Posted by Jesse Clark in Chapter Updates, Events, News on January 29, 2011
On January 29th, members of the San Diego Space Society participated in the RHFleet Science Center’s public Challenger Mission. This two hour mission was in honor of the Challenger disaster of January 28th, 1986.
Dave, Scott, Rylee, Adrian, Gerry and Jesse joined children and adults from the community in a simulated manned mission to Mars. 
Set in the future where voyages to Mars are routine, each member of our “crew” had to perform specific roles to contribute to mission success.
Our mission included a voyage to Mars, building a probe to send to Phobos and a landing at the Mars Base. There we encountered a Martian sand storm which hastened the crew exchange and departure of the return flight. Flight navigation, remote geology sensing and life support were a few of the other important roles, each with it’s own activities and tasks.
Everyone had a great time and expressed interest in setting up another mission adventure for SD Space members and family in the near future. Sound interesting? Let us know at events@sdspace.org if you’d like to participate in a future SD Space Challenger Mission.
Posted by Jesse Clark in News on January 21, 2011
The Moon Landing Stamp will represent the USA in the International Gallery Exhibit of the new William H. Gross Stamp Gallery in the National Postal Museum, a Smithsonian Institution museum. Your votes for the Moon stamp totaled 50%, as much as all the rest combined!
William H. Gross, the founder of PIMCO and a stamp collector, has donated $8 million to the National Postal Museum to create a new 12,000-square-foot gallery that will be named in his honor. The new gallery, which will give the museum public space at the street level, is expected to open in 2012.
In addition to the financial donation, Gross will loan three extraordinary philatelic objects: A cover from the Pony Express service; a cover featuring the 10-cent George Washington stamp, dated July 2, 1847; and a block of four 1918 “Inverted Jennys.”
The new William H. Gross Gallery will house the three rarities from Gross and other great items from the National Stamp Collection. In addition, there will be space for educational exhibits, temporary exhibitions and public programs.
The new William H. Gross Stamp Gallery will be comprised of five unique sections, resulting in a powerful and engaging experience for museum visitors. Each area will showcase the museum’s world-class collection of philatelic and postal history objects and provide the public greater access and the Collection greater visibility.
The Gems exhibit will display some of the most distinctive and intriguing items in the Museum’s collection. The six featured gems in this exhibit include the Inverted Jenny, Hawaiian Missionaries, 1765 Stamp Act Revenue, 1847s: America’s First Stamps, Pony Express Mail, and Moon Mail.
Posted by Jesse Clark in Chapter Updates on January 21, 2011
SD Space member and Director Derek Nye is once again posting about a fascinating space topic, this time it’s about the Ad Astra Rocket Company and advanced plasma rocket propulsion.
Sounds like something out of a cool sci-fi book, but it’s very real. It has been in development since the early 1970′s. One company in particular, led by Franklin Chang Diaz, has made significant strides in the development of this new rocket engine. It may give us the ability to travel to any planet in our solar system faster than we ever thought.
In this post, I will be talking about the Ad Astra Rocket Company, and their VASIMR (Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket) Engine. We will also discuss some of the criticism that has fallen on this technology. Lets first get acquainted with the founder, and work our way to the advanced plasma rocket fun…
Check out the blogpost The Ad Astra Rocket Company in it’s entirety.
Posted by Jesse Clark in Chapter Updates, Events on January 16, 2011
In January, SD Space continued it’s DIY Satellite workshop at the Space Activities Lab. Several members together with five young space enthusiasts constructed phase one of the project. The initial payload was to be a platform with a mini transmitting camera suspended under a six foot balloon. But testing determined that the transmitting distance was too short so the payload equipment was changed to a recording mini-camera instead.
When it came time to make our first launch attempt, it took two balloon fillings, as the first one burst part way through inflation. But the second inflation was successful, filling to about to about three quarters capacity, enough to easily lift the camera equipment.
Walking the BalloonSat to the local park, the crew launched it to an altitude of around 250′ – the length of the tether line. Wind played a factor, keeping the launch from purely vertical to somewhat inclined, a few times even getting close to the tree tops. 
After flying for about 20 minutes, the balloon was reeled back down to the ground. the camera was removed and we walked back to the Lab. There, we played back the video. The video was fun to watch, but very shaky and bumpy. It was apparent that platform stability would be VERY important on the free launched SkySat.
Curious what’s next? Join us for the next phase during the February 19th workshop.
Posted by Jesse Clark in Calendar, Mars Society, Projects on January 11, 2011
Wed, Jan 26, 2011
6:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Location:
Space Travelers Emporium (map)
1947 30th St. San Diego, CA 92102
Get together with other SD Space members to work on space-related projects. We’re rebuilding our Mars Exploration Rover during this build session.
Members and the public are welcome to participate. Please RSVP to events@sdspace.org if you’d like to participate.
