A Music Major’s Guide to Exploring the Galaxy

Jul 14 2011 by Maureen Carruthers.

In order to achieve the “become a spacefaring society” portion of the Mach 30 mission, we can’t focus our efforts solely on scientists and engineers; we must also tap into imagination and spirit of adventure that will lead the rest of society to support our efforts to explore the galaxy. To that end, we are excited to share today’s guest post from Molly Duncan, a former opera performance major and current English teacher, about what she learned in her college astronomy class.

My freshman year of college, I took a course called Astronomy of the Universe. I took it because I needed a lab science, and this one didn’t take a two-hour chunk out of my very busy music major schedule, since the labs were at night at the observatory. It ended up being one of the best classes I ever took, and sparked in me an interest in cosmology that continues to this day.

I was not a stellar astronomy student. The mathematical models were far over my head. I only barely comprehended things like the size of the universe and how it is expanding. But I found myself looking forward to it every week. I hung around the professor’s office asking questions and trying to deal with the largeness of it all.

What I loved about cosmology, and what I still love about cosmology, is how it makes me think. This is a science that is constantly trying to conceive of ideas that are literally too large for our minds to understand. Thinking about the size of the universe forces us to take what we already know and shape it into a radical new model.

For instance, science tells us that the universe is expanding. Picture that. Most of use will think of an image like a ripple in the water moving constantly outward. Then science tells us that the universe is expanding, but not from one central point. As a matter of fact, there is no central starting point of the universe. How do we picture that?

(Seriously, someone give me an image. I’ve been struggling with this one for 15 years).

The space program has given us many wonderful things; it’s greatest legacy, though, may be the expansive thinking it has inspired in us. We have a different perspective of who we are in the world and in the universe because of the Hubble space telescope, our Mars twins Spirit and Opportunity, the Voyager probes, Columbia and her sister shuttles, and Tranquility Base on the moon. I hope that as the shuttle makes it’s final orbit, we find ways to keep our minds journeying beyond the atmosphere.

What He Does When I Leave Town…

Jul 13 2011 by Bekah McGrady.

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As we observe the last shuttle mission with a mixture of sadness and celebration, I am inspired to share my most recent and personal brush with rocketry…

Last month I was the Matron of Honor in my best friend’s out of state wedding. It was a lovely wedding and a good trip. When I returned home to my happy pets and husband, I asked him what he did while I was away.

Him: “Oh, you know, work, laundry, dishes, hung out with Scott… I need to buy a few more rockets though.”

Me: “Rockets??!?!?!!”

Him: “Oh, yes. I built some rockets while you were gone.”

Me: “(stunned silence)… Built. Some. Rockets… !??”

Now my dear husband is not a rocket scientist, but he has dabbled in flying RC Airplanes a good bit, so I suppose I should have seen this coming. He only built “some little ones… well, ok, and a medium one too.” If he builds some more and launches them just so, meeting certain criteria, he can get his Bronze Certification with the National Association of Rocketry. Don’t I want him to be be certified to launch rockets?

After six years of marriage, I am somewhat accustomed to his hijinks, so I didn’t hit the roof or use his full name at him or anything like that. I first asked where he might have launched these rockets, what gave him the idea and if he’d hurt himself or others. Turns out, he had been very safe and responsible and launching rockets is really not that big a deal (“NASA does it all the time”). He got the idea from J.’s blog post. J. is a rocket scientist.

My husband then took my inquiries to mean I wanted to know (much) more about the arts of rocketry and regaled me with way more technical detail than I was prepared for, including gluing techniques, motor assembly and sizes – “A is a small one and G is crazy big with all the letters in between. They are measured in Newtons of force so basically higher letters equal more power.”

Me: “Like bra sizes?”

Him: “Um, yes…”

Apparently, you can get the smaller rocket starter sets for around $25-30 and they have little parachutes or streamers so you can get them back in one piece and reuse them. There is a whole instruction manual here for those of you who like making things go fwoom!

If you would like to help insure that all surprise spousal rocket encounters go as well as this one did, you can donate to Mach 30 (creators of the Rockets 101 Manual) here,

Or share the Rockets 101 Manual with your friends who may be at a high risk for trying to shoot things up into the sky,

Or subscribe to Mach 30’s newsletter for more space-y, science-y, open source-y and occasionally entertaining news.

Shared Challenges and Opportunities in Open Source Spaceflight

Jul 12 2011 by J Simmons.

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Image by Jungle_Boy via Flickr

Yesterday’s discussion of open source spaceflight hardware groups reveals a number of repeated challenges facing this movement. These challenges include licensing open source hardware, the development of web-based project management tools for engineering, overcoming the costs associated with engineering software, and resolving the conflict between open source methods and export restrictions on spaceflight hardware. The good news for the open source spaceflight organizations is that they are not alone in addressing some of these challenges, which provides for important opportunities.

The first challenge is licensing open source hardware. Licensing software is a matter of applying terms of use to copywritten works. This is a process which is well understood in the software industry and does not involve any additional cost to the developers. However, intellectual property rights for hardware are more complex. Hardware is often protected by patents, trade secrets, and non-disclosure agreements. Each of these processes involves different laws and processes, and generally additional costs. These factors make developing open source hardware licenses difficult. This challenge is shared by the open source hardware movement as a whole, and is being addressed by other organizations. For example, the Tuscon Amateur Packet Radio Corp. (TAPR-OHL) and CERN (CERNOHL) have developed open source hardware licenses similar to the GNU Public License 2.0. Mach 30’s own licensing approach (Mach 30 Open Design Pledge) is modeled after the Arduino’s use of multiple licenses and is similar to the Apache Software License.

The second challenge is developing web-based project management tools for engineering projects. There are a number of web sites which fill a similar role for open source software projects, including Source Forge. However, these tools are optimized for managing and sharing software projects, not hardware projects. So, at present, most of the organizations listed above are making due with a collection of disconnected tools. Which explains why a number of them are working to address this challenge. And these organizations are not alone. DARPA, which is researching open source hardware, is soliciting proposals for the development of their own open source hardware project portal called Vehicle Forge. And CERN has recently announced its Open Hardware Repository. DARPA and CERN’s investments validate the efforts to develop such a portal, and may help pave the way for wide-spread availability in the near future.

The third challenge is overcoming the cost of engineering software. The ideal solution for these groups is to identify and adopt open source engineering tools. Using open source engineering tools first ensures the tools will continue to be available and at no cost to volunteers participating in the design process. Second, using open source engineering tools fits in with the over all philosophy of open source hardware. The second best solution is to find software which can be used freely for personal or not-for-profit use. Sites like the Mach 30’s Openeering Wiki and Develop Space’s Open Source Engineering Tools are both intended to catalog the available options as a means of addressing this challenge.

The fourth challenge is resolving the conflict between open source methods and export restrictions on spaceflight hardware. In the United States, there are a number of export restrictions which affect almost every type of spaceflight hardware, regardless of use or intent. Put simply, these export controls forbid United States citizens from sharing any material concerning spaceflight hardware. Failing to comply with these regulations can carry severe penalties, making it essential that anyone working in spaceflight hardware follow them. However, following these kind of restrictions is in direct opposition to the open source philosophy.

While it is true these challenges are significant, most of them are shared by the larger open source hardware community, which means we are not alone in facing them. The key to overcoming these challenges, and making open source spaceflight successful, is to work together to address these challenges, both within the fledgling open source spaceflight and with the larger open source hardware community.

Want to join Mach 30′s team in the Open Source Spaceflight Revolution? Learn more here.

Introducing the Open Source Spaceflight Revolutionaries

Jul 11 2011 by J Simmons.

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Image by x-ray delta one via Flickr

At Mach 30, we dream of a world where people live and work on other worlds and in space stations. When we say people, we don’t mean six at a time, we mean hundreds, then thousands, then tens of thousands. One of the keys to making this dream a reality is to share the technology of space as widely as possible, and so we are doing all of our engineering work as open source hardware, and we are not alone. In the last four years nearly one dozen groups have formed with the stated purpose of developing space flight systems in a manner similar to that of open source software projects. These groups intend to develop and then share the designs of a wide variety of space systems including launch vehicles, satellites, and lunar probes.

The path in front of all of us is a steep one. Tomorrow, we’ll discuss the challenges and opportunities on our shared path to a strong open source spaceflight industry. Today, let’s meet the revolutionaries of open source spaceflight.

Copenhagen Suborbitals

Copenhagen Suborbitals is an all volunteer Danish organization founded by Kristian von Bengtson and Peter Madsen. The mission of Copenhagen Suborbitals is to launch a human being into space. They are currently developing a sub-orbital spacecraft composed of a one-person capsule called the Tycho Brahe, and a booster called HEAT.

The Collaborative Space Travel and Research Team

The Collaborative Space Travel and Research Team (CSTART) is an all volunteer organization with members throughout the world. CSTART was founded in 2009 by a group of space enthusiasts who met in an online community site called Reddit. The mission of CSTART is to organize and finance open source spaceflight projects run by space enthusiasts. Current CSTART projects include a cubesat called COSMoS, a high altitude balloon called Cloudlab, and a hybrid rocket called Chimera.

Develop Space

Develop Space is a 501c3 non-profit organization founded in 2007. Its mission is to enable human exploration and development of space through open collaboration. Develop Space projects include an architecture study for a minimalist human mission to Mars, the development of a space exploration reference library, and research into engineering tools that are licensed as open source software.

Mach 30

Mach 30 is a non-profit organization incorporated in 2009. Our mission is to hasten the advancement of humanity into a spacefaring society. Current projects at Mach 30 focus on developing a strong legal and organizational foundation for running open source spaceflight projects. These projects include the Openeering Wiki, a community portal documenting the existence of and experience using free and open source engineering tools, Open Design Engine, a web based engineering project management portal, and research into licensing and management of open projects within the boundaries of export control laws such as ITAR.

Open Aerospace

Open Aerospace was founded by Ralph Ewig in 2009. The mission of Open Aerospace is to be the organizing framework for space enthusiasts to collaborate on human activities beyond Earth. Open Aerospace’s projects focus on defining an end to end architecture for space exploration.

OpenLuna Foundation

The OpenLuna Foundation is a 501c3 non-profit organization founded by Paul Graham and Gary Snyder. The mission of Open Luna is to return humans back to the moon through private enterprise. Early projects at Open Luna are focusing on a series of robotic missions and public outreach. Their eventual goal is to build a small human outpost on the moon.

Open Space Movement

Open Space Movement was founded in 2010. Its mission is to provide a collaborative engineering environment, educational resources, and organizational framework for a public space venture. Open Space Movements current primary focus is the development of their collaborative engineering environment as a web portal similar to those used to host open source software projects.

Portland State Aerospace Society

The Portland State Aerospace Society (PSAS) is a student organization at Portland State University. PSAS projects center around the development and operation of low cost open source rockets. Their most recent launch, held in October of 2010, was a complete success.

Team FREDNET

Team FREDNET is an official competitor in the Google Lunar X-Prize. Team FREDNET is incorporated as a 501c3 non-profit organization. As a competitor in the Google Lunar X-Prize, Team FREDNETs projects all center around the development of a prize winning lunar rover.

Ultra Light Space Flight

The Ultra Light Space Flight (ULSF) group is a community of individuals who are working on developing open source space probes. Their core value is to “to the smallest possible craft operating on the smallest possible budgets” and they believe that robotic probes have been and will continue to be the backbone of space exploration.

WikiSat

WikiSat is an international group of volunteers and students. Their mission is to make access to space open to everyone. Their current projects include a high altitude balloon that will act as a proof of concept for their engineering processes, and a ultra-small scale satellite launcher as an entry to the N-Prize.

Want to join Mach 30’s team in the Open Source Spaceflight Revolution? Learn more here.

Greg’s pictures from the STS-135 Space Shuttle Launch

Jul 10 2011 by Greg Moran.

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Here’s a set of pictures from my trip to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station to watch the Space Shuttle Atlantis launch on mission STS-135, the final flight of the NASA shuttle fleet. We at Mach 30 are working to expedite the return of human space access here in the US. If you want to make sure that we continue to pursue safe, sustainable, routine and reliable access to space, donate now, like us on Facebook, or sign up for the newsletter… Then enjoy my photos!

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“Ad astera per civitas – To space through community”

Mach 30, Foundation for Space Development