Activites

This page will keep you up to date with all the different ‘stuff’ that Mach 30 has going on.  Our intent it to update this info each month (after the Reports hangout [first Thursday] and before the Board meeting [second Sunday]).  The purpose is twofold: We need a place to capture “All the things?!” that are going on here at Mach 30, so we can keep track of what we have to do.  The second purpose is to let YOU see what we have going on, and invite you to participate.  Every one is welcome.  Mach 30 is not just for engineers and rocket scientists, as we discussed in this blog post.  Last updated: 15 Feb 2013

Activities below have additional links if you want to find out more.  We are always looking for volunteers who are interested in contributing to the Mach 30 mission so feel free to Contact Us with any questions.

Monthly Reports Hangouts

On the first Thursday of every month, the Mach 30 team hosts an “on-air” Google+ hangout to update everyone on the most recent activities over the past month.  You can watch the last several monthly Reports Hangouts on the Mach 30 Youtube channel.  To participate with us in real time, simply add +Mach 30 to your Google+ circles and let us know you’d like an invite.  See you then!

Task Forces

Task Forces are temporary groups  that are formed to tackle tough problems. Currently we are in the process of standing up several new ones.  The activities of these groups will be related to each other, so we will plan such that they don’t conflict with the other:

  • Export Control Regulations – Yes, we knew it was going to be difficult… so we wrote a post called “What About ITAR?” describing our initial plans.  Then we found out about the Missile Technology Control Regime, and the Export Administration Regulations… *sigh*  We’re now in the process of organizing a task force to dig deep into all aspects of US export control.  You’ll be able to read more about the purpose and description of the task force as soon as its description is ready.
  • Mach 30 Technical Road map – Some people call this a ‘technology tree’ or ‘tech development strategy’ but in essence, this task force will help shape Mach 30’s open source hardware projects.  This task force has a head start based on some previous direction on current hardware projects.  See the section below for additional details on the Shepard Test Stand and various high altitude balloon projects.
  • Revenue Generation– Everyone needs money, right?  Even open source spaceflight hardware non-profit groups.  This group will work on things like earned income strategies, and identifying other income streams.
  • Business plan competition – As part of the New Space conference, <link>.

Ongoing Discussions

  • Partnership with The School Factory and Space Federation – Mach 30 and James Carlson from The School Factory have partnered up because of the shared set of organizational values and love of visionary space-faring dreams.  There is a whole page discussing The School Factory and this partnership.
  • Collaboration with the Coca-cola Space Science Center in Columbus, GA – They do a great job developing educational curriculum, and we have great hardware projects.  It seemed like a match made in heaven.  Initial discussions are in progress to figure out the specific details.
  • Jerry Isdale and the Space GAMBIT program – Formerly the Hackerspace Space Program (HSP).  This busy new group secured DARPA funding for various hackerspaces to work on space related technology. Mach 30 is currently submitting a grant application to SpaceGAMBIT for Open Design Engine (opendesignengine.net) upgrades.
  • Alicia Gibbs and the Open Source Hardware Association (OSHWA) – Mach 30 was into “open” hardware design before there was an association all about it.  Now we’re looking into how we can work with OSHWA to contribute to the open source hardware community in the broader sense.
  • Preliminary talks with Charel Morris about a Transfer Summit here in the US (with a theme for Open Source Spaceflight Hardware).  Stay tuned for more details as they develop.

Hardware Projects

Open source spaceflight hardware is really what it’s all about!  Check out the latest progress on these projects on Open Design Engine.

  • Shepard Test Stand – First iteration of the Shepard Test Stand was completed and taken on demo tour at the Open Hardware Summit, Club Cyberia, and the Fort Wayne Mini-maker faire.  If you’re interested in finding out more about this project, please visit the Shepard Test Stand project page at OpenDesignEngine.
    • Next Step: build “kits” for educational and training purposes
    • Next Step: upgrade the operational version (structure and DAQ system)
  • Adler Planetarium’s Far Horizons project documentation – Mach 30 volunteers are in the process of documenting the design of a very mature high altitude balloon program.  See it at the Far Horizon’s Project Page on OpenDesignEngine
  • The Space Chilies high-altitude balloon project – As a first effort for distributed collaboaration of an open hardware project, the Quelab hackerspace in Albuquerque, NM built their own high-altitude balloon based on the Far Horizon’s design.  See the project details on the Space Chiles project page on OpenDesignEngine
  • In 2013 Mach 30 plans to “incubate” several new hardware projects and system architecture studies.
    • The Ground Station project on Open Design Engine is the first of these projects, and is in the preliminary (early) design phase right now. The first version of the Ground Station will be able to receive signals from the ISS (International Space Station).

Other Activities

  • The Mach 30 Book Club – We’re back!  The book club took a break over the holidays, and now we’re getting back to reading again.  This page on the Mach Drawing Board describes the concept in more detail.  We hope you’ll join us here to participate in the discussions for the first book, X-teams: how to build teams that lead, innovate, and succeed.  We are up to Chapter 3, and reading about a chapter a week.
  • Open Design Engine – Seeing a need, Mach 30 took the initiative to build the “Git hub or SourceForge for hardware.”  https://opendesignengine.net/
  • Openeering Wiki – Similarly, there was a need to catalog all the available open source tools and software that will allow development of OS hardware projects.  Therefore, Mach 30 started the Openeering Wiki
  • Documenting the list of ‘open source norms’ for external groups who want to tackle projects on the Mach 30 Road Map.
  • Development and implementation of Mach 30 Advisers to the Board.
  • Discussions about the Mach 30 risk management and need for insurance.

Public Appearances

You can meet Mach 30 in person at the following events.

  • 14-16 December 2012 – Annual Strategic Planning Retreat – Dayton, OH
  • 2013 The Mach 30 travel schedule for 2013 is TBD
    • April 12, 2013, Yuri’s Night – Mach 30 will be having a virtual Yuri’s Night party that will feature the theme of “Rocket Science: Live”.  Sign up for our newsletter and follow us on our various social media outlets to keep up on what’s going on with this party.
    • July 2013, New Space Conference in San Jose, CA – Mach 30 will be attending and will have booth space.
    • (tentative) TBD ABQ Mini-maker Faire in Albuquerque, NM
    • (tentative) TBD Transfer Summit
    • (tentative) TBD Open Hardware Summit (OHS)
    • (tentative) Oct 16-17 2013, International Symposium on Personal and Commercial Spaceflight (ISPCS) in Las Cruces, NM