Ken Murphy / 1:46 am July 2nd, 2009

Ken Murphy / 12:52 am June 30th, 2009

travels to the Discover Blogs to alight at Twisted Physics. This week’s Carnival of Space is a twisted tangle of entwined topics themed towards tying together transitive threads of teleological truth-finding in the space blogging community.

Ken Murphy / 4:09 am June 26th, 2009

While the mainstream media fixates on history from two generations past (what most would call the Apollo program), I thought I’d offer up some forward-looking visions of our Moon. One of the neat things about having an enormous collection of Moon-related materials is that I can just pop over to the media section of the Lunar Library and start pulling DVDs and VHS tapes.

We’ll start out with a trilogy of suspense movies which remain available only on VHS tape. Given the B-movie nature of these titles, it is questionable as to whether they will ever become available on DVD.

First up, from 1990, is a thriller that ties together the Bermuda Triangle, Satan, and ‘The Dark Side of the Moon‘, weighing in at 96 minutes. Evil incarnate stalks the hapless crew of SpaceCoreOne, and even their babelicious computer may not be able to save them from the doom that awaits them.

From 1991 we get the mystery-thriller ‘Murder by Moonlight‘, weighing in at 94 minutes and starring Brigitte Nielsen as a statuesque NASA agent sent to a joint Russian-American mining base on the Moon, where an American miner has been found dead in the Russian part of the base. Sparks fly when she has to work with the rather unaccommodating Russian detective also put on the case, as political realities make the ‘truth’ rather fluid and elusive. Can she crack the case before she joins the growing body count?

Last up is the 1998 action flick ‘Moonbase‘, which weighs in at 89 minutes. A team of dangerous criminals escapes the Off-World Penitentiary and end up on the Moon at the Moonbase Waste Disposal Plant. Part of the waste being disposed of on the Moon are some nuclear warheads, just what they need to ensure themselves of a safe return to Earth. Or so they think. This particular one may be available in Region 2 DVD, but otherwise your Lunar Librarian has not yet been able to track down DVD versions of these films.

Another VHS movie, ‘Moontrap‘, weighs in at 92 minutes, and is available on DVD, though not legitimately. It’s rather surprising, given that it stars not only Walter Koenig from the old Star Trek television series, but also Bruce Campbell, whose cinematic oeuvre is one that I respect tremendously. In this story a Space Shuttle flight returns a strange, alien artifact that seems to have the capacity to use things in its environment to grow and become more deadly. No, not a human being, rather, some kind of robot/machine intelligence. Clues point to the Moon, so Walter and Bruce, two of the best in the business, travel there to investigate, uncovering a greater horror than they could have ever conceived.

Another Moon-set story that isn’t available either on VHS or legitimately on DVD, is the old ABC TV series pilot ‘Plymouth‘, clocking in at 90 minutes. In this tale a proud mining town in the Pacific Northwest is devastated by ecological disaster. The company responsible happens to have constructed a base on the Moon, would the townsfolk be interested in moving there to continue their generations-long mining tradition, just in a new locale? They agree, and thus is begun the first off-Earth settlement of humans, fighting the good fight to bring life to the places in the Solar system where there is none, like our sterile Moon.

Of this first bunch, the only one of real merit is ‘Plymouth’. It is legendary in the space advocacy underground, where you’ll hear stories of someone having it on videotape from the screening in 1991 on TV. The set-up may sound cheesy, but it is a rather intelligent story, and they make an effort to hew to scientific accuracy. Since the last two items are not legitimately available on DVD, I can’t point you to them, however I can inform you that if you look you can find them on the internet.

Moving on to movies that are readily available on DVD, the most memorable example of a human presence on the Moon has to be Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film ‘2001: A Space Odyssey‘, which weighs in at a lengthy 148 minutes. The richness and wholeness of his vision not only attests to the influence of Arthur C. Clarke, but also set an impossibly high benchmark for all succeeding movies. The scenes relating to the Moon are limited to Act II, but the movie in its entirety is widely recognized as a masterful example of science-fiction movie making.

A year later was the release of the British masterpiece ‘Moon Zero Two‘, which clocks in at 100 minutes. In this tale a scrappy free-lance entrepreneur gets entangled not only with a massively wealthy but also criminally selfish industrialist, but also a damsel in distress who has come to the Moon to search for her brother, who has been trying to make a claim stake work on the far side of the Moon. Styled as a Western, the imagination underlying the story and the sets helps to elevate it to something more.

The British would continue the idea of a crewed facility on the Moon well into the 1970s. In 1973 the BBC aired six episodes of the television series ‘Moonbase 3‘, which altogether clock in at 300 minutes. An international crew staffs a scientific facility on the Moon, but the exploration is as much of our humanity as of the Moon’s secrets. Long thought lost to the vicissitudes of history, a copy recently turned up, so it is once again available to Moonatics. The series was of course overshadowed in the annals of television by the two season run of ‘Space: 1999‘ a couple of years later, which DVDs run in excess of 41 hours. This is what your friendly Lunar Librarian grew up with along with ‘Doctor Who’ and ‘Blake’s 7′, as Dad was stationed in England through the mid-1970s, so I was stuck there with him. It doesn’t carry quite the same thrill that it used to, but still it explores some interesting topics, and was rather groundbreaking in its day. A bit of trivia is that the young lady who played Maya on the series, Catherine von Schell (on whom I had a major crush until Princess Leia stole my heart), was also in ‘Moon Zero Two’ as the damsel in distress.

The decade of the 1970s closed with the rather strange ‘The Shape of Things to Come‘, ostensibly based on an H.G. Wells story. Power-mad tyrants, killer robots, and hot disco-ish chicks almost make this one watchable, but I don’t think I’ve ever been able to sit all the way through. It is notable for starring Barry Morse from ‘Space: 1999′ and Jack Palance, and is premised on an ecologically devastated Earth having driven humanity to colonise the surface of the Moon and begin reaching for the stars.

The 1980s seems to have been largely a wasteland for Moon movies, but there was a notable exception in ‘Star Cops‘, from 1987, with nine episodes weighing in at 450 minutes. An international team of police officers is gathered together on the Moon to keep the peace and fight criminals. Oops, speaking of which it looks like this one is only available legitimately as a Region 2 DVD, however it can be found in a form playable on U.S. (Region 1) players.

I’ve never understood the whole Region thing. I can buy a music CD anywhere in the world and play it in any of my CD players. But I have DVDs in the Lunar Library that I can’t play on my computer or my DVD players. I’m sure the media industry thinks they have a good reason for making some movies only playable in some parts of the world, but I find it terribly annoying. I also dislike corporate interests that sit on their assets and won’t do anything with them, but won’t let anyone else do anything either. This is part of why copyrights are supposed to expire.

As we’ve seen, the Moon movies from the 1990s are only available on VHS, so let’s fast forward to the new millennium. From 2002 we have ‘The Adventures of Pluto Nash‘, weighing in at 95 minutes. Total respect, what with Eddie being a distant cousin in the family tree and all that, but let’s just not go there. Sure, it would be cool if the Moon was developed to the extent shown in this movie, but the less said about this one the better.

From 2007 is the lovingly hand-crafted tale ‘Postcards from the Future‘, clocking in at 35 minutes. Director Alan Chan worked on the special effects for ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘Beowulf’, and here he applies his skills to a story he wants to tell. Sean Ever(y)man is an electrical engineer sent to the Moon to oversee the establishment of the initial electrical grid. He’s not terribly happy about it, but he is the best man for the job, so he shoulders the responsibility. He misses his wife terribly, but their legacy will take him to the apex of human achievement in the Solar System in the near future. Your friendly Lunar Librarian is quite fond of this one, and arranged a screening at the 2007 ISDC.

If you want some science fact to go with your science fiction, there’s always the 2005 documentary ‘GaiaSelene: Saving the Earth by Colonizing the Moon‘. The first half discusses the complex energy, environmental and infrastructure challenges that we’re going to be facing worldwide through the year 2050. The second half of the documentary outlines how tapping the resources of the Moon and near-Earth space can help us in rising to the challenges we’re all going to face. Energy = Prosperity This is an important topic, so it’s worthwhile to stick it out through the whole documentary.

Now, as a special treat, we’re going to take a look at what all the hep young cats are digging. anime, As in Japanese style animation, what Americans would call cartoons. From 1985 comes the 84 minute long odd tale that is ‘Battle for Moon Station Dallos‘, which is only available on VHS. Something about tyranny and freedom on the Moon.

From 1994 and clocking in at 60 minutes, this future tale tells the story of a strange force within the Moon that is none too pleased at humanity’s trespass, and the only man that can defeat it - ‘Bounty Dog‘.

Moving into the new millennium, the grand-daddy of near-Earth, near-future anime is widely regarded as being ‘Planetes‘, broadcast from 2003-2005 before being released on six DVDs that clock in at 650 minutes. Significant portions of the story about a team of misfit orbital debris cleaner-uppers take place on the Moon, from a goofy Moon ninjas tale to efforts to travel to Jupiter, and especially my favorite episode - ‘Extraterrestrial Girl‘. If there’s only one space anime you ever watch, make sure it’s this one.

From 2006 comes the tale ‘Freedom‘, weighing in at just over 200 minutes. After a tragic space disaster unleashes ecological havoc on the Earth, the survivors relocate to the Moon where they establish a new society of perfect freedom. Well, within constraints of course. Young custom motorcycle racer Takeru chafes at those constraints, and in doing so he discovers that everything he’s been told about Earth may not exactly be true.

Last up we have ‘Moonlight Mile‘ from 2008 and weighing in at 300 minutes over the 12 episodes of season one. Goro and Lostman are competitive (and libertine) spirits whose destinies point them towards the Moon, though by different paths. This one is for grown-ups only, as it contains ample, shall we say, adult situations. For the grown-ups, though, it is a rather interesting tale, and one well grounded in the near-future, where cislunar space becomes a geopolitical (spatiopolitical?) playing field.

Finally, we come to a movie that is not yet available on DVD, because it is currently showing in a select few theatres around the U.S. since Sony won’t put it into wide release despite universally glowing reviews, including the one here at OotC, ‘Moon‘ starring Sam Rockwell and weighing in at 97 minutes. If I want to see it again I’m going to have to road-trip down to Austin to see it at the Dobie Theatre down on the Drag when it comes out on July 10th.

[Update: Well whaddaya know - it’s being shown at the Angelika at Mockingbird Station, and is opening this weekend! Woo hoo! When I lived in NYC the Angelika down on Houston Street was my favorite cinema. Way to go Angelika, bringing some solid sci-fi to the masses.]

So as we can see, while the mainstream press fixates on the past, there nevertheless remains much to look forward to with regards to our Moon. In the end, as with any adventure in humanity’s story, it’s people and their struggles that make for compelling drama, and will provide the impetus for new adventures on the high frontier.

To the Moon!

Ken Murphy / 12:43 am June 23rd, 2009

The Solstice Edition at Starts with a Bang! This week’s Carnival of Space starts with a visit to Stonehenge (just like the just re-released documentary “Moonwalk One“), which is a really cool place to see, and ends in the deep reaches of infinite space.

Ken Murphy / 1:18 am June 18th, 2009

2009 is the International Year of Astronomy, and oft told is the tale of when Galileo turned his telescope from terrestrial objects to heavenly bodies, an ongoing view of amazement and wonder that helped to change the nature of astronomy forever.

Most astronomers have wandered far afield from Galileo’s first celestial destination, our Moon, and spend their time with black holes and galaxies and supernova and other objects far, far away. In many respects the Moon becomes the enemy of the deep-space astronomer, as it light pollutes the night sky and blocks a fair-sized chunk of it.

Some of us, though, become enamored of the ever same yet ever changing Moon as she circles us in the sky, and tend not to wander too far afield. This surprisingly large bunch of folks is typically found over at the Lunar Photo of the Day, run by the world-famous Charles Woods.

The study of heavenly bodies is of course a global phenomenon, and while I was in France back in 2000 for my studies at ISU, Bordas published the book ‘Découvrir la Lune‘, a debutant level guide to Moongazing that is now out-of-print. I was, unfortunately, too poor a grad student at the time to afford both it and Rükl’s ‘Atlas de la Lune‘. Years later, as my infatuation with our Moon grew along with the Lunar Library, I would oft regret that unmade purchase, and could sense there was something missing from the La Lune section of the Library.

Late last year, co-author Christian Legrand, creator of the online (and free!) Virtual Lunar Atlas, stumbled across the Lunar Library in his perambulations around the internet. He mentioned that his book had been translated into English by Cambridge University Press as ‘Discover the Moon‘ and had been released in the U.S. in 2008, weighing in at 143 pages all-in. After unsuccessfully searching at the local bookboxes, I ended up ordering from Amazon, and was soon perambulating my way across the face of the Moon.

The authors begin with a brief explanation of why N vs. S and E vs. W on the Moon is so confusing. Everyone’s first response is always “Hey, it’s upside down”, and, depending on the kind of telescope you use, it may also be flipped sideways. To overcome the difficulties associated with this, they decided to present 2 photos of each area, because you never know what kind of telescope Grandma and Grandpa are going to splurge on for their grandkids. Two icons are used to distinguish between the views through reflecting and Newtonian telescopes.

Diving into the book, we get some background on our sister in space. The question is posed “What is there to see on the Moon?” with numerous examples cited of interesting features. Also noted are several online resources for Moon lovers - Association of Lunar & PLanetary Observers, British Astronomical Association Lunar Section, and American Lunar Society.

Next up we look at the movements of the Moon, providing some basic almanac data and noting some of the unusual characteristics. Of note is that no other planet has a moon anywhere near as big relative to the parent body. The used-to-be planet Pluto has a moon that is 66% its diameter (as compared with 27% for Earth), but Pluto has also been demoted to a dwarf planet, a rather unpopular thing in some quarters, but not without merit. If Pluto is a planet at 2,274 km in diameter, then why is not our larger Moon with a diameter of 3,476 km? Or Ceres at 940 km? They’re all spherical. But just as Ceres is considered the largest example of the Asteroid Belt objects, Pluto is considered one of the largest examples of the Kuiper Belt/Oort Cloud objects.

Back on topic, the authors explain why we get to see 59% of the Moon’s surface when it keeps the same face towards us, and cover the phases of the Moon. Throughout this section the labels on the illustrative graphics remain in their original French. Consider it a challenge, and it does support a mnemonic device explained by the authors to help keep the first and last quarters straight as to which is which and when.

Next up we look at the telescope equipment used for taking a closer look at our Moon, and where some good locations might be found to get away from the terrible light pollution found around cities, where we pay lots of money to generate electricity to throw light into space. If you’re not familiar with the Dark Skies Initiative, then you need to inform yourself as to what can be done to not throw so much light into space. I can still vividly remember the first time I saw the Milky Way as an adult. Can you?

Also explained are the various photographic means that can be used to document your Lunar sojourns, from traditional film methods to more modern webcams and CCDs.

Then we dive into the day-by-day guide that outlines the prominent features that become visible each night on a global scale. Each pair of photos then has three or more particular areas that are boxed off and visited in greater detail in succeeding pages. These elaborations are where you’ll find the hints on particular features like rilles or domes for which to look on any particular night. The images are all photographic, which helps when matching things up when looking at things through the ocular (a/k/a eyepiece). Features are numbered in the photo, with names gathered in a sidebar, which leaves the photos relatively uncluttered.

Scattered throughout are sidebars that highlight ancillary but useful information. Not noted, but of interest is a factoid that I picked up in my delvings into orbital mechanics - there are over 150 variables that go into the calculation of the Moon’s orbit around the Earth, accounting for perturbations in the perfect elliptical orbit from sources like the Sun, Moon, Jupiter, Saturn and other planets, the mass of the center of our galaxy, the oblateness of our own Earth (what the guys doing LEO satellite orbits would call the J2 effect) and more. Folks who think our Moon is a simple little thing are woefully mistaken; her subtleties are legion, and there remain many mysteries yet to be solved.

We finish with an updated list of reference books (not all of which, I’ll admit, are in the Lunar Library) and some internet websites of note (but alas not the LL. I’ll have to have a word with M. Legrand about that for the next edition…). There’s a list of the Latin terms used in Moon nomenclature, the index, and the list of the photo credits. Oh, and there are maps on the inside flaps of the cover.

The only other title of recent vintage in the Lunar Library that is really comparable is Grego’s ‘Moon Observer’s Guide‘, which is written for a bit more sophisticated audience. This makes ‘Discover the Moon‘ an ideal beginner’s book for all ages, as it isn’t intimidating (or at least, less so) to younger curious minds, but is still accessible to adult beginners.

M. Legrand was kind enough to send an autographed copy of the French edition to the Lunar Library, which allowed me to read through the original text to get a sense for the translation. In all honesty, I think some of the finer subtleties of the French language escaped the translator(s) at Cambridge University Press. Additionally, there is the fact that the graphics (but not the photos) in the book are still in French, as if the publishers were trying to keep the expenses associated with the English language edition to a bare-bones minimum. This is not to say that the translation is bad or hard to read, just that there may be a couple of times where you’re just like “Huh?” Also, if you’re not familiar with $/£ foreign exchange, the long term rate is $1.50 for each £1.00 (or, $1.00 buys 66 pence, though it can vary significantly in the short-run), as all of the reference prices are in British pounds.

So while it does have its flaws, I still think this is an excellent book for anyone, young or old, who’s starting out with Moon observing. The photos are clear and look like what I see through my scope. Many, many features are noted, enough to keep you busy for a while. As a consequence, I’ll go with a waning Full Moon rating on the English language edition, and a Full Moon on the French language edition.

Ken Murphy / 4:37 pm June 14th, 2009

Once again your Lunar Librarian finds himself playing catch-up with the Carnival of Space.

The latest and greatest Carnival of Space #107 can be found at innumerable worlds, a blogsite dedicated to the search for extra-solar planets.

Last week’s Carnival of Space #106 was hosted at Next Big Future.

Carnival of Space #105 danced over to the Discover stable of blogs and boogied down at Space Disco.

Prior to that, the Carnival of Space #104 scouted out new territory over at Mang’s Bat Page with the show dedicated to the legendary Avro Arrow.

The Carnival of Space is the greatest space show on the internet, brought to you every week by the team of Fraser Cain at Universe Today and the many great writers who share the universe with you week after week.

So who are the top CoS hosts? A quick analysis of the list linked above shows that Universe Today is the top host, followed by Why Homeschool?, where the Carnival originated. Music of the Spheres comes in at third with 5 hostings, then a three-way tie for fourth between Next Big Future, The Planetary Society Blog, and yours truly at Out of the Cradle, a two-way tie for fifth between Orbital Hub and Space Disco. A further 13 blogs have hosted twice, and the remainder have hosted once. The Carnival of Space has set up the Big Tent at an astounding 62 blogs so far, evidence that Fraser hews to the mantra of new hosts have priority.

Ken Murphy / 3:36 am June 8th, 2009

It has been said that time heals all wounds. Mayhaps there’s more than a bit of truth to this, as I seem to be recovering from my 2007 ISDC experience, and find myself drawn into another big space project.

I recently got a call from Bruce Bleakley, who heads up programs over at the Frontiers of Flight Museum at Love Field in Dallas. The museum is the current home of the Apollo 7 capsule, and does have a real genuine Moon rock on display, courtesy of Walt & Dot Cunningham. They want to do something to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11 in July. All of the Moonwalkers are likely going to be off in important places at important events with important people, and the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex is not necessarily known as a place for space. This makes for a challenge. So he called me.

And I’ve been going to town to put together a program.

To say that D/FW is not a place for space would be misleading. NSS of North Texas (NSS-NT) has been doing outreach displays for years, decades even. We have several world-class planetariums in the metroplex, including some of the first digital ones. Alumni of our universities have flown and even died in space. One of my fellow NSS-NT members helped put together, right here in the metroplex, some of the radiators used on orbit at the ISS and we do owe a great deal of our prosperity to the many high technology companies found in and around Dallas and Fort Worth.

Speakers

The centerpiece of the event will be the speakers in the auditorium. It seats about 200 and has a tricked out A/V system, so it’s a great venue. I’ve gotten yeses from two speakers so far, Dr. James Carter, who has worked with Lunar regolith simulant, and Dr. Ron DiIulio, a local Solar System Ambassador (SSA) who teaches up at UNT in Denton and is going to give us the low-down on asteroids and meteorites. We’re also in initial discussions with Dr. John Hoffman from UTD, most recently involved with the spectroscopy of the TEGA instrument on the Mars Phoenix Lander, but who also worked on measuring the faint atmosphere of the Moon back in the day. His schedule is not good on that day, so it may or may not work out. The museum is also going to extend an invitation to Andrew Chaikin to come speak and maybe autograph copies of his new books “Voices from the Moon” and “Mission Control, this is Apollo”. I’d certainly try to get him to autograph the many works he has in the Lunar Library.

Displays
So we seem to be in good shape as far as speakers go. This means the next challenge is the displays. In the past, we’ve typically been relegated to the mezzanine levels for our space displays, our World Space Week event many years ago being a perfect example. So I’ve asked that this time we have our public displays down on the main floor. Some of the planes down by the space displays might need to be moved, but there is a lot of room to work with.

I’ve got two main foci for the displays: organizations and schools.

On the organization side, I’m trying to get all of the local space and technology clubs to put on a display so they can inform people about what they do, and hopefully sign up new members. So far I’ve reached out to:

DARS (rockets)
These guys are always good for two or three tables of sample rockets, copies of the NAR rocketry safety code, videos of launches and flights, pictures, and so forth. They’ve worked with the museum before, creating a number of Saturn Ib replicas for a recent event, and the museum is curating a scale X-something (I think X-43) that they might put on display.

TAS (astronomy)

These folk do all kinds of public outreach in the metroplex, as they are the de facto organization that people think of when they think space in the metroplex. For the event they want to highlight the Dark Skies initiative to reduce the amount of light we profligately throw into the night sky. They’ll also have Solar-filtered telescopes, so hopefully we’ll have some sunspots by the time the event rolls around, as well as some on display to illustrate and explain different types of telescopes.

Dallas Mars Society (Mars)

A long-time partner with NSS-NT for outreach displays, DMS always has at least two tables worth of displays, and I’ve asked them to focus their display on how Earth & Moon analogue missions help pave the way for a better trip to Mars. They also have a set of the Earth/Moon/Mars bricks that I am totally jealous of. Marianne Dyson told me how to use plastic easter eggs and pennies, but I can’t remember the specific #s of pennies. I could probably figure it out if I put my mind to it (where X=pennies in Earth egg, 0.38X=pennies in Mars egg, and 0.16X=pennies in Moon egg).

UTA Planetarium (astronomy)
NSS-NT has a great rapport with Levent and the team at the UTA Planetarium. We will schlep the chapter displays out to Arlington a couple times a year to help add content to their events, and I was fortunate enough recently to assist them with the Moon particulars of various Girl Scout Space Exploration merit badges. They’re going to schlep some stuff up to Dallas to show off the Planetarium and get folks signed up for their Starry Messenger newsletter.

DPRG (robots)
This one is kind of a long shot, as they weren’t entirely happy after the 2007 ISDC. (No one came to their outdoor robot challenge, and I think we forgot to include it in the morning announcements). Also, the museum is not too keen on my idea of trucking in a couple of tonnes of fake regolith to sculpt a Lunar challenge area. Something about dust and historical artifacts…

and of course NSS of North Texas will have their usual 6-8 table enormous space display with tonnes (that’s metric, 1000 kilos and is 2,200 lbs - if you want to do space you have to learn metric, the measurement choice of scientists and engineers worldwide) of free handouts, some video documentaries, learning samples, and more. There are a few others that I need to get in touch with locally, like FWAS, and I may see if I can get some of the TAMU SEDS folks to put on a display to encourage the formation of a SEDS chapter here in the metroplex. Farther out on the margins are longer shots like LPI (no, but they’re going to send materials) and TSGC.

On the schools side, I’m trying to encourage our contacts at the local universities to have displays on their science and engineering programs (my project for this next week), to capture the attention of attendees, especially the younger ones. The push back here is how are you going to make sure you get the turnout from the audience we’re trying to reach (i.e. middle & high schoolers, and homeschoolers) in the middle of summer? Who wants to do brainy stuff in the middle of summer?

Well, um, yeah, but, you know, space is cool.

How do I make it cooler? Hmmm. Hardware is probably the best way. That’s always tough, because moving it around always risks breaking it, and you never know if some tourist is going to touch the wrong thing and do major damage. What I’d like to see is SpaceX down in McGregor maybe haul up a rocket motor in the back of a pickup and put it on display along with a display booth. I happened to have danced with one of their PR folks back at my 2007 ISDC (there was a wedding band below the balcony we were on), so I’ve dropped her a line to inquire as to what might be possible. I’d also like to see Armadillo Aerospace, who have their armadillo cave somewhere out Mesquite way. Having Pixel at the 2007 ISDC was a big hit, and I’m eternally grateful that they helped out. Mr. Carmack has been otherwise occupied of late with the day job that actually makes him the money he can play with, and my usual contact there has been radio silent. I’ve dropped an e-mail to their generic e-mail address, so I’ll keep my fingers crossed. I’ve also asked the folks at DARS to see if maybe they could drop some hints with their contacts.

I’d also like to see some of the space-associated corporations here in the metroplex like Lockheed Martin (which underwrites the Space Day program) and Raytheon put up some technology displays, but being corporations they have formal budgets and schedules and forms and whatnot and trying to get them to do anything quasi-spontaneous without a champion in upper management is like pulling hens’ teeth with a questionable return on the investment in time. I wish it were easier, but it’s not. Maybe my contact at Lockheed Martin can arrange some of the “Fly Me to the Moon” stuff that LM was handing out at the ISDC.

One thing I am having some success with is freebies, a/k/a swag. People derive a lot of value from these kinds of educational events if they can go home with a whole bunch of free stuff. One of the things I’ve encouraged my NSS chapter to do is get the marketing brochures, the kinds of things you’d find at a visitor’s center at a state border, from all of the local space and science related venues, which we then distribute to local visitors to our space outreach displays. The most popular seems to be the McDonald Observatory out in west Texas, where they bounce the lasers off the Moon to measure the rate at which it is receding from us. Everyone always seems to have good things to say about their trips there, and I can’t wait to go back.

So I’ve been e-mailing around to different Moon-related places seeing what kinds of goodies I can scare up. Will at Google Lunar XPrize just offered up some stickers, which are always popular. These should probably be kept by the exit so that they don’t end up on the museum displays. I’d catch all kinds of heck if that happened. I also asked if I could borrow their big inflatable Moon display and accidently forget to send it back, but I don’t think that one is going to fly. LPI has offered some teacher materials, and put me in contact with the LRO and LCROSS teams to get some of their EPO materials.

I should probably contact the NASA Lunar Science Institute to see about some brochures and pins. They’re having their annual summer conference out at Ames the week after the Moon Day event, which I should probably attend were I to expect any kind of credibility for my as yet unrejected application for the position of NLSI Director. Problem is that I have a day job and that particular week corresponds with all kinds of reporting for the monthly BoD meeting, which means I’m not really at liberty to jaunt off to a Moon conference ’cause I feel like it.

So, if I can get decent turnout of displays from both the organizations and the schools (and maybe the companies) then we’re talking about some pretty compelling space content, especially when you throw the museum’s own ample space stuff into the mix. Is that a compelling enough reason to spend a hot Texas Sunday in a cool, air-conditioned environment? Maybe, maybe not. So let’s throw some Kids Activities into the mix.

The easiest thing is book readings. You just need some volunteers and a space for the kids to gather around to hear another thrilling tale of derring-do in our next frontier. I’ve got enough titles in the Lunar Library to crank one out every 15 minutes in the four-hour time frame that we’re working with, but that’s likely overdoing it. Each half-hour is probably better.

What else? Well, I’d like to have DARS do a rocket building class. The difficulty here is that the museum is adjacent to the landing path for Love Field. Launching a model rocket there and having it drift into the engine of an incoming 737, causing it to explode in a massive fireball (oops!) is the kind of nightmare that keeps FAA safety guys up at night. Launching the freshly built rockets at the event is then clearly out of the question. What are alternatives? My suggestion would be to have the youngsters attend the next DARS launch in Frisco, which they hold each month. They’re on board with the idea, as it offers an opportunity to highlight the monthly launch as part of their program for the event. I would also structure it so that the registration cost for the rocket building class would incorporate a one-year membership in DARS.

Keeping in the theme of Moon Day, Chaz Hafey, who used to be the Science Place Planetarium Director before Science Place merged with the Museum of Nature & Science in order to move to a new facility in downtown Dallas, and they went all corporate and stuff. We’ve lost a number of contacts there over the last few years, and since there’s little continuity we keep having to get reacquainted with the staff there. The long-term stability of the folks at FoF make them much easier to work with from the perspective of a volunteer-run organization, although I should be nicer to the Science Place folks because they do have the only portable inflatable planetarium in the area. Where was I? Oh, Chaz wants to do a Moon rock session using the real sample disks from JSC. How cool would that be? The museum already has a small sample that was given by NASA to Walt Cunningham, Apollo astronaut and commentator at Launch Magazine. It’s not something you can pick up and hold, though. Luckily, Chaz isn’t the only Moon rock certified instructor here in the metroplex, so I don’t think we’ll have too much trouble. (yours truly is also certified) I’ve also asked if they could send copies of their coloring book (pdf).

One possible extension of that would be to have a certification class for DISD instructors to get more of our science instructors qualified to use these great learning tools. It’s actually an involved process, and it helps to be friends with the local police department for security purposes for these national treasures. The fact that we’re willing to put these treasures into our schools and educational institutions and into the hands of our children should tell you something about the real values that make the U.S. one of the great nations in human history. I’ve asked a contact I made at the recent Science Fair awards luncheon who works with the DISD’s world-reknowned Magnet schools to see if we could maybe get CEUs for the class as an inducement. That would be really cool.

Local SSA Cynthia Whisennand with the area CAP, wants to do a variant of the Lunar Nautics program for middle schoolers. She’s already asked about a materials budget and I have no idea where I’m scrape up the money for it. I also should look at an artsy-spacey-craftsy type thing for the younger kids.

There are other avenues to consider as well. I’ve sent an invite to yet another local Solar System Ambassador, Teresa Moss over at the Monnig Meteorite Gallery at TCU in Fort Worth. If I can get a display of meteorites from them that would be super fly! (Nope, they’re all off on other things during that timeframe, but I did load up on their beautiful brochures).

One initiative that I’m going to finally get around to is the creation of a Metroplex Moon Society. People are always asking me about it, so I guess it’s time to bite the bullet and do it. The museum is letting me use one of their conference rooms for a couple of hours for the Charter Meeting, so this is where it’s going to start. My biggest concern has always been with having a regular meeting place. Even with the discount offered by the museum it’s still too expensive for a member-supported club, as they do have overhead to cover. This means it’ll probably have to meet at a Library or restaurant each month. There’s the whole drawing up of the charter thing, establishing a checking account, getting a web presence, the list goes on. Still, it will be exciting to have a Moon club in the metroplex.

So we’ve got the rough outline of what could be a really cool event, assuming that all of the pieces come together as they should. Which they won’t. I anticipate that at least 1/3 to 1/2 of what I’ve outlined won’t happen. Not out of malice, just because the logistics don’t happen to work out. Still, that would leave us with a terrific program.

But what good would it do if no one shows up? How can people go to an event of which they have not heard? This is where marketing comes in. I’m used to micro-budget efforts, having been associated with various not-for-profit organizations for nigh on 15 years now, and even going back to the days when I was a volunteer DJ at WBER in upstate NY and would post flyers for my Friday night club music show. From that experience I happen to know that most radio stations at the bottom end of the dial have ‘community calendars’ where they announce local upcoming events as part of their public-service mandate. Intelligentsia like to park their ears at the bottom of the dial, so I need to get a notice out the radio stations.

One technique that we didn’t quite master for the ISDC is to list the event in as many online calendars as possible. This involves a lot of cutting and pasting and typing the same things over and over, so it’s not a terribly popular volunteer job. One initiative I’m thinking of taking personally is to put an ad on the backpage of the Dallas Observer. It has been brought to my attention that the major media will pay attention to you if you are throwing advertising dollars at them. NSS of North Texas is a member-funded chapter, so it can’t afford the costs associated with advertising. There are alternatives.

Believe it or not, there are folks who look at those bulletin boards you see in grocery stores, bookstores, record stores and libraries. If I can get enough folks from the different organizations to put up one or two in their local area then that could have a significant impact by promoting word of mouth. Online networks are important as well, which is why I’m happy that my DISD contact is going to circulate a note to all of the science teachers in the district.

The list of tasks goes on and on. Clearly I’ve got my work cut out for me over the next month and a half. Luckily there are a lot of great space-interested folks in Texas willing to help out, and a lot of space stuff to show off. The real question is how many people are going to show up to check out all the cool space stuff.

Ken Murphy / 5:46 am June 3rd, 2009

Howdy everyone! Yours truly is fresh back from this year’s International Space Development Conference and wow, what a terrific event. They are so much more fun when one is an attendee instead of an organizer.

I was unfortunately not able to attend the Space Investment Summit, only arriving late Wednesday night at the Omni Champions Gate, a very nice facility indeed. After sleeping in on Thursday morning (because I was on vacation and therefore entitled) I wandered down to Registration to get my badge and initial bag of goodies. Woo Hoo! The latest edition of AdAstra was therein, as well as a CD of many of the past issues of the Moon Miner’s Manifesto, a superb 20+ year opus chronicling the myriad aspects of setting up shop and living on the Moon. Next stop, the exhibit hall. Objective: Swag.

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