Posted by Jesse Clark in Calendar, Education, Projects, Science on March 18, 2011
Sat, Mar 19, 2011
12:00 pm to 4:00 pm
Location:
Space Travelers Emporium (map)
1947 30th St. San Diego, CA 92102
Interested in building something? Get together with other SD Space members to work on space-related projects.
This month’s Saturday build session we’ll continue with our Sky Satellite project by designing and building PongSats.
Previously we built a balloon launched camera which we flew at a nearby park to a height of 250 feet. Next well start to design and build a micro sky satellite called a PongSat. What is a PongSat? It’s an ping pong ball sized experiment flown to the edge of space by balloons and/or launched in rockets. The launch and recovery opportunity is provided by JP Aerospace.
There are endless possibilities for experiments that can fit inside a ping pong ball. PongSat’s can be as simple or complex as you want them to be. Experiments can be as simple as comparing how high a ball bounces before and after being exposed to vacuum. The PongSat can carry seeds to see if exposure to cosmic rays effect their growth. Several small inexpensive computers and other electronic can fit inside a PongSat. These can be used to create a wide range of experiments. Whether carrying a marshmallow to see if it puffs up in the vacuum of near space or an entire sophisticated satellite in miniature, PongSat can create motivation, drive and passion. – JP Aerospace
Members and the public are welcome to join the project team. RSVP to events@sdspace.org to participate.
Note: We recommend that parents participate with their children; children under 10 must have a parent present for the entire 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.
Posted by Jesse Clark in Calendar, Education, Events, Projects, SAL, Science on January 4, 2011
January 18, 2011 to January 21, 2011
Location:
Space Travelers Emporium (map)
1947 30th St. San Diego, CA 92102
Sponsored by NASA, EarthKAM (Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students) is an educational outreach program allowing middle school students to take pictures of our Earth from a digital camera on board the International Space Station.
SD Space will work with local middle schools and offer after-school activities supporting the mission. If you would like your middle-school child to participate, please RSVP to events@sdspace.org to participate.
SD Space members and the public are welcome to help out. Please let us know if you’d like to volunteer by emailing us at events@sdspace.org.
Posted by Jesse Clark in Calendar, Events, Projects, SAL on January 4, 2011
Sat, Jan 15, 2011
12:00 pm to 4:00 pm
Location:
Space Travelers Emporium (map)
1947 30th St. San Diego, CA 92102
Interested in building something? Get together with other SD Space members to work on space-related projects.
This month’s Saturday build session includes a DIY Sky Satellite.
We will be starting phase one of the project we selected in December. We took a page from Make magazine’s 
“DIY Space” issue and determined we would build our own homebuilt satellite that take payloads first to a tethered height, then phase two will launch into near-space and hopefully phase three high into sub-orbit.
Members and the public are welcome to join the project team, but please sign up by Jan. 14th. RSVP to events@sdspace.org to participate.
Note: We recommend that parents participate with their children; children under 10 must have a parent present for the entire workshop.
Posted by Jesse Clark in Astronomy, Chapter Updates, Education, News, Project ASTRO, Projects, SAL, Science on October 20, 2010
On Saturday, October 16th, Derek Nye and several SD Space members led a telescope building workshop at the Space Activities Lab in South Park. Five students attended the free hands-on activity, the second in a series offered by SD Space.
Before starting the build project, the students learned about telescopes from Phil Blanco, a local astronomy professor and Project ASTRO leader. They talked about how telescopes work, Galileo’s discoveries with them 400 years ago, and the kinds of things one could see with the Galileoscope (which has far better optics than Galileo’s telescope!).
After completing their new telescopes, everyone had fun trying them out in the lab, and then looking up and down the street. With a telescope mount – such as a camera tripod, some of the night time objects that can be observed in the next couple of weeks include: craters on our Moon, Jupiter and its moons, and even a special appearance by comet Hartley 2. We’ll be getting together at the Emporium soon to do just that when we have a clear night.
Contact projects@sdspace.org if you’d like to participate, or if you’re interested in attending future workshops.
