Category Archives: OSHW

Up, Up, and Away: Live(ish) coverage of High Altitude Ballooning

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Today’s the day!

Mach 30 President, J. Simmons and volunteer, Jeremy Wright are in Chicago to begin documenting Open Design Engine‘s first High Altitude Balloon project.

This project is a partnership between Adler Planetarium‘s Far Horizons Project and Albuquerque’s Hackerspace, Quelab.  Adler is providing the design for the balloon, Quelab will build and launch the balloon, and Mach 30 is providing project hosting space on Open Design Engine and project coordination.

As an added bonus, Mach 30 will also be participating in this weekend’s launch.

Watch this space throughout the weekend for new videos, updates and more!

Design Meeting–Live!

You can watch the first design meeting live here–unless the meeting is over, then you should be able to see the video playback.

Photos

A small sample of the photos we took on the trip.

Get Involved!

Tweet your questions and comments about the projects with the hashtag #M30AdlerHAB we’ll answer as quickly as we can.  You can also leave comments below.

For more detailed information about the project as it progresses, watch the project page on ODE, and follow the updates on meeting minutes here.

Introducing the Shepard Test Stand: Mach 30’s first Open Source Spaceflight Project

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by Jeremy Wright, Innovations Technology Solutions, LLC

[Editors Note:  I’ve been asking you to be patient on the hardware front for years now, so believe me when I say words cannot capture how excited I am to introduce you to Jeremy Wright–a new Mach 30 volunteer and major contributor to our very first open source spaceflight hardware project.  Thank you Jeremy for taking us over the breach–and thank you, patient reader, for sticking with us through the “boring” parts.]

Shepard Test Stand Block Diagram

Mach 30’s Shepard Test Stand project has contributors spread over 4 U.S. states and 2 different time zones, so making sure that everyone gets a chance to leave their mark on the project can be a real challenge.  Add to that the fact that we’ll not only be exchanging ideas, but also things like drawings and source code, and the challenge gets even more interesting. This kind of collaboration is possible because of what Mach 30 is doing through the Open Design Engine.

On Shepard, we’ve started this collaborative process in the project’s forums and wiki by working on the why, who, and how questions that will guide us through the rest of the design process. These are seemingly simple questions like:

  • “Why are we building this?”
  • “Who’s going to use this?”
  • “What features does it need to have?”

However, without solid answers to these questions we run the risk, as contributors, of not all pulling in the same direction. As we head deeper into the project, these answers are being turned into a list of requirements that will keep us grounded and focused throughout the life of the project. That way we’re all on the same page, and when we get to the more exciting tasks of building and using the test stand, we’ll have our best shot at hitting the target. These requirements will start to pay off right away by informing the creation of the system block diagram, which is our next step.

If you haven’t yet, swing by opendesignengine.net and look over the Shepard Test Stand project. ODE will be moving into public beta soon, and we’d love to have the help of anyone who’s interested in moving humanity toward a space-faring future.

In short, “ad astra per civitatem” – to the stars through community

Podcast Round Up

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Image by Silveira Neto via Flickr

We’ve been stepping up the number of conferences we attend at Mach 30 because we’ve found them to be a great way to spread the word about our organization and to connect with some really great people.  Some of those people are connected with podcasts, and we have been fortunate enough to be invited to do several interviews over the last few months.

Just last week I was interviewed on the Public Knowledge In the Know podcast.  I met the interviewer through contacts from the Open Hardware Summit.  We talked about Open Design Engine, the genesis of Mach 30, and what lies ahead in 2012.  As always, it was a pleasure to have the opportunity to share the Mach 30 message with a new audience, and I am very thankful to Public Knowledge for inviting me.  You can listen to the Public Knowledge podcast here (the Mach 30 portion of the interview starts around 18:47).

Back in November, Evadot had me on their podcast.  A contact from the hackerSPACE Workshop mentioned Mach 30 to Evadot, and not long after we scheduled the interview.  We talked about open source spaceflight, the challenges of ITAR, and Mach 30’s approach to those challenges.  You can listen to the Evadot podcast here.

Finally, in October, Greg Moran, Mach 30’s Vice President, and I were jointly interviewed on the Open Hardware Junkies podcast.  Greg and I met the gentleman who runs this podcast during lunch at the 2011 Open Source Hardware Summit.  We spent much of the podcast discussing the role open source hardware plays in the Mach 30 mission and the tools Mach 30 is assembling in support of open source hardware.  It was especially fun to have Greg along for the interview.  I think it is great when we get a chance to bring our different styles of presenting Mach 30’s mission to the table together.  You can listen to the Open Hardware Junkies podcast here.

I’m looking forward to the spring when the next season of conferences gets rolling so we can meet even more people (those associated with podcasts and otherwise) to share the Mach 30 mission and message.

ad astra per civitatem

It’s our Birthday!

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J. Simmons wishing Mach 30 a Happy Birthday

Wow, three years sure flew by.  This time in 2009 the Mach 30 board of directors was still discussing whether or not we needed to meet on a monthly basis (we actually questioned whether there would be enough to discuss every month – hah!), and now we are experimenting with weekly hangouts in addition to monthly meetings.  It was just over a year ago that we submitted our IRS Form 1023 (the application to become a 501c3 public charity), and only last September we received our official designation as a public charity.  In three years, we have attended conferences of all shapes and sizes, sharing the ideas of open source spaceflight hardware over meals, during coffee breaks, on car rides, and in presentations.  And we can’t forget our continuing work to develop Open Design Engine, a website for developing and sharing open source hardware projects.

Clearly, we have a lot to celebrate.  If we could, we would invite everyone to our Birthday Party, after all every three year old should have a Birthday Party and ask for lots of presents.  But, there are some logistical issues with throwing a Birthday Party when your friends live all over the world, so we’ll have to settle with just asking for presents (hey, we’re turning three, it’s still perfectly fair to ask for presents).  😉

Mach 30’s Birthday Wish List

Open source a hardware project
If you are designing a piece of hardware–it doesn’t even have to be space related–help us celebrate our birthday by giving your work an open source licence. If you’d like to host it on OpenDesignEngine.net send us an e-mail and we’ll get you set up.

Add an entry to Openeering
Do you know any cool open source/free software or books for engineers?  Stop by the Openeering Wiki and add an entry about it.

Help out with the Mach 30 Drawing Board
Have an idea for a cool project to help Mach 30 with its mission?  Need an idea for a space related project (and not just engineering projects)?  Want to help refine an idea for a project.  Stop by the Mach 30 Drawing Board and post an idea or comment on an existing one.

Share links to our websites
Introduce us to your space loving friends on Facebook, Google+ and Twitter.  We’d love to have new friends!

Wish us a Happy Birthday
Help us celebrate!   Post a photo on our Facebook page or Google+ of you and a birthday message for Mach 30.  Bonus points if you wear a party hat.

Make a donation
Want to give us an even better gift?  A donation to help cover our operating costs would be greatly appreciated.

Make a donation here.

ad astra per civitatem