodriguez Lammot Copeland Dean Kennedy David Hamlin Greg Rucker Roger Davidson PJ King

2 AD ASTRA Winter 2015 COUNTDOWN...03 Flying Over an Aurora NASA (@StationCDRKelly) captured photographs and video of auroras from the International Space Station on June 22, 2015. Kelly wrote, “Yesterday’s aurora was an impressive show from 250 miles up. Good morning from the International Space Station! #YearInSpace” IMAGE CREDIT: © NASA

Winter 2015 AD ASTRA 3 ...02 Stark Beauty of Supersonic Shock Waves Using a massive update to a 150-year-old German photography technique, NASA and the United States Air recently released what’s called a “schlieren” image of the shock wave from a USAF Test Pilot School T-38C aircraft flying at supersonic speeds over the Mojave Desert. Schlieren imagery, invented in 1864 by German physicist August Toepler, can be used to visualize supersonic flow phenomena with full-scale aircraft in flight. IMAGE CREDIT © NASA

4 AD ASTRA Winter 2015 ...01 Astronaut Kjell Lindgren Corrals the Supply of Fresh Fruit NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren corrals the supply of fresh fruit that arrived August 25, 2015 on the H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV-5.) Visiting cargo ships often carry a small cache of fresh food for crew members aboard the International Space Station. IMAGE CREDIT: © NASA

Winter 2015 AD ASTRA 5 ...LIFT OFF! Rocket Boosts Crew to the International Space Station The Soyuz TMA-17M launched from the in to the International Space Station on July 23, carrying Expedition 44 Soyuz Commander of the Russian Federal Space Agency (), Flight Engineer Kjell Lindgren of NASA, and Flight Engineer Kimiya Yui of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) into orbit to begin their five- mission on the Station. IMAGE CREDIT: © NASA/AUBREY GEMIGNANI

6 AD ASTRA Winter 2015 LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER

Hubble Finds a Little Gem This colorful bubble is a planetary nebula called NGC 6818, also known P.O. Box 98106, Washington, DC 20090-8106 202.429.1600 | [email protected] as the Little Gem Nebula. The rich glow of the cloud is just over half a light-year across—humongous compared to its tiny MEMBERSHIP SERVICES MANAGER central star—but still a little gem on a Cathy Vail cosmic scale. MEMBERSHIP SERVICES Jill Jackson

DIRECTOR OF ACCOUNTING Glenn Beales

CHAPTER SERVICES

IMAGE CREDIT: © ESA/HUBBLE & NASA, ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: JUDY SCHMIDT Jill Jackson

NSS AFFILIATES Dear Ad Astra Reader, Canadian Space Society The world witnessed an incredible event on July 14, 2015. It was the Conrad Foundation day that the majesty of Pluto was put on display, and we had the chance Explore to imagine a new world. Years of research and effort were put in to ensure Innovate Our World that this event would be possible. Read about Pluto and the events leading International Space Elevator Consortium up to this historic mission from New Horizons in “William Tell at Three Billion Mars Foundation Miles: New Horizons Visits Pluto,” by Clifford McMurray (page 12). Moon Society Charles Miller and Sarah Preston’s article on returning to the Moon NASA Federal Credit Union explores a recent study conducted by NASA entitled, “Evolvable Lunar OpenLuna Foundation Architecture That Leverages Public Private Partnerships.” In “Back SEDS to the Moon: Getting There Faster for Less” (page 22), you’ll gain an Space Studies Institute understanding of the barriers at hand, and the strategies and Insider to return. United Societies in Space In “’Tis Not Too Late to Seek a Newer World: Finding Planets Outside Yuri’s Night Our Solar System” (page 28), you can immerse yourself in the research and development by NExSS (The Nexus for Exoplanet System Science). You’ll see how the collaboration from Earth scientists, planetary scientists, heliophysicists and astrophysicists, all supported by NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, work together to discover life outside the Solar System. Imagine a world where is taught in a personalized fashion, where students can learn at their own speed. This world is in MANAGING EDITOR the works with the NSS initiative, Enterprise in Space (EIS). EIS’s goal is Pat Silver, Silver Marketing to educate future generations to engage and discover space exploration EDITOR and the possibilities outside the Earth. Lynne F. Zielinski, Fred Becker, and Katherine Brick Alice M. Hoffman explain the vision for EIS in “A Breakthrough in and Education Helps Students Reach for the Stars” (page 32). EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Mariette Lewicki, Silver Marketing

Discover the world of possibilities in this captivating and exciting issue. CREATIVE DIRECTOR One thing is for sure, the future to the stars will be an extraordinary ride! Chris Mazzatenta, Silver Marketing

Ad Astra! PRODUCTION Paul Bradley, Silver Marketing

ADVERTISING CONTACT Pat Silver Joseph M. Rauscher

Managing Editor VOLUNTEER COPY EDITOR Chuck Fisher

“Ad Astra,” ISSN 1041-102X, is published quarterly for the . The Winter 2015 edition (volume 27, issue 4) of “Ad Astra” was published by Silver Marketing, Inc. at 7910 Woodmont Avenue, Suite 914, Bethesda, MD 20814. No material in this magazine may be reproduced without permission. Periodicals postage paid at Washington, D.C., and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to the National Space Society, 12100 Sunset Hill Road, Suite 130, Reston, VA 20190

Winter 2015 AD ASTRA 7 NSS CORRESPONDENCE BY ALLA MALKO, PHD NewSpace 2015 Conference

NSS members convene at the NewSpace conference in , California.

n July 16-18, 2015, the Space Frontier represented by Tiffany Crawford from the held the annual NewSpace Society of Silicon Valley. Oconference in Silicon Valley, California. The young and talented attendees also participated This conference about commercial space development in big celebrations every night. NSS member Gary was sponsored and supported by many space Barnhard sponsored the party of the conference with a commercial organizations like Energy lot of champagne and fun. Company, Hogan Lovells, Heinlein Prize Trust, Elysium Join us next year! Space, Rocket Science, Made in Space, and many others, including NSS. During the three days, conference attendees had the opportunity to participate on many different panels and presentations and discuss important commercial space development topics. The conference was full of opportunities to network, exchange information, and gain more business for participants. Cooperation between NSS and the Space Frontier Foundation has greatly increased and more NSS members participated than ever before, including Mark Hopkins, Art Dula, Bruce Pittman, Dale Skran, Al Globus, and more. In the exhibit hall, NSS was Marvin Killgore poses with his meteorite and NSS members.

8 AD ASTRA Winter 2015 CONTENTS WINTER 2015

This lunar mining base is close to the Moon’s North pole, with crew habitats at left, power storage batteries and propellant depot at rear, and a lunar ferry taking off in the distance. The site is surrounded by tall solar power arrays, with a rocket propellant production plant in the right foreground and a trencher operating in the left foreground. IMAGE CREDIT: © ANNA NESTEROVA

The largest of Pluto’s , Charon, appears to have cliffs that run hundreds of miles across and canyons that are four to six miles deep. Some of the chasms on Charon are larg- er than the Grand Canyon, and it also has a dark polar region. IMAGE CREDIT: © NASA

FEATURES 12 WILLIAM TELL AT THREE BILLION MILES: 36 TWEETING FROM SPACE NEW HORIZONS VISITS PLUTO By Travis K. Kircher By Clifford R. McMurray 38 HOW TO CHANGE A LIFE: A LONGSTANDING 18 ISDC ® 2016: SPACE BEYOND BORDERS: NSS LEARNING PROGRAM INSPIRES THE INSIDE SCOOP YOUNG MINDS TO SEEK SPACE-FOCUSED By Luisa Fernanda Zambrano-Marin FUTURES 22 BACK TO THE MOON: GETTING THERE By Mark Barthelemy FASTER FOR LESS 40 KIP THORNE, SCIENCE STAR WEIGHS By Charles Miller and Sarah Preston IN ON ISDC® 2015 28 ‘TIS NOT TOO LATE TOO SEEK A NEWER By Alla Malko, PHD WORLD: FINDING PLANETS OUTSIDE 44 BECAUSE IT WOULD BE FANTASTIC: OUR SOLAR SYSTEM AN INTERVIEW WITH ERIK WERNQUIST, By Lance Frazer MASTERMIND BEHIND THE INTERNET’S 32 A BREAKTHROUGH IN ARTIFICIAL MOST VIRAL SPACE ANIMATIONS INTELLIGENCE AND EDUCATION HELPS By Mark Barthelemy STUDENTS REACH FOR THE STARS 47 NSS CHAPTER DISCUSSIONS OF NEW By Lynne F. Zielinski, Fred J. Becker, and Alice M. Hoffman HORIZONS SPARK PUBLIC INTEREST By Claire Stephens McMurray

DEPARTMENTS 7 LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER 49 SPACE SETTLEMENT COLUMN By Brad Blair 8 NSS CORRESPONDENCE 50 BOOKS 10 NSS ANNOUNCEMENTS Reviews from Bart Leahy and Claire S. McMurray 48 LETTER FROM EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 52 CHAPTER LISTINGS By Mark M. Hopkins 55 SIGNING OFF

Winter 2015 AD ASTRA 9 NSS ANNOUNCEMENTS BY AL ANZALDUA

ISDC® 2015 Virtual Reality Blowout

The Oculus Rift experience entertained attendees at ISDC© 2015.

omething was very different about one of an exclamation of wonderment, like “Wow!” “Amazing!” the NSS exhibition tables during the 2015 “Cool!” “Awesome!” ® SInternational Space Development Conference What caused this joyful commotion? Why were people May 20-24, 2015: People were lining up day after day, willing to wait in line for long periods to experience this hour after hour—sometimes past midnight! In fact, exhibit? All attention was on a virtual reality (VR) system more than 300 people, most under 40 years old, stood called Oculus Rift, displaying one of three space in line patiently to experience the mysterious new simulations for each participant: either a Mars walk, a offering at this NSS table. As they stood in line, they spaceship ride through the Solar System, or an Apollo chatted excitedly among themselves and with curious launch to the Moon. bystanders. As entertaining as the Oculus Rift experience is At one end of the exhibit table, bystanders could see today, this is only the dawn of virtual reality for space a seated person wearing goggles and earphones. enthusiasts. In the near future, these systems will give Near the seated person was Christian Meza from enthusiasts more and more realistic and entertaining the Tucson L5 Space Society (TL5SS), periodically trips into space, without having to move from a speaking into a microphone. At times, he seemed to chair—or perhaps from a special VR room. Knowing be coaching the seated person. Others, working in this, members of the TL5SS are already looking into rotations, helped with the NSS exhibit by maintaining upgrades in equipment and software for ISDC® 2016. order in the line of people, or sometimes by taking Their goal is that by next year in Puerto Rico, they will Christian’s place coaching the seated person. Often, have an even more amazing experience in store for the after the participant finished, by-standers could hear conference attendees!

10 AD ASTRA Winter 2015 FEATURES

A Hubble Cosmic Couple The spectacular cosmic pairing of the star Hen 2-427—more commonly known as WR 124—and the nebula M1-67 that surrounds it. Both objects, captured here by the NASA/ESA , are found in

the constellation of Sagittarius and lie 15,000 light-years away. IMAGE CREDIT: © ESA/HUBBLE & NASA, ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: JUDY SCHMIDT

Winter 2015 AD ASTRA 11 This image of Pluto’s largest moon Charon was taken by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft 10 hours before its closest approach to Pluto on July 14, 2015 from a distance of 290,000 miles (470,000 kilometers). The huge canyon on the right limb is more than 1,000 miles long—four times longer than the Grand Canyon, and in some places twice as deep.

IMAGE © NASA/JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY APPLIED PHYSICS LABORATORY/SOUTHWEST RESEARCH INSTITUTE

12 Winter 2015 AD ASTRA WILLIAM TELL AT THREE BILLION MILES: NEW HORIZONS VISITS PLUTO BY CLIFFORD R. MCMURRAY

“Pretty good day today. How about yours?” – Tweet from Alan Stern the evening of July 14, 2015, just after reestablishing contact with New Horizons after its flyby of Pluto

At the edge of the Solar System, mountains of ice as tall as the Aleutians are waiting to be climbed. The 11,000-foot peaks of the Norgay Montes, rising out of the plains of Sputnik Planum, had never been seen by human eyes before the New Horizons probe transmitted pictures back to a waiting global audience in mid-July of this year. It was the first time in a generation that humanity got a first close-up look at a new world, and those scenes mark the end of an era. The preliminary reconnaissance of the Solar System is now complete. And this chapter of the history of exploration closes with an exclamation point. “I have to tell you,” said New Horizons (NH) Principal Investigator Alan Stern, “I’m a little biased, but I think the Solar System saved the best for last.”

Winter 2015 AD ASTRA 13 If that’s true—and the first close-up pictures of Pluto from spin-stabilized hibernation mode. For most of the next eight NH give good reason to agree—it’s also true that NASA years, they’d hear only a weekly beacon tone from the probe saved the best planetary exploration probe for last. NH to all systems were still working. Two or three times a packed the most sophisticated set of remote sensing year, NH sent a more detailed systems report to the ground. instruments—along with the propulsion, electrical power, This was a brand-new mode of operation for space probes, communications, navigation, attitude control, and the to reduce wear and tear on spacecraft systems while they computers and data recorders needed to support them— weren’t needed, lower operations costs, and free up the into a box the size of a baby grand piano that weighs just radios of the Deep Space Network to talk to other probes. 1,054 lb. (The seven instruments weigh 66 lb., less than On December 6, 2014, with the music of Russell Watson’s the camera on the Cassini spacecraft orbiting ). The “Where My Heart Will Take Me” playing in the control room, scientific payload performs its job on 28 watts of electricity, the NH team gathered to wake their Sleeping Beauty for equivalent to two small energy-efficient light bulbs. the last time. Pluto was still seven and more than The navigation challenges for this flight were daunting. With a hundred million miles ahead, but it was time to start a 248-year orbital period, Pluto hadn’t even completed a observing. By May 2015, it was close enough to send back third of an orbit from the time of its discovery in 1930 to measurements better than any obtained by Hubble. the time NH roared skyward in January 2006. When Pluto NH was closing on its target at three quarters of a million was last at its position in the sky, the battle between miles a day. As Stern said, “It feels like you’ve been walking American rebels and British redcoats at Bunker Hill was on an escalator for almost a decade, and then you step still eight years in the future. The more of an object’s orbit onto a supersonic transport.” But just 10 days before the you can actually observe, the more precisely you can plot flyby, a computer overload of much the same type that its future position in space. NH’s navigation team had a had lent drama to the caused a pretty good idea where Pluto was going to be when the heart-stopping communications dropout. On July 4, the probe reached its orbit, but “pretty good” wouldn’t be probe’s primary computer became overloaded when good enough. They’d have nine and a half years en route to it attempted to load commands for the upcoming flyby sharpen their estimate. while simultaneously compressing the data it had already The Atlas V rocket that lifted the half-ton probe off the pad collected for transmission to Earth. NH went into safe mode; was the biggest rocket available to NASA; with five strap-on it switched to its backup computer, stopped all observations solid fuel boosters, the first stage was pushing with 2.45 with its instruments, and lost communication with its million pounds of thrust. Combine the smallest possible controllers for more than an hour. spacecraft with the largest possible rocket, and the result After they reestablished contact, the control team still had was the fastest departure from Earth in history: 36,000 mph to get the primary computer back online if all the goals of (16 kilometers per second). NH passed the Moon’s orbit, a the flyby were to be met. “I never heard a single member trip that took Apollo three days, in just nine hours. of the team say a word about a 4th of July commitment,” It was traveling the distance from New York to said Stern. “They just worked…They saved the mission.” every five minutes—but its target was three billion miles away. With two days of round-the-clock effort, the team saved It still wasn’t moving fast enough. The spacecraft navigation 57 data files, but the anomaly still cost about 6 percent of team aimed the craft for Jupiter, where it could pick up the total planned observations. Stern noted, however, that extra velocity with a gravitational assist. On February 28, observations at closest approach were more valuable than 2007, after only 13 months (Pioneer 10 took 21 months to those taken farther out, so the real loss was only about 1 cover the same distance, 35 years ago), NH sailed through percent of the planned scientific return. Jupiter’s gravitational field, picking up an extra 9,000 mph By the day before the encounter, the main computer that would shave 3.7 years off the transit time to its ultimate was back online and all systems were running smoothly, destination. On the spacecraft’s way past the Jovian but tension continued to build along with anticipation. To , the NH scientists didn’t let the opportunity to test minimize the chance of failure, NH was designed to be as and calibrate their instruments go to waste. Among other simple and robust as possible. One of the results of that observations, NH captured time-lapse photography of a design philosophy is a radio antenna with no moving parts. It volcanic eruption on Io, the first such observation on any can’t swivel to track Earth, so the probe can’t communicate body outside of Earth. with Earth while its instruments are pointed at other targets. Now the probe was heading out into the real empty spaces During the hours of closest approach, while its instruments of the outer Solar System. When it passed the orbits of were drinking in pictures and other data by the gigabyte, it Uranus and Neptune, it was farther from those planets than would be out of touch with the ground. Within its computer they were from the Sun. Ground control put the ship into was a set of 162 “autonomy rules” to account for all the

14 AD ASTRA Winter 2015 CREDIT: NASA/JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY APPLIED INSTITUTE RESEARCH LABORATORY/SOUTHWEST PHYSICS

Just 15 minutes after its closest approach to Pluto on July 14, 2015, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft looked back toward the sun and captured this near- sunset view of the rugged, icy mountains and flat ice plains extending to Pluto’s horizon.

contingencies its creators could think of, but NH would be Pluto. As it passed behind Pluto, the 2.1-meter NH radio on its own. At four and a half light-hours from home, even if dish would be measuring that radio signal, diminished by ground control had been able to receive a radio signal telling distance to 1/1,000th of its power at Earth, to determine the of a problem, it would have been much too late to send any and composition of Pluto’s thin atmosphere. corrective commands. The last contact with NH took place At 7:49 a.m., the moment of closest approach (about 7,750 at 11:17 p.m. EDT on July 13. Its creators settled in for a 22 miles), flags were waving in the auditorium nearby, where hour vigil. They wouldn’t hear from their baby again until 13 family and friends of the NH team joined other invited guests hours after the flyby, as the probe exited the Pluto system. and NASA leaders to celebrate. The timing couldn’t have As the NH team assembled in the control room at the Johns been more auspicious: it was 50 years earlier to the day that Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in the hours before Mariner 4 made the first flyby of Mars. American patriots dawn on July 14, the 70-meter dish of the Deep Space took justifiable pride in remembering that from Mercury to Network was beaming an 80-kilowatt radio signal toward Pluto, every planet in the Solar System had been visited first

NEW HORIZONS ON THE INTERNET Both NASA and the Applied Physics Laboratory have websites devoted to the New Horizons mission. The APL website is: http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/ The NASA website is: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/main/index.html Both websites have numerous features and updates on the mission. The APL website includes all pictures from the spacecraft. Even though the sunlight on Pluto is only about 1/1,000 as bright as sunlight on Earth, the human eye is adaptable enough to see quite a bit. To see what sunlight at Noon on Pluto would look like, you can plug in your geographic location to get the exact time in the morning and evening when you can experience “Pluto Time” at the following website: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/plutotime/ To see where New Horizons or any NASA robotic spacecraft is located and what it’s doing at any given time, visit http://eyes.nasa.gov/.

Winter 2015 AD ASTRA 15 by an American spacecraft. “I think this is an example of a Alice Bowman, televised from mission control: Contact was great society, and a great nation, and what great nations reestablished, all systems were operating perfectly, and no do,” Stern had said earlier. “It’s a gift to the ages.” autonomy rules had been triggered. Among the cheering crowd, there were no smiles bigger than those of the Mariner 4 managed to send back just 22 low-resolution children of Clyde Tombaugh, discoverer of Pluto. black-and-white pictures, but those images forever changed humanity’s view of the Red Planet. The LORRI camera on It will take 16 months for NH to download the 44 gigabits NH was busy taking 1,500 close-up pictures during the (5.5 GB) of data stored on its recorders during the July flyby, to say nothing of the thousands of other images, many 7-15 period. With only 12 watts of power, equivalent to in color, which had already been taken. Those pictures were three bedroom night lights, its radio transmitter can only sure to hold many surprises of their own. trickle the data down to Earth at about 1,000 bits/sec. As team members wait impatiently for the datasets from their If, that is, the little spacecraft survived its passage through particular instruments to download, one project scientist the Pluto system. Ten years of coasting uphill out of the calls this phase of the mission “the Christmas that keeps Sun’s gravity well had slowed the spacecraft a bit, but it on giving.” Already there are surprises. Planetary scientists was still travelling at about 31,000 mph. At that speed, a hit had expected an icy dwarf like Pluto to be too cold for any geologic activity, but the mountains seem young, and the surface has fewer craters than expected; it’s been smoothed over in recent geologic time.

Even as it leaves Pluto in its rear-view mirror, NH is setting its sights on another target deeper in the Kuiper Belt. The probe has about 33 kilograms of fuel left, enough to change its velocity by about 100 meters per second. Using data from an intensive search by the Hubble Space telescope, NH project scientists had earlier identified two Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) that would be in reach with that fuel/velocity constraint. Six after the Pluto encounter, they made their choice. In late October and early November, a series of four engine burns will put NH on course toward a January 1, 2019 encounter with a KBO named 2014 MU69. By the time it reaches this typical KBO (at about 30 miles in diameter, it’s less than 1 percent as big as Pluto, and roughly the same

IMAGE CREDIT: NASA size as Pluto’s two smallest moons), NH will be a billion Clyde Tombaugh, the astronomer who discovered Pluto, died in 1997, but miles farther from the Sun than it was at Pluto. 2014 MU69 New Horizons is carrying a small portion of his ashes. These ashes will be the first human remains to leave the Solar System. is the only KBO it will be able to examine at close range, but before its nuclear battery goes dead sometime in the 2030s by even a pebble-sized grain of rock from one of Pluto’s five it will be able to observe a dozen or so other KBOs at much moons could prove fatal. The best guess was that there was better resolution than Hubble. In fact, it had already made a one in ten thousand chance the probe would be destroyed the first such observation in April, before it even reached by dust. Good odds—but what else might go wrong while Pluto, when it trained its instruments on 1994 JR1. NH was incommunicado? There are no current plans to send another probe to One thing the NH team didn’t have to worry about any Pluto, and it will probably be a long time before the view longer: They were going to hit their target. After 10 years transmitted by a robot from the edge of the Solar System and three billion miles, they needed to hit a keyhole 40 by 60 is seen directly by human eyes. But go out some night miles in size and 100 seconds in duration in order to have and look toward the constellation of Sagittarius, where their instruments pointed correctly, taking pictures of Pluto Pluto makes its slow way across the sky, too dim for the and its moons and not empty space. They now knew they naked eye to see. It’s been only 112 years from Kitty Hawk were going to hit that keyhole, just slightly off dead center. to robotic presence in the Kuiper Belt. Those first human The world’s longest shot was going to be a bullseye. explorers may be climbing the peaks of Norgay Montes sooner than anyone now thinks. For the waiting crowd, time passed swiftly, until the last hour or so. As the time for NH to call home came nearer, there was a restless hush in the auditorium. Then, at 8:52 p.m. on Clifford R. McMurray is a former executive vice president of July 14 came the word from Mission Operations Manager the National Space Society.

16 AD ASTRA Winter 2015 PLUTO

Best Hubble Picture New Horizons 2110 July 7, 2015

The best view of Pluto from the Hubble Space telescope is compared here with one taken by New Horizons a before its closest approach.

A TALE OF TWO SPACECRAFT The 1964 Mars flyby of Mariner IV and the Pluto flyby of New Horizons are bookends to the first half-century of Solar System exploration. Comparison of the two missions reveals how much technology has advanced in that time.

MARINER IV NEW HORIZONS Launch Vehicle/Upper Stage Atlas LV-3/Agena D Atlas V 551/STAR-48

Liftoff Thrust 533,000 lb. 2,452,000 lb. Mariner IV

Time en route to flyby 7.6 months 9.5 years

Weight 575 lb. 1,054 lb.

Power 4 Solar Panels (310 Watts) RTG (245 Watts)

Data Storage Magnetic tape recorder 2 solid state recorders (634KB capacity) (8 GB each)

Data transmission speed 8.3 to 33.3 bits/sec about 1-2,000 bits/sec New Horizons

Closest approach distance 6,118 mi. 7,750 mi.

Spacecraft active lifetime 3.1 years 25-30 years (estimate)

Cost $83M ($638M adjusted for inflation) $720M

Winter 2015 AD ASTRA 17 ISDC®

SPACE BEYOND 2016BORDERS: THE INSIDE SCOOP BY LUISA FERNANDA ZAMBRANO-MARIN

Artwork by Alex Brady depicting a radio telescope on the .

18 Winter 2015 AD ASTRA ISDC® 2016: Space Beyond Borders celebrates the increasingly collaborative, multinational, multidisciplinary, and interconnected nature of space development in the . ISDC® 2016 is where space leaders, astronauts, enthusiasts, and the next generations of young students and professionals contribute their knowledge, research, thoughts, and ideas on space development; its scientific, economic, technical, and social challenges; and its potential for the future of mankind.

A Letter From the Conference Chair These are exciting times!

In the last few years, the has become increasingly more adept at educating the public on the benefits and opportunities the emerging space economy can bring to science, technology, and humanity.

The International Space Development Conference® (ISDC®) is the preeminent gathering place for everyone around the world who seeks to accelerate our pursuits beyond planet Earth. The conference brings together aerospace industry leaders, startups, space exploration pioneers, academic thought leaders, and space supporters young and old—all united by a common goal to explore and develop space for the benefit of humankind.

We will host various sessions and workshops focused in multiple areas of space development: Moon and Mars exploration and settlement, deep space exploration, innovative technology, science fiction’s influence in today’s technology, collaboration in space, planetary sciences, living in space, space-based solar power, , and policy, and much more.

The speakers and panelists have key roles in the industry, and our interactive discussions during panel sessions will allow you to ask the right questions.

We would like to recognize the support from the Puerto Rico Industrial Development Company and the Puerto Rico Aerospace Technology Consortium, as well as the Puerto Rico Construction Cluster and the Arecibo Observatory. On behalf of our organizing team, we look forward to welcoming you to Puerto Rico May 18-22, 2016.

Ad Astra!

- Luisa Fernanda Zambrano-Marin, Conference Chair, ISDC® 2016

- Jose Molina, Conference Co-Chair, ISDC® 2016

Winter 2015 AD ASTRA 19 Conference Overview Sponsorships: ISDC® 2016 has plenary sessions, keynote ISDC® 2016 provides an excellent marketing opportunity speakers, multidisciplinary special topic for your company or organization through our sponsorship breakout tracks, an exhibit hall, NASA/NSS program. We have multiple levels of conference Space Settlement Design Contest, book sponsorships and specific Gala sponsorships, and for the signing, and much more for executives, managers, first time we will offer young professional sponsorships. industry professionals, entrepreneurs, young Whether you would like an ad in the program book or professionals and students, and space leaders and you want all of the perks that come with being the official space enthusiasts. presenting sponsor for the ISDC® 2016 Conference or the Thought leaders in the space industry will share about Saturday Night Gala, there is something for every budget. past, current, and upcoming innovations. Keynote speakers will include (tentative list, for updates visit About the location: http://isdc.nss.org/2016): Puerto Rico might be a tropical island • George Whitesides, CEO of Virgin Galactic and in the Caribbean, but it’s also a U.S. The Spaceship Company Commonwealth. All flights from the U.S. to • Buzz Aldrin, Astronaut, Explorer, Rocket Scientist Puerto Rico are domestic. That means you can travel without a passport if you’re a U.S. citizen, • Rick Tumlinson, Chairman of the Board of Deep and your flight is considered domestic. Furthermore, the Space Industries currency in Puerto Rico is the U.S. dollar. • Jim Keravala, COO and Co-Founder of Shackleton Energy Company Inc.

Special Topic Breakouts will include: *Near Earth • Suborbital • Orbital Debris Mitigation • Cube-Sat Development • ISS and Other Orbital Facilities • Space Solar Power *CIS Lunar • Lunar COTS • Evolvable Lunar Architecture * Living in Space IMAGE CREDIT: NASA

*Mars Puerto Rico imaged from International Space Station. • Settlement • Remote Exploration Q and A with organizers: *Asteroids and Beyond 1. What is ISDC®? • Planetary Defense ISDC® is the annual event of the National Space Society. • Asteroid Survey and Mining It is held once a year around the world for space • Space Law & Policy advocates to convene and discuss the space industry. • SETI 2. How is ISDC® different from other space *Next Generation conferences? • Space Settlement Design Most space conferences are concentrated on a specific • SunSat Design topic, mainly commercial space, research, and reports. • Space Engagement ISDC® is much bigger, covers more topics, and is • Preparing a Global Workforce for Space Development focused on settlement of space.

20 AD ASTRA Winter 2015 old paradigm and making space business far more accessible, with lower cost to the government.

At ISDC®, NSS members and chapters get to present their activities and hold town hall meetings to develop the messages we want to lobby for in Congress and at other meetings about .

It is no longer enough to only watch space development in the movies and media; now we can build it! For the first time in human history we have the technology, the resources, and the people willing to invest to make space development happen. Sheraton Hotel and Casino, Puerto Rico Join us May 18-22, 2016 in San Juan, Puerto Rico for 3. What are the three biggest ISDC® 2016. For more information visit http://isdc.nss. accomplishments of ISDC®? org/2016. 1. We have had a steady attendance for more than Register today and see space beyond borders! 30 years! NSS has more than 8,000 full members and more than 1,500 associate members. At ISDC® we are able to recognize those members who have done great things for space during the year.

2. We are the world’s leading conference on space- based solar power. We also have a strong focus on commercial space, including asteroids and of course space settlement.

3. We partner with NASA Ames to host the presentations and awards for their Space Settlement Design contest, where students in 7th-12th grade design a space settlement. The entries are judged by scientists and administrators at NASA and we usually get around 400 students who present their work.

4. How has NSS helped space industry? According to Mark Hopkins, “The foundation of our strategic plan for moving toward our main goals is to spread certain key ideas. Ideas are very powerful over the long run... Since 1975 we started pushing some concepts that were considered to be really far out and now they are considered mainstream. Among those is the use of lunar and asteroid resources, the importance of energy from space, and commercial space. Just look at the record number of bills coming up on the [Congressional] floor relating to space! It is unprecedented.”

5. Why should I come to ISDC® 2016? It is a very exciting time for space. The NASA COTS program is one demonstration of the paradigm shift from primarily government into more of a public-private Artwork by Stanley Von Medvey depicting a final approach to a commercial funding model. Programs like that are changing the spaceport in LEO.

Winter 2015 AD ASTRA 21 BACK TO THE MOON GETTING THERE FASTER FOR LESS BY CHARLES MILLER AND SARAH PRESTON

Alliance for Space Development (ASD): Lunar Polar Mining Base with solar power system and propellant production plant.

IMAGE CREDIT: © ANNA NESTEROVA

22 Winter 2015 AD ASTRA BACK TO THE MOON GETTING THERE FASTER FOR LESS

Winter 2015 AD ASTRA 23 he National Space Society’s two predecessor organizations—the and the TL5 Society—were formed in the aftermath of Apollo’s success, when anything was possible. Since that time, a question has haunted the members and leaders of the National Space Society. If we could put a man on the Moon in 1969, why can’t we do so in 2015?

Humans have not traveled beyond low Earth orbit (LEO) since the end of the in 1972, but not for a lack of trying. We have made three major attempts since Apollo—the Apollo Space Task Group, the Space Exploration Initiative (SEI), and the . All IMAGE CREDIT RAWLINGS © PAT

these initiatives collapsed from a lack of affordability. SEI’s Artist’s comception of lunar mining, after 2020. Many believe that the estimated cost was more than $900 billion (FY15) to send resource rich Moon may one day sustain human efforts to remain in space humans to the Moon and Mars. The Constellation program indefinitely. cost more than $120 billion (FY15) to place the next human assumes the use of public-private partnerships that NASA footstep on the surface of the Moon. These attempts provide has recently proven with its COTS (Commercial Orbital clear, unequivocal evidence that American taxpayers are Transporation Services), ISS Commercial Resupply, and not willing to spend hundreds of billions of dollars to send Commercial Crew programs. humans to the Moon and Mars. The ELA is a plan to incorporate the Moon into the Earth’s Fortunately, there is another way. NASA recently funded a economic sphere of influence. The immediate, most valuable study titled “Evolvable Lunar Architecture That Leverages economic resource on the Moon is water or hydrogen Public-Private-Partnerships” that assessed a new strategy. discovered in the cold traps of the lunar poles. Scientists The study demonstrates that humans can establish a estimate the Moon may have 10 billion cubic meters of water permanent industrial base on the Moon within NASA’s at the poles, useable for creating liquid (LOX) and existing budget. The report was announced to international liquid hydrogen (LH2) propellant. A commercial industrial media by the NSS and the Space Frontier Foundation on lunar base could extract water from the regolith, convert the July 20, 2015 at the National Press Club. It provides evidence water to propellant, and then transport the propellant to a disproving the widely held opinion that an American-led depot in lunar orbit. The ELA strategic goal is to develop a human return to the Moon needs to cost taxpayers $100 commercially owned and operated lunar mining base from billion or more. which NASA and others could purchase propellant to enable NASA funded NexGen Space LLC, which assembled a low-cost deep space missions to Mars and elsewhere in the team of former NASA executives and engineers to assess Solar System. the economic and technical viability of an “Evolvable Lunar The study results were independently reviewed by a team Architecture” (ELA) that leverages commercial capabilities of nearly two dozen former NASA executives, led by Joe that are existing or likely to emerge in the near term. The ELA Rothenberg, former head of NASA human spaceflight. NexGen Space selected a specific architecture and destination to examine whether public-private-partnerships are technically feasible for deep space human spaceflight, and how much they would cost. The same COTS- like partnership might work for other architectures and destinations…assuming the same step-by-step commercial- friendly strategic principles are observed.

Study Conclusions The NASA-funded study concludes that it is technically feasible for humans to return to the surface of the Moon within five to seven years after industry has the authority to proceed. For a total estimated cost of $10 billion (+/- 30%) America could stimulate two independent commercial lunar transportation service providers, such as SpaceX and the IMAGE CREDIT © NASA United Launch Alliance. We could then incrementally evolve Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS)

24 AD ASTRA Winter 2015 IMAGE CREDIT © ANNA NESTEROVA

Alliance for Space Development (ASD): Propellant depot fueling a Mars transit vechicle (background) & crewed waystation at Earth-Moon . this capability—staying within NASA’s existing human savings for human trips to Mars. spaceflight budget—to a permanently crewed lunar base One of the interesting results of this strategy is that it could and mining facility that could produce the 200 metric tons end the fight between the Moon and Mars. NASA could of propellant per year needed by NASA for human missions stay focused on Mars as industry would operate the lunar to Mars. The estimated cost of this permanently crewed base. Lunar industry and its advocates would become the industrial base on the Moon is $40 billion (+/- 30%). biggest proponents of NASA going to Mars as NASA’s Mars The ELA concept is to develop a large, fully reusable lunar program would be a major customer of the commercially lander that uses the propellant produced on the Moon (to operated lunar base. We believe this strategy offers the minimize the launch requirements from Earth) to transport possibility of a peace treaty, and future cooperation, 200 metric tons of propellant per year to a propellant depot between Moon and Mars advocates. located at the Earth-Moon L2 region. This is the amount of fuel NASA needs to transport its standard Mars Transfer A Step-by-Step “Evolvable” Lunar Plan Vehicle (MTV) to Mars and to return it to Earth once every The ELA plan has three incremental step-by-step phases, 26 months. and maximizes the use of commercial technologies that either exist or are in development. In phase one, three One of the study’s implications is that much more affordable parallel independent activities will begin. First, commercial and realistic human trips to Mars are feasible. Instead of robotic prospectors will be sent to many different lunar throwing away the MTV after every trip, which is extremely polar sites to scout for the best place to construct a lunar expensive and wasteful, the MTV would return the Mars base that produces propellant. Proving that water is easily astronauts to the Earth-Moon L2 depot to be reused. The and economically accessible near the surface is a top astronauts returning from Mars would exit the MTV at the priority. In parallel, at least two private companies will begin L2 gateway and return to Earth. At the L2 gateway, the MTV development of the systems needed to return humans to the would be refueled, filled with food and water, repaired as Moon. The study assumes incremental upgrades to crew needed, and be boarded by astronauts for the next trip capsules (Boeing CST-100 Starliner and the SpaceX Crewed to Mars. The result would be a reusable Mars spaceship, Dragon) and the development of lunar landers by SpaceX championed by Buzz Aldrin and others for its huge cost

Winter 2015 AD ASTRA 25 and ULA. ELA will use launch systems that either exist today, or that are already in development, such as SpaceX’s and , and ULA’s Vulcan. Using this approach, we can develop two independent and competing systems, with standardized rendezvous and docking systems, which can each land humans on the Moon. This kind of dissimilar is critical to safe, reliable and robust operation of the lunar base—as demonstrated by the dissimilar redundancy of both crew and cargo systems to the ISS. Both of these systems can be commercially developed for a total estimated cost of $10 billion. Finally, in phase one, we will develop the technologies needed for LEO propellant storage and transfer, demonstration of which is the key transition point to phase two.

In phase two, with the advent of LEO propellant storage IMAGE CREDIT © NASA and transfer, the same systems used to transport humans This image shows a single-stage, dual thrust-axis lunar lander with and cargo to the lunar equator can now transport humans “ut-rigger” hypergolic propellant tanks. to the lunar poles to begin work on the lunar mining facility. In parallel, we will accelerate the work to develop this point, in phases 1 and 2, we can only afford “sorties” the technologies and systems: A) to convert lunar ice into to the Moon within NASA’s existing budget. After the large propellant, B) to store and transfer LOX and LH2 propellants, reusable lunar lander becomes operational, we can afford and C) to create a large reusable lunar lander that uses a permanently crewed outpost of four civilian astronauts. the propellant. This reusable lunar lander will deliver 200 metric tons of lunar We transition to phase 3 when the propellant production, propellant to the L2 waystation per year, and also transport propellant storage, and large reusable lunar lander have large habitation modules, such as the Bigelow 330, and become operational. The existence of the reusable lunar many other pieces of critical equipment to the surface of lander that uses lunar propellant produces a tremendous the Moon. improvement in the economics of the lunar base. Up to At this point, we will have established a gateway to the entire Solar System. With an operational Solar System Gateway, it will be much more affordable to send humans to Mars, and much larger robotic spacecraft almost anywhere in the Solar System. Further, the marginal cost of a private week-long trip to the surface of the Moon will be $200 million or less. While the study does not evaluate the size of the commercial market, there are a hundred or more countries that can afford, and probably want, to send their first citizen to the Moon. Further, there are more than a thousand on planet Earth who could afford to take a trip to the Moon. At this point, it is possible the lunar base could become economically self-supporting, and we could be on the path for the permanent human settlement of the Moon.

Lowering Costs is the Key Dream as we may, many forget there are always costs to consider. The unique part of the ELA is using a new strategy to achieve affordability. Public-private partnerships that leverage multiple customers, combined with competition, are the key to reducing costs. Competition companies such as ULA and SpaceX to constantly innovate and watch the bottom line, and provide a much more efficient alternative

IMAGE CREDIT © NASA to government-owned infrastructure in space. Artist’s concept of a proposed United Launch Alliance propellant depot with sun shields. The Saturn V cost $46,000 per kilogram to LEO, and the

26 AD ASTRA Winter 2015 IMAGE CREDIT © NASA

A concept image shows the Ares I crew launch vehicle, left, and Ares V cargo launch vehicle. Ares I will carry the crew exploration vehicle to space. Ares V will serve as the agency’s primary vehicle for delivery of large-scale hardware to space.

Space Shuttle cost $60,000 per kilogram delivered to LEO of sending humans to deep space, it is time to try something when you account for development and fixed costs. But different. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 is $4,750 per kilogram placed into LEO A copy of the fully study report is available at http://www.nss. when fully priced. org/docs/EvolvableLunarArchitecture.pdf. We now have a proven formula for success. The COTS program, and the similar EELV program before it, both Charles Miller is the president of NexGen Space, LLC, used funded Space Act Agreements. Together, they have and the principal investigator of the ELA study. Miller is the produced four successful American launch systems in a row co-founder of Nanoracks, and former NASA senior advisor (Delta IV, Atlas V, Falcon 9, and Antares). The ELA would for commercial space. He is a former administrator of the use the same proven method to produce the same cost- National Space Society, and started his first chapter of the lowering results. Industry will own the launch vehicles, the L5 Society in 1983. L2 depot, and all the industrial infrastructure on the lunar base. NASA will serve as a customer, buying commercially- Sarah Preston is the director of communications for the provided propellant at the L2 gateway for its own missions. Alliance for Space Development, and a senior at American University. She will graduate in May 2016, and is looking Conclusion forward to a long and successful career in the commercial The ELA represents a new strategic approach by leveraging space industry. public-private partnerships. This NASA-funded study shows it is a more affordable and sustainable way to achieve human expansion into space, and to enable the large-scale human settlement of the Solar System. After more than four decades of repeated failure of the big government paradigm

Winter 2015 AD ASTRA 27 ‘TIS NOT TOO LATE TO SEEK A NEWER WORLD Finding Planets Outside Our Solar System

BY LANCE FRAZER

The search for life beyond our Solar System requires unprecedented cooperation across scientific disciplines.

IMAGE CREDIT: © NASA

28 Winter 2015 AD ASTRA quipped with his five senses,” astronomer Edwin Hubble once said, “man explores the universe “Earound him and calls the adventure science.” NASA’s NExSS project is the latest effort to broaden the scope and reach of that adventure.

‘TIS NOT NExSS, or “The Nexus for Exoplanet System Science,” is the gathering of scientists from the four science communities supported by NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. Earth scientists will bring their study and understanding of the complex inter-relationships that drive our home planet; planetary scientists bring their TOO LATE understanding of the other worlds in the Solar System, how they began and evolved; heliophysicists will focus on how the Sun interacts with orbiting planets, and astrophysicists will provide information on exoplanets, their host stars, and and their complex inter-relationship. TO SEEK The 16 teams are being drawn from 10 universities and two private research entities, and the goal, according to NASA, is to better understand how biology interacts with the atmosphere, geology, oceans, and interior of a planet, and how these interactions are affected by the host star. A NEWER NExSS: What Are We Missing? According to NASA Senior Scientist for Astrobiology Dr. Mary Voytek, it began when conversation turned toward a deeper understanding of what was needed to look for life on other planets.

“We came to realize we still had a very limited WORLD understanding of what makes a planet habitable,” she says. “Our only ideas were things like it had to be in the Finding Planets Outside Our Solar System ‘Goldilocks’ zone, and it had to have a similar mass to Earth, but that was about it. Just brute force factors. We soon realized we had a great number of disparate scientific communities who could contribute a great deal to this search, none of whom were talking with any of the other groups.”

“The concept of NExSS revolves around the question of ‘what are we missing?’ All of the different research groups have developed their own concepts of what makes something habitable, but it’s a very ‘stone- piped’ arrangement. Two groups thought they owned the research on this subject—astrophysicists and astronomers—but the truth is, regarding habitability, we were naïve and uninformed. Even my own group (astrobiology) has only begun to realize how complex a concept habitability is. We all tend to work within our own community and not communicate outside of that community.”

Dr. Tony Del Genio, adjunct professor of applied physics, mathematics, and earth and environmental science at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies and head

Winter 2015 AD ASTRA 29 of the team from the Institute, talks about NExSS with the abundance of hydrogen, which could form methane. “The undisguised glee of a kid in a candy store after hours. thing is,” he says, “you look for an atmosphere whose chemical composition is out of equilibrium with what “Twenty years ago, we knew of no exoplanets around stars you’d expect. The right kind of disequilibrium—say the like ours,” he says. “For most of the two decades since then, simultaneous presence of oxygen and methane—could be exoplanet science has been the province of astronomers, interpreted as a sign of life.” who used mostly indirect methods to find planets. All of the early planets were very big—gas giants—which were interesting and exciting, but not fitting to our concepts of what defines ‘habitable.’ Over the past few years, people have begun to think about how a planet, once detectable, could be habitable, and now we’re finding planets closer to the size of Earth. The game has changed. We still need astronomers, but we need more of them. We need to pull together all of the scientific communities within NASA. Each of these disciplines has it’s own unique expertise, and each

has its own unique way of looking at the question we all want ESA–C. CARREAU to answer: Are we alone in the Universe?”

Dr. Victoria Meadows, an astrobiologist at the NASA Astrobiology Institute’s Virtual Planet Laboratory, describes IMAGE CREDIT ©

NExSS as a “research network, where different disciplines The Planetary Transits and Oscillations of stars (PLATO) mission will identify can approach the question from different perspectives, and study thousands of exoplanetary systems, with an emphasis on discovering and characterizing Earth-sized planets and super-. It will generating a ‘system science’ approach. And not just what also investigate seismic activity in stars, enabling a precise characterization life ‘looks like,’ but also what hinders life.” of the host sun of each planet discovered, including its mass, radius, and age.

“My discipline,” says Voytek, “is to try and poke at what we know about life on Earth—our ‘n of 1’—and see where what In an interview in Nature/News (April 17, 2015; “Climate we know takes us. We know, for example, that life as we Scientists Join Search for Alien Earths,” Jeff Tolleson), Del understand it requires liquid water, and we know that liquid Genio said of exoplanets, “We have to start thinking about water exists within a certain range of and these things as more than planetary objects. All of a sudden, . Our study of extremophiles on Earth has helped this has become a topic not just for astronomers, but for expand our understanding of life and its boundaries, but the planetary scientists and now climate scientists.” laws of chemistry and physics tell us that there is still a point where life is not possible. And you can’t have life if you don’t Evolution on Earth as a Guide have energy, but what we’ve learned has shown us there are “With billions of stars and planets out there,” Voytek feels, many different ways to acquire energy. “it’s only logical that, at some point, we’ll find a planet that “Now if we’re just looking for humanoids, that narrows our looks like Earth at a different point in its evolution.” boundaries considerably. But we also know that microbial By forming this interdisciplinary group of researchers, life has very different boundaries. It’s difficult to move science Meadows feels that “each discipline can learn from the other, forward if you’re not working in an interdisciplinary setting. and thus begin to see a planet, whether Earth or a planet Any phenomenon you observe is unlikely to stem from only 1,400 light years away—as a complex process. You can one cause.” only go so far by looking at one aspect of the question. You Take the presence of oxygen in an exoplanet’s atmosphere, can’t address the huge question of life elsewhere without an says Del Genio. “If you’re looking for signs of life, you have to interdisciplinary approach, and this is going to help us push ask, ‘What are the gases that life puts into an atmosphere?’ on into new regions of science.” Oxygen and would be an exciting find. However, “Our planet was able to support life millions of years ago; while it could be a biosignature, there are also several ways things like sulfur bacteria, that resembled nothing like life on to produce oxygen without life. So then you have to ask Earth today, under conditions like nothing on Earth today,” what else you’d need to find, what would be the smoking she continues. “But if we study the environment of Earth gun? One promising new idea is to look at the fact that through time, and find an exoplanet with an atmosphere like atmospheres can be either oxidizing or reducing.” the one historical records tell us existed during this time in An oxidizing atmosphere, he explains, might have a lot of Earth’s history, then we can see an environment that might carbon, which could react to form carbon dioxide, or an bear further study.”

30 AD ASTRA Winter 2015 With SETI, success might be a bit easier to define: All you “Look at our technology now vs. 20 years ago, and think need is for someone out there to pick up the phone in about where we might be 20 years from now. Things have response to messages from Earth, or look into the source progressed so rapidly that I don’t think any of us could have of those odd radio signals. But Voytek points out it closes predicted where we’d be today, let alone where we will be 20 a lot of windows if we rely on something that has only been years from now. We’re at a moment in time when exoplanet available for a very small time on this planet. science has the potential to grow with a rapidity we can’t begin to imagine, and we need a different strategy from that We’re leaving the search for humanoids to SETI, says of the past. Meadows with a chuckle. “We’re looking for a global change in the environment due to life dominated by bacteria. They’re “We’re only at the start of trying to imagine a universe of looking for little green men. We’re looking for little green pond different scenarios, and I think NExSS is a tremendous thing scum.” to be involved in. It’s not just an astronomy problem anymore. Now we have four different disciplines working together for She has a point, says Del Genio, “But think of it. If we could the first time. NExSS is a lab experiment, and the onus is on find something that we could interpret as ‘little green pond us to make it work.” A laudable goal, but if the last 50 years scum,’ think what a gigantic leap forward that would be. of the space program have proven anything, it’s that funding Maybe not as exciting as little green men, but still …” for NASA programs is far from a certainty. The last five to six years have brought an explosion in the “Look,” says Del Genio. “First and foremost, it comes down discovery of exoplanets, says Del Genio, “to the point where to the American people. Everything we do depends upon the we are now able to image large exoplanets from the ground. interest and support of the American people. If we do a good I remember meeting Clyde Tombaugh in the early 1980s. job and move the field along, the people will be behind us. Man, what a rush, to meet someone who had actually The future question of funding depends on who’s in the White discovered a planet. At that time, I couldn’t imagine the House and in control of Congress, as well as what’s going on discovery of another planet, but now, not that many years in the country. If we can convince the people this is a good later, we’re discovering planets all over the place.” idea we’re working on, they’ll push their representatives to get behind us as well.” NExSS: Will NASA Pay the Bills? The NExSS program is only a few months old, he says, So now NASA has funded NExSS, bringing together 16 and he believes he’s already seen signs of that interest and different groups from very different disciplines, all with the excitement. ultimate goal of changing the balance in what Meadows calls a “probability game.” While the Holy Grail is finding life “We were at Awesome Con back in May,” he remembers. on another planet, the more immediate goal is to whittle the “And I was part of a panel set for early Saturday morning that possibilities down to those with the best odds of success in was going to talk about exoplanets and the search for life. order to take the best advantage of funding opportunities. Early morning on a Saturday. You know, I figured, after a wild One question arises: What will success actually look like? Friday night, nobody’d be there, but we had a standing room only crowd that was really into it. That felt good. “We’ll never be able to say for sure, at least not at this stage of our development, unless it’s something with which we “So right now, NExSS is like the rookie in spring training that can actually communicate,” says Del Genio. “You’ll hear a has to impress the team so that they’ll bring him north for lot of careful language; you know, ‘it’s an interesting planet,’ opening day. And I think, if we make the kind of progress that ‘it shows promising signs of life,’ that sort of thing. And then a group like this is capable of, we’ll be there on opening day.” there will be other scientists who’ll be skeptical, who’ll say ‘well, can’t there be other causes’ for whatever phenomena we’ve observed. And that’s fine. Science is only as good as Lance Frazer is a Northern California writer specializing in our present level of understanding, and it’s always subject to science, technology, nature, and the environment. further testing and revision.

The “Goldilocks zone” The “Goldilocks zone” is a somewhat fanciful term used to describe the zone around a star that is not too far away (and thus too cold to support life), or too close (and thus too hot), but “just right.” Think Mars, Venus, and Earth.

IMAGE CREDIT © PETIGURA/UC BERKELEY, HOWARD/UH-MANOA, MARCY/UC BERKELEY.

Winter 2015 AD ASTRA 31 A BREAKTHROUGH IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND EDUCATION HELPS STUDENTS REACH FOR THE STARS

BY LYNNE F. ZIELINSKI, FRED J. BECKER, AND ALICE M. HOFFMAN

32 Winter 2015 AD ASTRA magine a future where children everywhere have a An important mission of the NSS Enterprise is to personal tutor in the palm of their hands—allowing motivate students everywhere to reach for the stars Ithem to reach for the stars. Imagine students using and to give them the tools they need to get there. To the internet to interact with their experiments onboard accomplish this, a demonstration of a breakthrough an Earth-orbiting spacecraft. Science fiction? Or cognitive technology, an artificial science fact? It could become a reality. Now, to set in intelligence program (AI) with a synthetic personality motion a tangible paradigm shift that supports these called ‘Ali,’ will inspire tens of thousands of students educational visions, comes the next bold project of to learn independently and at their own pace. Ali the National Space Society: an exciting initiative is being developed by EIS partner Value Spring known as Enterprise In Space™ (EIS). Technology, and will run on cloud services atop the IBM Watson stack. Ali will converse with students EIS, founded by Shawn Case, aims to bring the and teachers in natural language, encourage excitement of space exploration to everyone, with individualized learning, and help identify learning the goal to design, engineer, build, launch, orbit, barriers. The EIS mission will serve as a highly visible recover, tour, and exhibit a spacecraft named NSS demonstration of this breakthrough educational Enterprise. With education as its primary focus, technology. This innovative learning tool provides the spacecraft will carry more than 100 subsidized the first step toward making Ali available to every student experiments. Through the NSS Enterprise student around the world, thus turning the science orbiter, EIS pays homage to NewSpace enterprises fiction future seen in ™ into a reality. With and entrepreneurs, space and science fiction the help of its members’ support of this project, NSS visionaries, and all the pioneering ships, both real and is leading the way to a better future. imagined, bearing the name Enterprise, as it engages and inspires the next generation of explorers.

Winter 2015 AD ASTRA 33 The Need: Why an AI Tutor? EIS and Ali can provide some of the educational tools needed now and even more in the future. As of July 2015, 3G and 4G Students learn at different rates and have different learning wireless access is available in 176 countries, and the majority styles. An artificial intelligence program like Ali can help of their citizens have a device that allows them to access teachers recognize these differences. This is important the internet. By 2020, initiatives like OneWeb™ may allow because the availability of quality teachers and schooling the majority of people on Earth to have this kind of access. varies widely in the United States and around the world. Similarly, IBM alone currently has 45 cloud computing Some students have access to the very best schools, centers around the world, and people everywhere (except teachers, and materials. This allows them to be highly central Africa and the polar regions of other continents) are successful, envision their goals, see a path to achieve their within 1,000 miles of at least one of these centers. IBM and goals, and fulfill their potential. other companies are committed to growing their capabilities At the opposite end of the spectrum are the disadvantaged, to meet the demand. remote, orphaned, working children, or children living in To be ready to serve the language needs of a global poverty that have few educational opportunities. Still others population, these companies are also developing natural live in areas that are so war torn (gangs or actual political language tools to expand capabilities beyond the currently turmoil) or far from civilization that it is difficult for children served 2.3 billion people speaking English, Spanish, to imagine a way forward, much less a way to succeed Portuguese, and Japanese. Ali could be a personal tutor to a academically. Some live in areas where religious or moral third of the world’s seven billion people now, and be able to beliefs do not allow children (especially girls) to attend school. reach nearly every student on Earth by approximately 2020.* In the middle are children who receive an adequate but limited education; they are often seeking more knowledge How Ali Makes EIS Education Work than local resources provide. The EIS team is developing educational curricula for students related to future endeavors in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM). They are incorporating Ali in order to assist each student’s learning process. Using a natural language Socratic dialog and visual examples, Ali will function as a mentor, engaging students one-on-one with lessons that stimulate critical thinking. She will have a friendly personality, one that actively seeks to help students learn independently. She has access to the web of human knowledge, never tires of explaining, and helps students connect science and technology to the history

IMAGE CREDIT © HAROON OQAB of ideas, art, and literature. Ali enables each student to go Each student can use Ali to learn at their won pace, any place, in their own beyond any curriculum because she is attuned to each style, exploring knowledge at will! individual’s thinking. Reaching the World The NSS Enterprise payload of 100+ experiments All children can benefit from an exciting vision of humanity’s represents the best of three yearly worldwide student design future in space and a personal tutor who knows them and competitions open to students from kindergarten to the how they learn best. A technology like Ali can be the future post-graduate level. The EIS team is developing partnerships of education for all, blending classroom and individual with universities to provide mentoring opportunities and high learning with an AI tutor in the most exciting frontier level, multi-year competitions in the fields of space solar known to humanity: space. Space is a proven igniter for power, , artificial intelligence, astronomy, and the imaginations of students. Ali will mentor each student, medical research. Students can also participate in one of providing individualized teaching, learning their strengths, the many non-experiment activities or collaborate in space- assessing their mastery, and answering their questions. Ali related projects with other students around the world. EIS will can benefit teachers as well, working in tandem with them bring students together to create the first generation of global during the project, reporting their student’s progress toward space collaborators. concept mastery, and identifying the student’s strengths For humanity to thrive, live, and work in space, people with and weaknesses. The teachers can then take the necessary diverse skills will be needed from all walks of life, and they measures to redirect their students toward success. EIS will need STEAM skills to be hired by the space-related wants to use space as the catalyst to place the highest companies of today or to form their own companies in the quality education into the hands of all students, accelerating future. Those who participate in the EIS education program their learning, and enriching their world.

34 AD ASTRA Winter 2015 IMAGE CREDIT © STANLEY VON MEDVEY The EIS Orbiter Design Contest Grand Prize winning entry was submitted by Stanley Von Medvey. will learn many of those diverse skills. They will learn about To find out more, check out Enterprise in Space online at www. the scientific method, experimental design, and data enterpriseinspace.org and our partner Value Spring Technology, analysis. They will gain research, writing, and presentation Inc., at www.thevaluespring.com/enterprise-in-space/. skills—all with the help of Ali. Designing an orbital experiment; witnessing integration, launch and recovery; and engaging Lynne F. Zielinski is a member of the NSS board of directors, with an international team to study its results are life- vice president of public affairs, and chairwoman of the changing opportunities for any student. education and outreach committee. She is the education Ali will coach the student teams from the development of program manager for Enterprise In Space. She has won the flight experiment proposal through the orbiter integration numerous awards including the 2014 Alan Shepard process. During the orbital mission, Ali will provide the voice Technology in Education Award and the 2013 NSS Activist and mind of the NSS Enterprise and communicate between of the Year Award. A retired physics teacher of 32 years, she students and their experiments aboard the spacecraft, just resides in Long Grove, Illinois. like the computers in the Star Trek™ series did with their Fred J. Becker is a systems engineer and chief engineer crew members! for Enterprise In Space. He has worked on many key The Future space programs including , Space Station, X-33, Spitzer Space Telescope, Lunar Prospector, Mars After the flight, NSS/EIS will continue to support Ali for years Reconnaissance Orbiter, and Pluto New Horizons. He has to come as she uses STEAM as the basis for teaching worked at three of NASA’s major centers: JSC, MSFC, and students all over the world. The flight and recovery of the KSC. He has a degree in electrical engineering and resides first Enterprise in Space, with the voice and mind of the in Indianapolis. NSS Enterprise supplied by Ali, will dramatically publicize the capabilities of a unique artificial intelligence-based Alice M. Hoffman is a member of the NSS board of directors educational tool, a world-changing technology that will put a and program manager of Enterprise In Space. As the personal tutor in the hands of every child. EIS is showcasing president of Hoffman Management Partners, LLC, she has a new way to bring people on our planet together to work on managed dozens of complex projects, including stadiums, the problems of today and achieve the great future that lies hospitals, airports, and renewable power. A professional ahead for humanity. We hope you will support Enterprise In engineer with degrees in civil engineering from MIT, she Space™ as we engage and inspire the pioneers of tomorrow. resides in .

* Assumes sufficient funds, expansion of global access to broadband internet, computerized Mandarin, and access to Western cloud services by China. Winter 2015 AD ASTRA 35 Tweeting From Space Astronauts post and tweet their views from the International Space Station BY TRAVIS K. KIRCHER

In the age of social media, everyone is a star.

Day by day, we tweet the minutia of life: everything from the soggy nature of our breakfast cereal, to waterlogged images of our frantic dog Sputnik in the bath, to our own insights into the 2016 Presidential election (unsolicited, of course, but nonetheless correct.)

But imagine if you were one of only a handful of people

currently in orbit on the International Space Station. IMAGE CREDIT © REID WISEMAN/NASA

What might your Pinterest page look like then? Images There is nothing that could ever come close to preparing you for what of coupons and calendars would be replaced with your human eyes are going to see—and your brain is going to process— when you look out the window from 200 miles up for the first time,” said breathtaking vistas showing the Earth at dusk, with the astronaut Reid Wiseman. pale- in glorious repose. Instead of sharing that viral Vine video of the tranquilized bear falling out of a tree, the Earth from space for the first time. And he was just you’d be posting video from a Go-Pro camera floating so enthusiastic. His personality really came across on his weightless inside a water globule. feed and in his videos.”

In recent years, astronauts have discovered just how “Can you hear me now?” valuable a tool social media can be for sharing the experience of spaceflight with the rest of us Earth-bound But Internet service aboard the space station can be souls. But posting a tweet from space isn’t always as painfully slow—Sumner likens it to dialup speeds—and simple as clicking your mouse. posting directly to Twitter can be time consuming, as Wiseman soon discovered. Rookie tweets “One weekend I tried to tweet directly from the space By the time astronaut Reid Wiseman arrived on the station using our Internet connection, and it took about International Space Station in May 2014, he already knew 25 minutes to get one single tweet out,” Wiseman said. he wanted to make Twitter posting a regular part of his “So you can imagine trying to do that during the workday daily routine. And he already had his own cadre of social is totally impossible.” media heroes to draw from. Fortunately, Sumner says, NASA implemented a “game “I definitely saw what did up there,” changing” new social media policy for Wiseman’s mission. Wiseman said, recalling the astronaut who eventually From Expedition 40/41 onward, NASA astronauts on the amassed more than one million Twitter followers, and space station would be assigned a social media specialist who reached social media acclaim with his famous on the ground. Instead of posting directly to social media, “Space Oddity” tribute. the astronauts could attach pictures, video, and captions in an (which can be sent from the station much more “And then the first astronaut that I followed—truly quickly), and then send the to the specialist on the followed—on Twitter was ,” Wiseman ground, who could subsequently post the information to continued. “She brought a really awesome perspective, social media.” I thought, showing the Earth the way it really looks from space, and using some genuine, heartfelt comments.” Despite the middleman, Sumner says the social media posts are the astronauts’ own words. For his part, Wiseman said he planned on adding his own social media voice to the mix: that of a space station “There’s no ghost-writing involved,” Sumner said, “so greenhorn. everything that is posted on their accounts…is written by them, or at least, if it’s changed at all, is approved by “His whole thing was that he was a rookie,” recalled them. So they see everything before it goes out.” Megan Sumner, the public affairs specialist in charge of social media at . “It was his first Wiseman says the new policy allowed him to post time in the space station. Everything was the first: seeing more often.

36 AD ASTRA Winter 2015 “I would take a picture, write the tweet, put it in an email, When it comes to posting on social media—whether and 30 seconds later, it was on Twitter,” he said. “I mean, from space or from the ground—Sumner says there are it was as real-time as you could possibly get, and it took definitely do’s and don’ts. no effort on my part, so it enabled me to do much more “We’re a government agency: no endorsements,” she than the previous guys had done.” said. “A lot of people want to go up and talk about their 12,000 to 370,000 in just six months… favorite musician or sports team…and we have to be very careful with the way that we put those words out not to If knowing how to tweet is important, knowing what to come across as endorsements.” tweet is critical. In space, as on Earth, content is king. Political commentary, Sumner said, is also taboo. From the moment he first looked out the window of the Cupola, Wiseman said he knew he was going to be The line can be painful at times. Wiseman confided that, posting a lot of pictures. on one occasion, he was looking out the space station window when he saw something on the ground (we’re “There is no photograph,” he said. “There is no video. withholding what it was, at his request), and wanted to There is no IMAX movie. There is nothing that could ever craft a tweet about it—but he changed his mind when come close to preparing you for what your human eyes he realized the tweet might be construed as a political are going to see—and your brain is going to process— statement. when you look out the window from 200 miles up for the first time. There is just nothing.” “There were probably half-a-dozen times when I wanted to post something, but I didn’t even ask—I just knew I Eager to do his best to share the view with his expanding couldn’t,” Wiseman said. “I’d think, ‘You know what? Not pool of Twitter followers—which he says grew from about from this position. I’m here at the behest of the taxpayers, 12,000 before launch, to 370,000 when he returned to and they’ve thrown a lot of money at me to get here, so I Earth six months later—Wiseman took several pictures of can’t take a stand while I’m up here.’” sunsets, land masses, and weather formations a day. But there is one case when Wiseman said he crossed the “I posted this one picture of an atoll, and I didn’t know line—and it paid off. where it was,” he recalled. “I just said it looked cool. And a guy wrote back and said, ‘Oh, my name is Muhammad, “One that was really funny that I got advised not to post, and I was born there, and I still live there.’ I’ve actually kept but I posted anyway: I was closing in on 100 days up in touch with that guy over email.” there, and I just said, ‘Hey, I haven’t showered in 90-some days. I wanted to get that off my chest,’” he laughed. “And Wiseman admitted that some followers kept him on now that I’ve come back, more people talk about that one his toes. post because that really connected with them.” “One of my first pictures I put on there was a picture of “That was one where there was no picture: it was just what I called the Falkland Islands,” he said. “And there a few simple words about my life in space, and a lot of was so much angry replying that it was not the Falkland people identified with it.” Islands.” Travis K. Kircher is an executive web producer for He added that many residents were “really upset about WDRB-TV in Louisville, Kentucky, a student pilot, and a that. That taught me that…I have to be really careful with my freelance writer who often covers topics related to space interpretation of global geography, and not offend people.” exploration. He can be reached at [email protected]. Despite the numerous replies and comments, Wiseman said he only had time to read a small fraction of them— and he opted not to reply.

“There were like 20 people who were really hardcore Reid Wiseman followers on Twitter,” he said. “And I loved the fact that they would reply to everything, but I did not use Twitter as an interactive tool from that perspective, just because it’s too tough… I mean for one tweet, you get several hundred replies—and if I’m only replying to one or two people, to me, it’s just not fair to the others.” IMAGE CREDIT © NASA Breathtaking shadows are the result when clouds and sunshine meet—and To tweet…or not to tweet…? because of social media, astronauts aboard the International Space Station are able to share the view with those on the ground in virtual real time.

Winter 2015 AD ASTRA 37 How to Change a Life A Longstanding NSS Learning Program Inspires Young Minds to Seek Space-Focused Futures BY MARK BARTHELEMY he National Space Society exists to accelerate and and study at Tech and pursue my passion. It taught celebrate humanity’s pursuit of our space-faring future. me how to do research, leadership, teamwork, handiwork, TWe work to accomplish this in a myriad of ways: political and so many other things! NSS and its efforts helped me gain advocacy, thought leadership, global community building, and confidence to aim to be someone great and to do something efforts in public outreach. great and I will keep working on that. Please don’t stop. You But to me, the most meaningful of our efforts are those in are changing lives and inspiring us! youth education. Space is not just hard and expensive: it’s an Students: DO IT! It will change your life! After all, it changed inherently multi-generational enterprise. Many of us may not mine! Don’t let anything stop you because this will change you have a chance to settle ELEO or L5 or Mars or Titan. But we forever. can contribute directly to future endeavors by fostering young Robert Gitten - Weston, Florida - University of Michigan minds—on a global scale—toward the active pursuit of space- (aerospace engineering, undergrad) focused engineering and sciences. German composer Richard Wagner had this concept that The NSS/NASA Space Settlement Design Competition, he called the Gesamtkunstwerk: the “complete” or “ideal” directed since 1994 by program founder Al Globus, is the work, a project so broad in scope that it encompasses crown jewel that inspired me to get involved in NSS in the first every discipline. Designing a space colony is to create a place. For this competition, students work individually or in Gesamtkunstwerk in its purest form. You are literally designing teams to create novel concepts for orbital space settlements— an entire world and society for people to live in and you have large, pressurized, rotating spacecraft where thousands of total freedom to just run with it. The only rules are that your people live, work, and raise their children. The result is typically design cannot break the known laws of physics. a paper of significant length that details broad aspects of such a settlement, from its construction design and layout, to life Now I’m part of the U of M rocket team, working with a support concerns, to agricultural systems and governance research group to build a greenhouse for growing crops on structure. Participants often spend months engaged in Mars. This summer, I interned at Lockheed Martin Space inquiry-based learning, often teaching themselves new Systems as a systems and integration engineer on the Orion concepts in physics and psychology and skills in 3D design spacecraft. It was awesome waking up each day realizing that along the way. A team from NASA Ames reviews all entries, I was going to work to help send humans back to the Moon. and NSS extends invitations to winning teams to attend our I got to tackle the high-level multidisciplinary problems that I annual ISDC® conference, where they formally present their encountered in the NSS competition. My current professional settlement via poster and presentation, and engage actively goal is to become a spacecraft architect: the engineer with conference speakers and participants. responsible for designing spacecraft at a fundamental level. To build the path to a spacefaring future, we must pass our To NSS and its supporters, I have nothing to express passion to the youth, and show them how to pursue it. The but gratitude. Your competition has introduced an entire NSS seeks to broaden our educational efforts and build generation to the idea that settling is something we could, scalable programs able to drive meaningful learning outcomes should, and will do. You are helping pass the torch lit at the throughout the education lifecycle. Nothing is more crucial to dawn of the 20th century by Goddard, Verne, Tsiolkovsky, and foster the spacefaring future of which we dream. others. Here are a few experiences of previous participants in the Ricardo Rodriguez Garcia - Puerto Rico - MIT competition, in their own words: (aerospace engineering, undergrad) We were set free to learn. Unlike a regular high school Srishti Gupta - Delhi, India - Georgia Tech (aerospace curriculum, we were expected to learn what was necessary engineering, undergrad) to design and operate a space settlement by ourselves using Being a part of the NSS competition and working on the the resources we could find. Inquiry-based learning, as this project opened me to a completely new field of innovation technique is known, led to some stumbling, but in the long run, combined with imagination! When people think of space it helped me take responsibility for my own learning. exploration, they usually think of astronauts in a confined Selective colleges are interested in knowing how you pursued space on Earth or in the Moon’s orbit. However, the project your interests beyond the classroom. The space settlement reached beyond the boundaries of current technology and design competition was one of the projects I showcased in gave me an opportunity to look into the future. This completely my college applications. It was the single activity I talked the changed my relationship with science! Now, I look at concepts most about, for it demonstrated not only my compromise and think about what more can be done instead of just with space exploration, but also a transition from vague accepting what is there. professional goals to a life purpose. Ultimately, two years of Nothing has helped me more than this competition in my life— space settlement design and scientific research led me to live it is the reason why I was able to gain confidence to come here for the exploration and understanding of the Universe.

38 AD ASTRA Winter 2015 Hemanth Harikrishnan - Bangalore, India - Sri point in my life toward a path of search and discovery. It Chaitanya Techno High School pushes students onto a path of innovative thinking, beyond This exposure has made me mad for space and a geeky guy! what they thought was possible. I learned to come up with It transformed my interest into a passion for pursuing studies new questions and find the skills that would help solve them— in this discipline in reputable space universities. I planned to in essence, how to do research and keep an open mind. It be a doctor but now an astrophysicist. Doing the NSS project inspired me to always look for new questions. made me decide my ambition to work in NASA. I also became Vansh Murad Kalia - Jalandhar, India - University of a hero of my school. I felt very happy to be at ISDC®. Chicago (physics, undergrad) Aleksandra Voinea - Bucharest, Romania - Cornell At ISDC® I got to meet the most distinguished space (aerospace engineering, undergrad) personalities—something I couldn’t even dream of before. I The Space Settlement Design Contest completely changed got to see real space suits, real astronomical artifacts, and my career path. I created my first submission in 2012 with the real astronauts. It was SO AMAZING! The presentation I gave certainty that I’d become a brain surgeon. Afterwards, I had on my settlement made me very confident about undertaking my heart set on aerospace engineering. You could say I got such tasks again. the “space bug” in the process. There’s no cure for that. I learned a lot of new concepts at a very young age, attained I definitely learned a lot while writing these projects, not confidence, and developed leadership skills. This contest only about engineering, but also other fields, ranging from ignited a love for physics in me which is still glowing bright. I’d medicine to government, management to computer graphics. like to thank the generosity of those people who support NSS Most of all, I learned to never give up and that there’s a to make such a beautiful platform for young minds to unlock to every problem. their full potential. Students out there: Go for it! It’s an amazing experience, Catalina Cremeneanu - Bucharest, Romania - Tudor creating a concept and outlining it, attending ISDC® and Vianu Natl HS of Comp Sci presenting your project, the opportunity to network with I would like to thank you for this tremendous and unforgettable aerospace professionals—everything about this contest has opportunity you have offered us. ISDC® was truly a place been life changing. where students could learn more about astrophysics and cosmology from great scientists and professors and share Alex Reeves - Ann Arbor, Michigan - Caltech (applied experience with other students. There, we bonded new physics, undergrad) friendships and managed to substantiate our knowledge. This project was incredibly special because it was completely ISDC® also offered me the opportunity to present my project self-driven—I worked on it because I wanted to, not for in front of large number of physicists and scientists. a grade. I taught myself a few principles of physics, and Zareen Cheema - Pune, India - University of Pune explored more advanced topics in rotational mechanics and (mechanical engineering, undergrad) energy transfer than I had studied in school. Working on such a long time frame really forced me to plan ahead and organize Working on the Space Settlement Competition was one of the carefully. most thrilling times in my life. I have been always passionate in the field of space sciences, but I didn’t have an opportunity to ISDC® really opened my mind to the possibilities out there. implement all that I had read and learned. This was a fantastic Before, it was all very remote; after the conference, I finally opportunity for me to think outside of the box and implement realized that it was all real, and that this field really does have ideas I had read in books. tangible opportunities for development in the present and near future. Fourteen other girls from my school have worked on this project since my first ISDC® visit. I am extremely proud NSS educational programs are huge forces for good in young of these girls and have witnessed their transition into people’s lives. By allowing students to flex their creative independent and smart engineers and scientists. They muscles and experience hands-on design work in the pursuit have since shared with me how the project and ISDC® has of a complex goal, you are helping to train the next generation influenced their lives and future path. of engineers, social scientists, explorers, artists, and so many more in ways that stretch far beyond the aerospace industry. The beauty of this contest and the ISDC® conference is its You’re helping those students find and follow their passions in power to boost a student’s interest and passion in space a way that unites them with others in a common goal. science and technology. It certainly influenced my decision to select mechanical engineering as my major. Currently, I am Mike Teodorescu - Iasi, Romania - Harvard Business vice chair of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers School (strategy, PhD student) chapter at my college and aim to spread STEM education in Once we started thinking about the complexities of living in my community. The NSS experience gave me a clear picture space as a self-sufficient settlement, we just kept going. There about the path I’ll take forward to pursue my passion in space are many aspects of life on a space settlement that need to sciences and fulfill my goal of becoming an astronaut. be explored when we think of self-sustainability. As such, this project was very different from regular coursework—every Mark Barthelemy ([email protected]) is an NSS board director problem we tried to solve resulted in more questions and and co-founder of Kynda, a Seoul-based firm offering next- more learning. generation K-12 educational products and services to As a participant from 2003-05, the contest has been a turning students and families in Asia.

Winter 2015 AD ASTRA 39 IMAGE CREDIT © ALLA MALKO

Kip Thorne poses with NSS’s award for mass media. Kip Thorne, Science Star, Weighs in on ISDC® 2015 BY ALLA MALKO, PHD

n May 23, 2015 NSS had the great honor of In 1994, Thorne published Black Holes and Time Warps: welcoming the Feynman Professor of Theoretical Einstein’s Outrageous Legacy, a book for non-scientists, OPhysics, Emeritus, Kip Thorne, to ISDC® 2015 for which he received numerous awards. in Toronto, Canada. He is one of the most recognized In 2009, Thorne retired from his Caltech professorship, names today in theoretical physics, known for his launching what he fondly calls his “second career” contributions to gravitational physics and astrophysics, in filmmaking and writing while continuing scientific and a leading expert on Einstein’s general theory of research. With film producer Lynda Obst, Thorne relativity. initiated and executive produced Christopher Nolan’s Thorne received his BS degree from Caltech in 1962 2014 blockbuster, Interstellar. Working closely with the and his PhD from Princeton University in 1965. After two filmmaker to embed science throughout the movie, years of postdoctoral study, he returned to Caltech in Thorne ensured that the depictions of black holes and 1967. His career at Caltech has spanned more than five other cosmic phenomena were based on physics, which decades. contributed to the film’s 2014 Oscar for visual effects. He now has a second movie and two more books in Thorne has written and edited books on gravitational the works, and is collaborating with a team of young theory and high-energy astrophysics. Worldwide fame physicists on the dynamics of curved space-time. came to him in 1973 after he co-authored the classic textbook Gravitation with Charles Misner and John In 2014, Thorne published The Science of Interstellar, Wheeler. A generation of scientists learned general in which he explains the science behind Christopher relativity theory from this book. Nolan’s film. The book has helped to popularize complex astrophysical science.

40 AD ASTRA Winter 2015 Thorne’s keynote presentation, “The Science of Interstellar,” attracted a large audience of students and adults. It was a phenomenal explanation of the scientific basis for physics and visualization of exotic concepts like black holes and wormholes from the movie. His work on the movie’s visual effects resulted in the discovery of how a real black hole and wormhole would look. Thorne also presented real pictures of black holes and worm holes that were not featured in the movie, but were published in the scientific journal Classical and Quantum Gravity after the movie was released.

Kip Thorne’s Legacy as a Mentor Benefits Young ISDC® Attendees

Among all his achievements, Thorne is most proud of Kip Thorne answers questions from students at ISDC© 2015. his role as a teacher, noting the 52 physicists he has mentored, many of whom have gone on to become Thorne agreed to be photographed with the student leaders in their chosen fields. He enthusiastically watches participants of the Space Settlement Contest. Three as they tackle some of the deepest, most important hundred students from many different countries, divided questions about the nature of the universe. into 80 groups, were able to take their photo with him. It was exciting to observe that the majority of NSS hopes that in the future, when all these students conference attendees—professionals, enthusiasts, become specialists in different fields of science and and students—understood and appreciated technology, they will proudly show the picture from this the unique opportunity to personally talk to, ask conference and say: ”Here I am with Kip Thorne, one a question of, or shake hands with one of the of the greatest physicists of the century, who made a greatest scientists and promoters of science of breakthrough in gravitational physics searching for our time. gravitational waves.” IMAGE CREDIT © IMAGE: CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM GRAVITY, 2015. PUBLISHING IOP OF PERMISSION BY REPRODUCED

Kip Thorne presented a true black hole image based on Einstein’s equations at ISDC© 2015.

Winter 2015 AD ASTRA 41 through the warp space and warp time around the black hole and to produce something. This is just the way it would be if you were there yourself and I thought—we thought—everyone involved in the film thought—that this would be really wonderful to do it right for the first time ever in Hollywood and I think that it’s a significant part of the inspiration in this film.

Mortillaro: It was absolutely beautiful. Now about this conference (ISDC® 2015): how pleased are you that this type of conference exists?

Thorne: I think it’s very wonderful, particularly getting the young people involved around the world and being an inspiration for them. It’s very important for the future IMAGE CREDIT © ALLA MALKO of science and the future of space. Kip Thorne is shown at ISDC® 2015 with students from India.

At the conference gala event, Thorne was given the Pioneer award for his role as producer and science consultant in the movie Interstellar.

Science Comes to Life Below is a partial transcript of the conversation between Kip Thorne and Nicole Mortillaro from Global News, Canada, on ISDC® 2015, revealing his ideas about the future of humanity in space, which align with NSS goals:

Regarding how he became involved in the movie Interstellar, Thorne answered: “I saw this as a great opportunity to be in on the ground floor of a film and integrate science into it from the onset and try to turn it into an inspiration for people all around the world that science is cool, that science is interesting, and so that’s what happened and we succeeded.”

Nicole Mortillaro, Global News Canada: So about the science and about worm holes and black holes: How important was bringing that real science to the public?

Thorne: All the visualizations of astrophysical objects— IMAGE CREDIT © ALLA MALKO worm holes, black holes, the brilliant accretion disc Kip Thorne receives NSS’ award for mass media from his former student, around the black hole—were done by solving Einstein’s Mark Hopkins, chair of NSS’ executive committee. equations by propagating light from the source of light Mortillaro: What do you think about the future of space travel?

Thorne: I think that it’s clear that is attainable to colonize the Solar System. Getting beyond the Solar System is going to be exceedingly difficult. We are going to either require a lot of brute force over a period of several centuries or else a brilliant idea that none of us has grasped yet. But the first thing is the Solar System. We have not been moving at anything like the pace that we could or we should. IMAGE CREDIT © ALLA MALKO

Nicole Mortillaro from Global News, Canada, interviews Kip Thorne at ISDC® 2015.

42 AD ASTRA Winter 2015 Mortillaro: As a scientist, what is the coolest thing in might be a game changer for the future, at least for the the universe? Black holes, the theory of wormholes, what near future of humans in space. actually exists that you think is the most fascinating? Mortillaro: Do you think something like Interstellar will Thorne: What I think the most fascinating thing, the ever happen to the human race? That we will be able to thing that I want to understand the most is the birth of voyage? the universe, creation of the universe. How it came about, I think we will be able to voyage beyond the how did we get to be here, was there anything before? Thorne: Solar System. In Interstellar we were very lucky because These are questions that largely have been in the realm some highly advanced civilization that we can’t fathom of religion in the past, but for the first time we are close provided a wormhole, but as a scientist that understands to having the tools in science to be able to answer these wormholes better than any other scientist, I am skeptical questions and I look forward to getting answers, to getting that this will ever happen. I can’t show that it won’t real answers in the next decade or two. happen—it is certainly allowed as far as we know. It may Mortillaro: Would you go to space? be forbidden by the laws of physics, but we don’t know at this point and we can’t count on that—we can’t begin Of course I would, wouldn’t you? Thorne: to count on that. We have to make our own way with Mortillaro: And what of private enterprise? Do you think our own technology. I believe we will. I’m quite sure we that space belongs to everybody, do you think that we will. It’s only a matter of a large effort over a long period should be there? of time.

Thorne: I think space belongs to everybody and I think It was an unforgettable event involving a great scientist, a the private entrepreneurs that are now building rockets to great person, the science star Kip Thorne. go into space, to lift cargo into space, to soon take people into space, I think it’s wonderful. They have a vision, they Alla Malko, PhD, is a long time space enthusiast with a also have a realistic understanding of the economics degree in electrical engineering and medicine. and the technology. I’m particularly impressed by the achievements of SpaceX in the last few years, so this

Winter 2015 AD ASTRA 43 Because It Would Be Fantastic An Interview with Erik Wernquist, Mastermind Behind the Internet’s Most Viral Space Animations BY MARK BARTHELEMY

ave you ever met someone who thinks space exploration is a waste of time? If you’re like Hme, your first response is one of shock. Perhaps a bit of snark, with a smidge of righteous indignation. And finally a well-rehearsed litany of rational arguments that spell out, in excruciating detail, just Why Space Matters. The advancements in science and engineering. The commercial benefits. The manifestation of that distinctly human compulsion to explore the unknown in search of adventure and reward.

But though we may attempt to change minds by filling our interlocutors’ ears, what have we done to change their

hearts? Ultimately that’s the origin of this all, isn’t it? Think IMAGE CREDIT © ERIK WERNQUIST back to the moment you fell in love with space, and you’ll A still from “Wanderers” is shown from above Saturn’s cloud tops at night. find that underneath all of our intensely rational arguments is a burning passion, a foundation constructed not of logic, Enter digital artist Erik Wernquist, the most important but of feelings! Of awe, hope, pride… even envy as we accidental space evangelist on the planet. stare mouths agape at videos from Apollo, the shuttle, and the ISS, imagining the feeling of and Last winter, the release of his Internet video, “Wanderers,” wishing we could be there too. To convince someone compelled millions around the world to feel space that space matters, perhaps we’d do well to put aside the exploration. If you haven’t seen it yet, Google it or head rational arguments, just for a bit, and focus first on leading to http://www.erikwernquist.com/wanderers/ and prepare them to feel, sense, and imagine. to revel in humankind’s future excursions throughout the Solar System, full of soaring music and Sagan narration. (We’ll wait.)

The video caught the attention of NASA New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern. “’Wanderers’ was absolutely stunning in its vision of the future—it drew me in and propelled me to the very space exploration future I hope for.” Stern reached out to Wernquist, inviting him to make something to commemorate the historical mission to Pluto. The resulting video, “New Horizons,” was released exclusively via the National Space Society YouTube channel. It quickly went viral after being picked up by mainstream and Internet press media around the world. The must-see video effectively served as a trailer for the then-upcoming Pluto flyby, contextualizing the mission as the grand finale of NASA’s first 50 years of planetary reconnaissance.

Here are a few highlights of a Q and A interview with Wernquist, two months after the world saw Pluto up close IMAGE CREDIT © ERIK WERNQUIST for the first time. A still from “Wanderers” visualizes graffiti-like etchings in dust that may emerge as a form of artwork among human settlers of the Saturnian moon Iapetus. Due to video resolution constraints, much of the above art is not visible in the video itself, and is visible here for the first time.

44 AD ASTRA Winter 2015 IMAGE CREDIT © ERIK WERNQUIST

A still from “Wanderers” depicts humans base-jumping from Verona Rupes, the tallest cliff in the Solar System, located on Uranus’ moon Miranda.

Q: Let’s start with “Wanderers.” It seems largely a are compelling within the space community. But it’s hard meditation on the beauty of our Solar System, as to come up with the “We have to go to space because…” witnessed up close by human travelers or settlers. reasons that are enough to motivate people to support the Did you have some underlying reason for creating pursuit of space missions. it in this way? It’s not about that really, it’s about it being exciting. You A: I wanted to visualize the fantastic imagery from around need to do it emotionally. With “Wanderers,” I just made the Solar System. If you go through the process of learning it out of a sense of “Wouldn’t that be nice?” And this is about those places, and absorbing the facts behind the the most important reason I can think of: not because it’s photos, you get an indescribably fantastic picture of the important, but because it would be fantastic. grand, beautiful nature that surrounds us but isn’t well Q: What kind of memorable feedback have you known. I wanted to make it easier for myself and for received on these two videos? others, to spare them of having to read up on a lot of stuff and just look at the pictures and get the feeling for how A: A few museums have chosen to play my films as part beautiful it could be there. I need to credit Carl Sagan for of their exhibits, which makes me extremely proud. One of any emotional effect from “Wanderers.” His words from the best things to come of these videos so far was when I Pale Blue Dot create most of the emotional aspects. discovered an American high school teacher had posted YouTube videos he’d filmed of lectures he’d done for his Q: So you didn’t set out to communicate the physics class. He’d used “Wanderers” to teach kids about importance of space exploration and settlement? physics and space, and about gravity and the concept A: I do think the general concept of exploratory science of . He was taking it scene by scene, is vital. In order for humanity to survive in the long run, we explaining what was happening. It blew me away. I could need to learn to live on other worlds. The rational reasons never have anticipated that kind of response.

Winter 2015 AD ASTRA 45 Q: I mentioned on the NSS page that we’d this interesting, but any kind of science be interviewing you. Harry Thring asked: Do you fiction about it is so boringly human. We tend to simply harbor genuine hope for the future? reflect ourselves in whatever ideas we have in alien life.

A: I’m excited about the future and have very high hopes Before “Wanderers,” it had been awhile since I’d seen for humanity. We’re very accustomed, in the western Solar System artwork made with a true scientific world, to the idea of the future as grim and dark. Sure, perspective behind it. If you look at the paintings of there’s a lot of stuff going on that could be the end of Chesley Bonestell, you’ll see that “Wanderers” is us, including what is happening with the climate and our basically his paintings in motion. Instead of showing environment. Those are big problems. But in general, fantasy worlds that can be anything you like, I personally most of us are trying to make this world a better place for find it a lot more interesting to think about real worlds that all of us. actually exist like planets and moons and asteroids. Alien invasions can be interesting, but there’s a lot of other With “Wanderers,” I felt it important to show off a future stuff too. where we haven’t destroyed ourselves, where there’s no police state surveillance, where everything is not bleak, Q: I noticed in “Wanderers” a lack of overt signs of grey doom. I think it’s kind of sad, the way a lot of science industry or even resource extraction—the humans fiction, without even reflecting on it, portrays the future depicted are either engaged in ambiguous tasks or as a post-disastrous world just because it’s cool and reveling in communions with nature. interesting to look like this. So I think more positive views A: The plan was to include traces of people in the of the future is a good thing. images, to give a sort of human perspective of a few Q: How do you place “Wanderers” in the context of places in the Solar System. We like to see new places other space-focused art or science-fiction? and learn about them, and the best and most engaging way is to be there. We can go with robots, but it’s not as A: Space imagery has been very “sci-fi-ificated.” There’s nice and as exciting as real people walking on the Moon. nothing inherently wrong with science fiction. I love it. But a lot of science fiction in film has been a series of tropes Q: Are there any “Easter egg” hidden features in that have been generating an expectation of what space your videos? would look like. It’s always far, far in the distant future or A: A lot of people have been asking me what’s up with some other kind of galaxy, or some other place where the yin-yang symbol in the Iapetus scene in “Wanderers.” the author’s fantasy can roam free. It’s a celebration of Iapetus being known as a “yin-yang” I think that there’s a big disappointment that has moon in appearance. The idea that settlers would make happened in space science fiction, once we started artistic etchings came from Kim Stanley Robinson’s to cover the Solar System with our probes and “2312.” photographs. For every world we go to, everything Actually, there’s a lot more art besides the yin-yang: a is more and more clear, and it seems there’s no one smiley face, a symbol for Saturn, and lots of others. Only in the Solar System, and we’re all alone. For sci-fi, a few are visible in the video due to resolution constraints. there’s suddenly no room for Martian invasions, so the perspective was shifted further, to beyond the Solar System, where we can still be thinking of alien life. I find

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UPF_AdAstra_Winter2015_new.indd 1 9/15/2015 4:49:11 PM 46 AD ASTRA Winter 2015 NSS Chapter Discussions of New Horizons Spark Public Interest BY CLAIRE STEPHENS MCMURRAY

everal National Space Society chapters and individual members have been active in talking to Sthe public about NASA’s New Horizons Pluto flyby. On July 14, 2015, Fox 4-TV in Texas interviewed Ken Ruffin, President of the National Space Society of North Texas chapter, about his talk, “Pluto: Ice Planet, or Something Cooler?” Ruffin spoke to about a third of the 500 people attending the Ft. Worth Museum of Science and History’s “Pluto Palooza” event in the Noble Planetarium.

Early in 2015, the National Space Society of Phoenix The NOVA program audience. president, Mike Mackowski, contacted a number of local institutions, urging them to do a public event for the Pluto/Charon system and about Kuiper Belt Objects the New Horizons flyby. The Arizona State University (KBOs) in general. School of Earth and Space Exploration did so, with major Joe Bland of the Sacramento L5 Society gave New participation by the chapter. Horizons literature he received through NSS to Activities started with afternoon socializing featuring Dawn Sacramento’s Discovery Museum. Their staff used it for mission handouts from ASU and the NSS/NASA/JHUAPL at least two gatherings focusing on the Pluto flyby: one Pluto Palooza package. In the auditorium, Ric Alling involving 24 summer camp children about 7 or 8 years old, of SESE gave the welcoming remarks and introduced and one at a branch of the Sacramento Library. Mackowski, who made a brief presentation to around Bennett Rutledge gave a Pluto Palooza presentation at the 100 people about the local NSS chapter and the historic Englewood, Colorado Public Library on July 16, 2015. nature of the day’s events. Jim Plaxco from the NSS Chicago Society for Space Studies gave Pluto Palooza presentations to several groups around the country, using the poster, handouts, decals, and 3D-printed model of the spacecraft provided by the New Horizons team through NSS. More than 50 members and others showed up at his own chapter presentation, and about 35 came to a joint meeting between the HAL5 chapter and Huntsville’s astronomical society.

Although Plaxco’s talk at the Chicago Public Library drew

IMAGE CREDIT © G. PAUL HUDAK only three, 30 came to his Rotary Club presentation. All Michael Mackowski on stage talking about NSS and AIAA. these received copies of the “Pluto” issue of Ad Astra, as well as the New Horizons decals. Finally, at the September A talk by NSS member Dr. David Williams followed, 26-27 Maker Faire at Wisconsin State Fair Park in focusing on his research about Vesta and Ceres and Milwaukee, he was able to give a 3D-printing workshop as how that relates to Pluto and Charon. By the time of well as his “Pluto Palooza” presentation, and to give away the NASA TV feed showing the New Horizons mission more than 80 copies of that Ad Astra issue. operations team receiving the “phone home” signal Oklahoma Space Alliance held their Pluto Palooza from the spacecraft, the audience numbered around party during their regular August meeting at a Moore, 180. Mackowski provided “play by play,” interpreting the Oklahoma restaurant, open to the public as always. The activities in the control room and explaining some of the speaker was Clifford McMurray, who had attended the acronyms and other terms they were using. New Horizons/Pluto press conference at Johns Hopkins Dr. Steven Desch, associate professor of astrophysics at University Applied Physics Laboratory as the Ad Astra Arizona State, spoke toward the end of the evening about correspondent.

Winter 2015 AD ASTRA 47 FROM THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE CHAIR

Cost Of Returning To The Moon Reduced By a Factor Of Ten

n July 20, 2015, the National Space Society (NSS) is the study’s principal investigator. He is also a former and the Space Frontier Foundation (SFF) held a administrator of NSS. The study’s full name is Economic Opress conference at the prestigious National Assessment and Systems Analysis of an Evolvable Press Club in Washington, D.C. This date was the 46th Lunar Architecture that Leverages Commercial Space anniversary of the first human landing on the Moon. Buzz Capabilities and Public-Private Partnerships. Aldrin, the man who was the pilot for that landing, was The press conference was a smashing success. Our one of the speakers. Associated Press release was repeated word for word on The press conference was held because of the at least 267 blogs and websites, which have a combined importance of the just completed NASA funded Evolvable potential audience of 230,842,700. In addition, at least Lunar Architecture (ELA) study and because of NSS’ 77 articles were written, including many in prestigious Strategic Plan, which stresses the promotion of key ideas. places, such as , USA Today, U.S. Central to the study were the use of lunar materials, News and World Report, the Houston Chronicle, Space commercial space, and eventual lunar settlement—all News, the Christian Science Monitor, Popular Mechanics, ideas that NSS has promoted for decades. The study the Discovery Channel, and Popular Science. A copy of found that we can return to the Moon at a cost that is the full ELA report, a video of the press conference, and a an order of magnitude (a factor of 10) below the cost of list of media coverage (which includes links to all 77 of the earlier studies. articles) is available at nss.org/NextGenStudy.

A factor of 10 cost reduction changes everything! It is loosely equivalent to saying that the benefits of returning to the Moon, for whatever reasons, just went up by a factor of 10!

The key reasons for the cost reduction are the discovery of water on the Moon and the recent success of commercial space in general and the COTS program in particular. Water on the Moon can be broken up into hydrogen and oxygen, which make an excellent rocket fuel. This means that spaceships can be refueled for returns to Earth rather than having to bring the fuel from Earth— greatly reducing costs. The COTS From left to right, press conference participants: Tom Mosser, first Space program utilized a public-private partnership where Station director; Charles Miller, ELA principal investigator; Gary Oleson, Space Frontier Foundation board member; and Mark Hopkins. Not shown partici- private companies, such as SpaceX, pay for much of pants include: Christopher Kraft, former director NASA Johnson Spaceflight the development costs, thus incentivizing them to be Center; and Buzz Aldrin. efficient. COTS has demonstrated order of magnitude The big picture implications of the ELA study are cost reductions for the development of rockets. The profound. Utilizing a COTS-like approach could ELA study uses a COTS-like approach. Earlier in the last dramatically reduce the cost of other space projects, year two workshops, both co-sponsored by NSS, found such as Mars exploration. More importantly, all of similar results. The NASA-funded ELA study examined this suggests that humanity’s drive into space toward the relevant issues in much greater detail. settlement, and the utilization of its vast resources will This issue of Ad Astra includes a detailed article about happen much faster than previously thought. We are the study by Charles Miller and Sarah Preston. Miller winning!

48 AD ASTRA Winter 2015 SPACE SETTLEMENT COLUMN BY BRAD BLAIR

Release of IAA Cosmic Study 3.17 on Space Mineral Resources Space Mining and Property Rights Gain International Recognition

recently released study by the International Academy approach offers a unique point of departure that can then of Astronautics (IAA) found that space mineral be disaggregated into technical, financial, and policy goals, A resources (SMR) can serve as an economic game- milestones and objectives. In principle, the agreement by changer, opening a vast new source of to benefit both entrepreneurs and international space agencies on humanity. The study examined technical, economic, a baseline human space settlement model can serve to legal, and policy-related requirements to enable SMR, underwrite private business plans as well as facilitate the and offered specific recommendations to international timing of key technology investments. Four company- space agencies and commercial enterprise for moving level entrepreneurial roadmaps relating to space mineral humanity forward into a new era of space settlement resources were included in the study, laying out different and commercial resource development. The study was approaches that each of these companies is taking. assembled by two prominent space lawyers. Art Dula is a professor of law at the Houston Law School, trustee of the The SMR study offers detailed analysis of SMR-related Heinlein Prize Trust, and founder of Excalibur Exploration international treaties and policies around the world, Limited. Zhang Zhenjun is secretary general of the China recommending a proactive space law stance including Institute of Space Law, a resident director of the Chinese property rights for harvested resources. The current body Society of Astronautics, and holds an MBA from George of international space law, Corpus Juris Spatialis (CJS), Washington University. The work solicited and included has established that national laws govern national activities extensive input by entrepreneurial startup companies in within the current framework. Mining including Deep Space Industries, Shackleton Energy and ownership of space mineral resources is parallel to Company, Planetary Resources, Excalibur Exploration, national laws and, as such, is consistent within current Moon Express, and Tethers Unlimited. international law. History has repeatedly demonstrated that areas controlled primarily by national (as opposed Study findings on SMR technology and engineering design to international) law prosper most readily. According to are that mining asteroids and lunar regolith is within reach study co-lead Professor Zhang Zhenjun, “While concerns of the current state of the technical art. The extrapolation of remain, and some scholars may say otherwise, the CJS Earth-based mining appears to be a one-for-one trade with is clear that the mineral bounty of space may be freely alterations due to vacuum, low gravity, and , harvested for the benefit of private space actors, as well with bench and lab-scale testing to date in private and as all mankind. Any person without preoccupied prejudice government labs on Earth affirming this conclusion. Indeed, could draw a solid conclusion to this effect if he or she the primary roadblocks to SMR today are more intimately simply imagines the benefits of increased supply of mineral related to reducing market, legal, and financial risk. A focus resources to satisfy both terrestrial and extraterrestrial on customers, demographics, and increasing market demand for all countries, especially at a time when certainty is needed to create a solid foundation for the traditional mineral resources on our planet are running out future of space enterprise. The study found that the cost at unprecedented speed.” to develop Moon or asteroid water sources could become significantly lower than the delivery price from Earth, Principle findings of the study are that SMR ventures especially as distance increases, making space water a cannot wait for government programs to lead in lowering potential basis for future currency. Indeed, establishing the technological and programmatic risks. Commercial spaceports and selling water mined in space is a key ventures will determine the optimum path for commercial to unlocking a robust and sustainable space economy, success and aggressively lead the way beyond low Earth enabling human expansion into the Solar System. orbit. During the first half of the 21st century, space leadership must come from commercial enterprises The study synthesizes a roadmap intended to maximize and not depend upon government space programs. the speed and likelihood of economic SMR development, One concept that would leverage this series of initiatives with the corollary benefit of protecting humanity from is to convince government agencies that commercial civilization-ending asteroid impacts. A critical element of enterprises will be there first and will be able to support the study is an entire chapter devoted to systems modeling government explorations by selling products to them at and analysis, which presents a quantitative model of designated locations. These types of actions, in the past, future space infrastructure and propellant demand. This have led to development of major new industries. work is based on a space population forecast stemming from Elon Musk’s stated goal to put 10,000 people on The study can be ordered from www.heinleinbooks.com. Mars within his lifetime. This goal was used to translate technical requirements for human space settlement into Brad Blair is a geologist, mining engineer, and mineral a deep space economic forecast based upon the ultimate economist and currently serves as the representative for consumer: the future space colonist. This per-capita Region 4 on the NSS board of directors.

Winter 2015 AD ASTRA 49 BOOKS WELCOME TO MARS: MAKING A HOME ON THE RED PLANET REVIEW BY BART LEAHY

When you combine the talents of a brainy Apollo astronaut a good book for interested parents and children to read and an award-winning children’s author and former NASA and do projects together. The activities include showing flight controller, you get Welcome to Mars: Making a a way to visualize Earth and Mars orbits, comparing Home on the Red Planet, a high-quality, thoughtful, and Earth and Mars size and density, and building a model clearly written book that encourages young people to . If the projects are not quite at a science fair build a settlement on the planet Mars. level of complexity, they are at least things that kids in the targeted range can do on their own using common A couple of disclosures up front: Marianne Dyson is household items without creating a lot of havoc. a friend and editor of mine. Like many NSS members, I know both Dyson and Aldrin from when Buzz was Again, given the complexity of their subject, Aldrin and chairman of the Board and Dyson was a VP/director/ Dyson managed to cover the broad range of topics ISDC® chairman. Buzz is now on the board of governors necessary to show what goes into a Mars settlement: life and Dyson is on the board of advisors and a frequent support, food production, propulsion, electrical power, contributor to Ad Astra. And yes, I’ve met Buzz several etc. It’s not too much information—just enough to whet times. I’ve also got a self-interested motive for reviewing the appetite and get the inquisitive reader to ask more this book: I want my nine-year-old nephew Connor— questions. The only two topics I noticed the book did not who’s already got a bit of the “space bug”—to continue cover were the presence of superoxides in the Martian pursuing that interest. I am the target buyer: an older regolith and the potentially controversial aspects of finding space advocate looking to give this book to its target life on Mars. That might be getting into the weeds a bit. audience, young people ages 8-12. That said, this is a While Aldrin and Dyson are not calling Mars settlement good book for adults, too; I enjoyed reading it. an easy task, they are advocating for the project, after all. Welcome to Mars is written in a series of two-page I highly recommend this book for its target audience. It’s articles covering a wide variety of topics, as one might a great, broad-based introduction to space settlement expect in a book discussing the complexity of building for an impressionable audience. Whether Mars is the a settlement on Mars. The book is addressed to “you,” next destination for human exploration remains to be the reader, who will participate in building the settlement. seen. Young people would benefit from reading this type The two-page format is good for impatient or time- of high-quality book about settling the Solar System’s constrained readers who might only be able to absorb other destinations. In fact, Dyson already has written a couple pages at a time. Aldrin and Dyson manage to similar books regarding living on the Moon and on a pack a lot of information into each section, touching on space station. I guess she needs to get to work on the everything from the history of Mars orbiters and landers asteroids next. I’m looking forward to giving this book to to the cost of launching things into space, to a favorite my nephew. My sister will be thrilled with the questions proposal of Aldrin’s: the “Mars cycler.” The early pages lay he’ll come up with after he’s done. the intellectual groundwork for getting the reader thinking about Mars by moving from what is known to what still needs to be done to make traveling to Mars a reality. The Bart Leahy is a freelance technical writer living in Orlando, book also includes a glossary and list of further reading. Florida. The contents are not all technology-focused, though: there is one article that discusses the early “exploration” Title: Welcome to Mars: of Mars by Giovanni Schiaparelli and Percival Lowell Making a Home on and the origin of the Martian “canals” as well as another the Red Planet article on Orson Welles’ infamous War of the Worlds Author: Buzz Aldrin with Marianne J. Dyson broadcast. One article toward the end even makes the leap into discussing Mars into something Format: Hardcover more Earthlike. Pages: 96 Publisher: National The book is a large-format, slick-paper hardcover book Geographic Children’s Books with gorgeous photos and illustrations as well as a good visual design, with callout boxes for interesting facts Date: September 1, 2015 and activity pages scattered throughout the text. In fact, Retail Price: $28.90 given the number and types of activities, this might be ISBN: 978-1-4263-2206-8

50 AD ASTRA Winter 2015 BOOKS HUBBLE’S UNIVERSE: GREATEST DISCOVERIES AND LATEST IMAGES REVIEW BY CLAIRE S. MCMURRAY

The universe is the ultimate art gallery, and this beautiful two-page map. In fact, over a third of the book’s pages coffee-table book is a splendid guide to the visual are devoted to full-page and double-page spreads of treasures of space. If you love visual astronomy, or simply individual photographs. love beauty, Hubble’s Universe will keep you turning pages. Spectacular full-page, full-color photographs In later chapters, written explanations and explanatory abound, with little area wasted on margins. Even the table drawings share space with the still-prominent of contents faces a dazzling full-page star cluster image. photographs. This is especially helpful in Chapter 7: Frequent use of brief white text within black margins, Hubble’s Invisible Universe, and Chapter 10: Hubble’s so that the black sky has no obvious edge, brings the Strange Universe. The two-page index, which includes images into the reader’s environment. the astronomical catalog numbers of many objects, will be useful to those who want to know more; as will the two Terence Dickinson is an award-winning Canadian pages of photo credits. astrophotographer and amateur astronomer who has written more than a dozen popular books on astronomy We dream of floating in space to see the universe and astrophotography. It’s no surprise to find that without atmospheric distortion. Yet, since our eyes lack the images in Hubble’s Universe are chosen with an pupils able to match Hubble’s 7.9-foot wide aperture for artist’s eye. gathering light, perhaps this book provides a better view. In most chapters, the text serves primarily to orient the reader and explain the pictures. However, chapters 1-3 Claire Stephens McMurray is a member of the NSS do provide an overview of astronomical observations, and conferences coordinating and chapters committees, and explain why modern telescopes provide so much more a former member (as Claire Stephens) of the NSS board information than even the best unaided eyesight. Even of directors. in these chapters, full-color astronomical photographs dominate. The Hubble is a space telescope, so there are also pictures of the bus-sized instrument floating serenely above Earth, or undergoing its in-orbit service missions, along with a brief history of the Hubble Space Telescope’s design and construction. Brief nods are also given to Hubble’s orbital colleagues and collaborators, the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Spitzer Space Telescope (which studies infra-red wavelengths). Some of the best images combine data from all three instruments. This book is organized as a celebration of the Hubble’s window on celestial beauty, rather than a textbook on astronomy. For example Chapter 9, “Neighbor Worlds: the Planets,” fails to show Mercury or Venus. Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are well depicted, but Uranus and Neptune appear only as three small pictures sharing a page with a crisp photo resolving the Pluto/Charon system, including Title: Hubble’s Universe: the pinpoints of tiny Nix and Hydra. However, the best Greatest Discoveries images of Pluto’s surface (before New Horizon’s 2015 and Latest Images flyby) are relegated to chapters 1 and 3. Neptune also Author: Terence Dickinson appears in Chapter 3: “The Message of Starlight.” Ages: Young Adult and up Most of the rest of the book is devoted to wonderful Format: Hardcover images of star fields and nebulae. Hubble’s 270-hour Pages: 300 exposure of one tiny patch of sky (often called the Deep Publisher: Firefly Books Space Field) completely covers four pages; an additional Date: 2014 one-page “map” of the same images in a smaller size Retail Price: $29.95 shows how those pages fit together. A wider view, the ISBN: 978-1-77085-433-8 “galaxy panorama,” covers another eight pages plus a

Winter 2015 AD ASTRA 51 LOCAL AND SPECIAL INTEREST CHAPTERS

Learn what is going on at local NSS CA – OASIS AZ – Tucson L5 Space Society UT – Utah Space Association chapters at: http://chapters.nss.org/ P.O. Box 1231 3524 N. Treat Avenue 378 I Street Redondo Beach, CA 90278 Tucson, AZ 85716 Salt Lake City, UT 84103 Get the latest chapter contact Contact: Lisa Kaspin-Powell Contact: Al Anzaldua Contact: J. David Baxter information updates at: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] http://chapters.nss.org/a/lists/ 310-364-2290 520-409-5797 801-359-0251 www.oasis-nss.org www.tucsonspacesociety.org www.utahspace.org Please send any changes to the Chapters List Administrator at: U.S. REGION 2 CHAPTERS: OK – Oklahoma Space Alliance NSS U.S. REGION 5 CHAPTERS: ChapList_Admin_N5©nss.org. ALASKA, NORTHERN/CENTRAL P.O. Box 1003, Norman, OK 73070 ALABAMA, ARKANSAS, CALIFORNIA, OREGON, Contact: Stephen T. Swift FLORIDA, GEORGIA, CHAPTER COORDINATORS WASHINGTON [email protected] KENTUCKY, LOUISIANA, chapters.nss.org/ok/osanss.html Region 2 Chapters Organizer , N/S CAROLINA, Vice-President for Chapters James Spellman, Jr. TX – Clear Lake Area NSS TENNESSEE, PUERTO RICO David Stuart [email protected] 8327 Lanham Lane Region 5 Chapters Organizer [email protected] 760-379-2503 Houston, TX 77075 Fred Becker 206-241-6165 Contact: Eric H. Bowen [email protected] CA – Genesis – NSS SF Bay Area [email protected] 321-271-9064 Chapters Committee Chair Chapter 713-991-3575 David Stuart 1130 Mission Ave, Apt #1 www.nss-houston-moon.org AL – Huntsville Alabama L5 Society [email protected] San Rafael, CA 94901 P.O. Box 22413, Huntsville, AL 35814 206-241-6165 Contact: Dr. Wun C. Chiou, Sr. TX – National Space Society of Contact: Yohon Lo [email protected] North Texas [email protected] Chapters Support Liaison at NSS HQ 415-827-4411 P.O. Box 541501, Dallas, TX 75354 256-881-8213 Jill Jackson Contact: Ken Ruffin www.HAL5.org [email protected] CA – Sacramento L5 Society [email protected] 202-429-1600 7482 Greenhaven Drive www.nssofnt.org GA - Georgia Space Society Sacramento, CA 95831 TX – NSS Austin Space Frontier 1179 Cockrell Drive Chapters Resources Coordinator Contact: Joseph Bland Kennesaw, GA 30152 Larry Ahearn Society [email protected] 12717 Bullick Hollow Road Contact: Michael Mealling [email protected] 916-429-6252 [email protected] 773-373-0349 Austin, TX 78726-5204 www.SacL5.org Contact: John Strickland, Jr. 678-640-6884 [email protected] spacegeorgia.org Chapters Internet Coordinator CA – Space Society of Silicon Valley Ronnie Lajoie 512-258-8998 650 Castro Street #120-516 www.austinspacefrontier.org KY – NSS Louisville Space Society [email protected] Mountain View, CA 94041 1019 Lampton Street 256-509-3833 Contact: Tiffani Crawford TX – San Antonio Space Society Louisville, KY 40204 [email protected] Contact: Gregory J. Hart Chapters Assembly Chair 609 Ridge View Drive 408-829-7096 San Antonio, TX 78253 [email protected] Christine Nobbe www.spacesociety-sv.org 502-500-9485 [email protected] Contact: Joe B. Redfield 314-323-0053 [email protected] OR - Oregon L5 Society, Inc. 210-679-7625 PR - Puerto Rico NSS Chapter, Inc. P.O. Box 86, Oregon City, OR 97045 home.earthlink.net/~theredfields 700 Ave. Fernandez Juncos, Apt. 1A UNITED STATES CHAPTERS Contact: Thomas Billings San Juan, PR 00907-4224 U.S. Chapters Coordinator [email protected] U.S. REGION 4 CHAPTERS: Contact: Jose Molina Bennett Rutledge 360-314-4309 COLORADO, , IOWA, [email protected] [email protected] www.OregonL5.org KANSAS, MINNESOTA, 515-966-5462 720-641-7987 MISSOURI, MONTANA, nssprchapter.wix.com/nssprchapter WA – NSS Seattle NEBRASKA, NEVADA, N/S U.S. REGION 1 CHAPTERS: 14618 21st Avenue SW DAKOTA, UTAH, WYOMING TN – Middle Tennessee Space Society SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, Burien, WA 98166-1606 508 Beechgrove Way HAWAII Contact: David Stuart Region 4 Chapters Organizer (open) Burns, TN 37029 Region 1 Chapters Organizer [email protected] CO – Denver Space Society Contact: Chuck Schlemm James Spellman, Jr. 206-241-6165 1 Cherry Hills Farm Drive [email protected] [email protected] chapters.nss.org/wa/seattle Englewood, CO 80113 615-441-1024 760-379-2503 Contact: James W. Barnard U.S. REGION 3 CHAPTERS: [email protected] U.S. REGION 6 CHAPTERS: CA – NSS Western Spaceport Chapter ARIZONA, NEW MEXICO, 303-781-0800 ILLINOIS, INDIANA, MICHIGAN, 4617 Oak Lane, Mtn. Mesa OKLAHOMA, TEXAS www.denverspacesociety.blogspot.com OHIO, WISCONSIN Lake Isabella, CA 93240-9713 Region 3 Chapters Organizer Region 6 Chapters Organizer Contact: James Spellman, Jr. Claire McMurray MN – Minnesota Space Frontier Larry Ahearn [email protected] [email protected] Society [email protected] 760-379-2503 405-329-4326 433 South 7th Street #1808 773-373-0349 westernspaceport.wix.com/home Minneapolis, MN 55415 AZ – Phoenix Chapter of The NSS Contact: Ben Huset IL – NSS Chicago Society for Space CA – NSS Mojave Space Society 1022 W. Juanita Ave [email protected] Studies P.O. Box A, Mojave, CA 93502 Gilbert, AZ 85233 612-333-1872 700 Cape Lane Contact: Brandon Larson Contact: Michael Mackowski www.MNSFS.org Schaumburg, IL 60193 [email protected] [email protected] MO – NSS St. Louis Space Frontier Contact: Jim Plaxco 562-777-6831 480-926-4765 P.O. Box 1813 [email protected] nssphoenix.wordpress.com Saint Peters, MO 63376 847-923-7122 Contact: Christine Nobbe www.chicagospace.org [email protected] 636-674-9668 StLouisSpaceFrontier.org

52 AD ASTRA Winter 2015 OH – Cuyahoga Valley Space Society NJ - NSS Space and Astronomy Newcastle Space Frontier Society Romania 3433 North Avenue Society of NW Jersey P.O. Box 1150, Newcastle, NSW, 2300 Bucharest NSS Chapter Parma, OH 44134-1252 P.O. Box 270, Oxford, NJ 07863-0270 Contact: Jack Dwyer 40-42 Washington Street Contact: George Cooper Contact: Karl J. Hricko [email protected] Bucharest, 011796 [email protected] [email protected] 61-2-4963-5037 Contact: Alexandra Voinea 216-749-0017 908-227-3852 www.nssa.com.au/nsfs [email protected] 0745-343-498 WI – Milwaukee Lunar Reclamation PA – NSS Area Space Sydney Space Frontier Society Society Alliance GPO Box 7048, Sydney, NSW, 2001 SPECIAL INTEREST CHAPTERS P.O. Box 2102, Milwaukee, WI 53201 928 Clinton Street, #6 Contact: Wayne Philadelphia, PA 19107 [email protected] Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Initiatives Contact: Peter Kokh Office 107, Near kashivishweshwar [email protected] Contact: Earl Bennett 61-2-9150-4553 [email protected] Temple, Kasaba 414-342-0705 Canada Baramati, Maharashtra, 413 102 www.moonsociety.org/chapters/ 856-261-8032 pasa01.tripod.com Calgary Space Frontier Society India milwaukee 218-200 Lincoln Way Contact: Karishma Inamdar U.S. REGION 8 CHAPTERS: Calgary, AB, T3E 7G7 [email protected] WI – Sheboygan Space Society Contact: Paul Swift 1-650-305-5811 728 Center Street, Kiel, WI 53042 CONNECTICUT, MAINE, MASSACHUSETTS, NEW [email protected] Interest: Space Solar Power Contact: Wilbert G. Foerster 403-686-7430 [email protected] HAMPSHIRE, NEW YORK, RHODE ISLAND, VERMONT www.members.shaw.ca/pswift Moonwards 920-894-1344 Avenida Nacional 25 www.sheboyganspacesociety.org Region 8 Chapters Organizer Colonia Tzurumutaro Dennis Pearson Deutsche Raumfahrtgesellschaft e.V. Patzcuaro, Michoacan, 61615 U.S. REGION 7 CHAPTERS: [email protected] German Space Society Mexico DELAWARE, DISTRICT OF 610-434-1229 Greta-Buenichmann-Str. 3 Contact: Kim Holder COLUMBIA, MARYLAND, NEW INTERNATIONAL CHAPTERS D-48155 Muenster [email protected] JERSEY, PENNSYLVANIA, Contact: Michael Stennecken 52-433-202-0079 VIRGINIA, WEST VIRGINIA International Chapters [email protected] moonwards.com Region 7 Chapters Organizer Coordinator 49-251-3944863 Interest: Lunar Settlement Dennis Pearson Al Anzaldua www.deutscheraumfahrt.de [email protected] [email protected] Society 610-434-1229 520-409-5797 India 3053 Rancho Vista Blvd, #H377 October Sky Society Palmdale, CA 93551 DC – DC-L5 National Space Society of Australia Plot no. 24, Manikanta Colony, Contact: Linda Plush P.O. Box 3955, Merrifield, VA 22116 GPO Box 7048, Sydney, NSW, 2001 Old Bowenpally, Secunderabad [email protected] Contact: Donnie Lowther Contact: Wayne Short Hyderabad, Telangana, 500 011 661-949-6780 [email protected] [email protected] Contact: Rahul Kanuganti www.spacenursingsociety.net 703-354-2665 61-2-9150-4553 [email protected] Interest: Space Nursing www.AroundSpace.com www.nssa.com.au 91-9866496464

JOIN A CHAPTER OR START A NEW ONE If you support the exploration and development of space and the creation of a spacefaring civiliza- Local Chapters also often concentrate in special areas (e.g., rocketry, education, original peer- tion, joining the National Space Society (NSS) is a good first step. But what if you want to do more? reviewed research on space settlement, etc.) and will generally welcome distant members who If you want to meet others of like mind, if you want to explore how your special interests and abilities share their particular interests. fit into the larger picture, if you want to share your enthusiasm, if you want to engage in research or If there are no existing Chapters that meet your needs, you may want to form a new one. Instruc- teach others about space, then you should join an NSS Chapter. It’s easy! tions are available on the NSS Web site at: http://chapters.nss.org/. You may also contact Chapters Your first step is to see if there is a chapter that meets your needs already. Chapter contact listings Resources Coordinator Larry Ahearn to get a NSS Chapter Starter Kit emailed or mailed to you. are in every issue of Ad Astra and online at http://chapters.nss.org/a/lists. Then contact the local Chapters in good standing with the NSS have access to assistance and resources from both NSS leaders or check their Chapter Web sites for upcoming events and activities near you. national and other nearby Chapters. Resources include promotional materials, educational materi- als, & membership recruitment rebates. See http://chapters.nss.org/a/resources/ for more details.

Statement of Ownership, Management, and Circulation 1) Publication Title: Ad Astra. 2) Publication Number: 1041-102X. 3) Filing Date: 10/1/15. 4) Issue Frequency: Quarterly. 5) Number of Issues Published Annually: 4. 6) Annual Subscription Price: $55. 7) Complete Mailing Address of Known Office of Publication: 1875 I Street NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC 20006; Contact Person: Bruce Pittman; Telephone: 202-429-1600. 8) Complete Mailing Address of Headquarters or General Business Office of Publisher: Silver Marketing, Inc., 7910 Woodmont Avenue, Suite 914, Bethesda, MD 20814-7028. 9) Full Names and Complete Mailing Addresses of Publisher, Editor, and Managing Editor: National Space Society, P.O. Box 98106, Washington, DC 20090-8106; Editor: Katherine Brick (National Space Society) P.O. Box 98106, Washington, DC 20090-8106; Managing Editor: Pat Silver (Silver Marketing, Inc), 7910 Woodmont Avenue, Suite 914, Bethesda, MD 20814-7028. 10) Owner: National Space Society, P.O. Box 98106, Washington, DC 20090-8106. 11) Known Bondholders, Mortgagees, and Other Security Holders Owning or Holding 1% or More of Total Amount of Bonds Mortgages, and Other Securities: None. 12) Tax Status: Has Not Changed During Preceding 12 Months. 13) Publication Title Ad Astra. 14) Issue Date for Circulation Data Below: Fall 2015, 08-24-15. 15) Extent and Nature of Circulation: Average No. Copies Each Issue No. Copies of Single Issue During Preceding 12 Months Published Nearest to Filing Date A. Total Number of Copies (Net press run):……………………………...... ……………11,250…………………………...... ……..…11,000 B. Paid Circulation (By Mail and Outside the Mail) (1) Mailed Outside-County Paid Subscriptions stated on PS Form 3541:………………………………………….7,178…………………………...... ……...... 6,749 (2) Mailed In-County Paid Subscriptions stated on PS Form 3541:…………………………………………………...0………………...... …………………………..0 (3) Paid Distribution Outside the Mails Including Sales Through Dealers, Carriers, Street Vendors, Counter Sales, and Other Paid Outside USPS: ……………………………...... …...205……………………………...... ………….233 (4) Paid Distribution by Other Classes of Mail Through the USPS (e.g. First-Class Mail®):………………………...0……………………………...... ……………..0 C. Total Paid Distribution (Sum of 15B):…………………………………………...... …...7,383……………………………...... ………..6,982 D. Free or Nominal Rate Distribution (By Mail and Outside the Mail) (1) Outside-County Copies on PS Form 3541:……………………………...... ………..0………………………………...... …………..0 (2) In-County Copies stated on PS Form 3541:…………………………………...... ….0………………………...... …………………..0 (3) Other Classes Mailed Through the USPS:………………………………...... …...250………………………...... ………………....50 (4) Distribution Outside the Mail:………………………………………...... …………3,567……………………...... ………………..3,968 E. Total Free or Nominal Rate Distribution:…………………………………...... ……..….3,617…………………………...... ……….….4,018 F. Total Distribution (Sum of 15C and 15E):…………………………………...... ………11,250……………………...... ………………11,000 G. Copies not Distributed:……………………………………………...... 0……..………………………...... …………...0 H. Total (Sum of 15F and 15G):……………………………………………………...... 11,250……………………...……...... ……….11,000 I. Percent Paid:…………………………………………………………………………...... ….67.1%...... 63.5% 17) Publication of Statement of Ownership, publication required, will appear in Winter 2015 issue. 18) Signature and Title of Editor, Publisher, Business Manager, or Owner: (signed) Bruce Pittman, 10/1/15; I certify that all information furnished on this form is true and complete. PS Form 3526

Winter 2015 AD ASTRA 53 Join the team for Space. NSS is leading the New Space Age.

From X Prize to the Space Station, from the Moon to Mars and beyond, NSS is at the forefront of the New Space Age. New Members can join now for a special introductory rate of only $20, and get a one-year subscrip- tion to Ad Astra, the only magazine of its kind!

Membership makes a great gift. Bring the gift of space to someone new, and give them the special feeling that comes with knowing they’re support- Benefi ts of Membership: ing the greatest adventure of our • Full year subscription to Ad Astra • Full year subscription to NSS’s monthly online newsletter time! © • Discount to the annual International Space Development Conference • Members-only discounts on zero-gravity parabolic fl ights! • Members-only discounts on Space-related Merchandise • NSS Members and their families can join NASA Federal Credit Union • Plus Much More! Join Today!

n AddAdd me me to to PoliticalPolitical Action Action Network Network (Contact (Contact Officials Officials when when Alerted) Alerted) NSSNSS New New Member Member Form Form PhonePhone Tree Tree calling calling options: n ReceiveReceive Alerts OnlyOnly Alertn Others Alert OthersLocally Locally n AlertAlert Local Local Coordinators Coordinators n AlertAlert State Coord.Coordinator Alertn Regional Alert Regional Coord. Coordinator NameNAME n PleasePlease have have my my locallocal NSSNSS Chapter Chapter (if (ifany) any) contact contact me. me. n I cannot join now, but please accept a donation of $______I cannot join now, but please accept a donation of $______CODE RECRUITER Chapter Code MailingMAILING Address ADDRESS (include (INCLUDE country COUNTRY if outside IF OUTSIDE the U.S.) THE U.S.) WORLDWIDEIntroductory MEMBERSHIP Dues: $30 General U.S. $35 International n $20 - One-year Introductory n $75Check/Money - Contributor Order Membership$18 Student $50 Contributor PAYMENTCredit Card METHOD (circle): orVISA online MasterCard at www.nss.org AMEX Discover n Check/Money Order n Credit Card: n VISA n MasterCard n AMEX n Discover EVENT CODE EVENT

TelephoneTELEPHONE Number NUMBER Signature (required) Exp. Date (MM/YY) Event Code SIGNATURE (REQUIRED) EXP. DATE (MM/YY) EmailEMAIL /

NSS is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. To Pay By Phone: (202)429-1600 or Fax: (202)530-0659 or Mail To: NSS is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. The portion of Dues To Pay By Phone: (202)429-1600 or Fax: (703) 435-4390 or Dues amounts over $12.50 ($25 outside U.S.) are tax-deductible. National Space Society, 1155 Fifteenth St, N.W. Suite 500, Washington, DC 20005 above $12.50 can be considered a donation for tax purposes. Mail To: National Space Society 12100 Sunset Hill Road, Suite 130, Reston, VA 20190

Ad Astra Join Ad.indd 1 2/23/09 12:19:22 AM Join the team for Space. SIGNING OFF NSS is leading the New Space Age.

From X Prize to the Space Station, from the Moon to Mars and beyond, NSS is at the forefront of the New Space Age. New Members can join now for a special introductory rate of only $20, and get a one-year subscrip- tion to Ad Astra, the only magazine of its kind!

Membership makes a great gift. Bring the gift of space to someone new, and give them the special feeling that comes with knowing they’re support- Benefi ts of Membership: ing the greatest adventure of our • Full year subscription to Ad Astra • Full year subscription to NSS’s monthly online newsletter time! • Discount to the annual International Space Development Conference • Members-only discounts on zero-gravity parabolic fl ights! • Members-only discounts on Space-related Merchandise • NSS Members and their families can join NASA Federal Credit Union • Plus Much More! Join Today!

Add me to Political Action Network (Contact Officials when Alerted) NSS New Member Form Phone Tree calling options: Receive Alerts Only Alert Others Locally Preparing For the Alert Local Coordinators Alert State Coord. Alert Regional Coord. Journey Home Name Please have my local NSS Chapter (if any) contact me. (ESA) astronaut Samantha I cannot join now, but please accept a donation of $______Cristoforetti checks her Sokol pressure suit in Mailing Address (include country if outside the U.S.) Chapter Code Introductory Dues: $30 General U.S. $35 International preparation for the crew’s departure from the International Space Station after 6 1/2 months Check/Money Order $18 Student $50 Contributor in space. Since Saturday, June 6, 2015, Cristoforetti Credit Card (circle): VISA MasterCard AMEX Discover holds the record for the longest single spaceflight for a woman, a record previously held by NASA astronaut with 195 days after Expedition 33.

Telephone Number Signature (required) Exp. Date (MM/YY) Cristoforetti also holds the record for the longest

Event Code uninterrupted spaceflight of an ESA astronaut.

Email IMAGE CREDIT: © ESA/NASA

NSS is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. To Pay By Phone: (202)429-1600 or Fax: (202)530-0659 or Mail To: Dues amounts over $12.50 ($25 outside U.S.) are tax-deductible. National Space Society, 1155 Fifteenth St, N.W. Suite 500, Washington, DC 20005 Winter 2015 AD ASTRA 55

Ad Astra Join Ad.indd 1 2/23/09 12:19:22 AM