Meet the 2009 TED Prize winners - Two of the three winners fit with the space and related themes usually covered in this blog. They include Sylvia Earle (oceanographer and explorer, former Chief Scientist of NOAA) and Jill Tarter (Director of the Center for SETI Research).
The Three Winners of the 2009 TED Prize - ... in more detail
Each wins $100,000 plus "One Wish to Change the World." Their wishes will be unveiled at TED2009 on February 5, 2009.
The 2009 TED Prize Live from the TED Conference - Special introductions by: Quincy Jones, Al Gore, and Richard Branson ... - A number of cinemas and similar venues across the country are going to feature the presentations in a simulcast (the in-person event gets over 1000 attendees but sells out).
trailer for the 2009 winners
As I recently mentioned, Sylvia Earle also recently held an MIT X Prize Lab workshop on "Deep Diving" ocean prizes. She is also part of an announcement about Google Earth planned for February 2 (that's 2 days from now, and only 3 days before the TED event -- but I have no idea if these are at all related). From the Google Earth Blog announcement link:
Google has sent out an invitation to the press, including Google Earth Blog, for a "Special announcement about Google Earth" on February 2nd in San Francisco. And this event looks like it could be the biggest announcement since Google Earth was released! Speakers include: former Vice President Al Gore, CEO of Google Eric Schmidt, VP of Google Marissa Mayer, and Director of Google Geo John Hanke. Wow! ...
Another clue for this announcement was some other speakers for the announcement: Sylvia Earle - Explorer-in-Residence for National Geographic Society; Terry Garcia - EVP for National Geographic Society, and Greg Farrington, Executive Director for California Academy of Sciences. The last one isn't surprising because the invitation says the announcement will be held at the California Academy of Sciences.
Here's some information about Terry Garcia:
Prior to joining the Society in 1999, Garcia was the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for oceans and atmosphere, U.S. Department of Commerce, and Deputy Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). In this role he directed and coordinated U.S. coastal, ocean and atmospheric programs, including the National Ocean Service, the National Marine Fisheries Service, the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, the National Weather Service and the National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service.
He's also involved with Scotland's ~$20M Saltire Prize for marine renewable energy:
The National Geographic Society's head of global missions, Terry Garcia, was announced as one of the first members of the international prize committee, along with Scotland's chief scientific adviser, Prof Anne Glover.
This announcement will be at the California Academy of Sciences in a place I like, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco.
Sylvia Earle - This YouTube video is from a talk by Sylvia Earle in September 2008 at the Zeitgeist Google Partner Forum. The talk includes a Google Earth tour of the fragile oceans. It ends with some brief comments about Ocean X PRIZEs (Peter Diamandis was making a presentation there the next day) and crewed exploration of the ocean depths.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Friday, January 30, 2009
TARC and TSGC
Participation high in Team America Rocketry Challenge - Space for All
Free Flying Mini Lunar Lander - Texas Space Grant Consortium topic for Spring 2009 Design Challenge - This one mentions the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge and the Google Lunar X PRIZE:
PROBLEM:
Design and build a small scale, free flying lunar lander vehicle that can be used to study some of the larger aspects of the lander problem and perhaps ultimately even compete in the Lunar Lander Challenge. The lander should be designed such that it can evolve to accommodate future growth both in size and complexity. Although not a requirement, it is anticipated that the initial vehicle would be on the order of 10-20 kg and utilize common off the shelf parts. Ultimately, it is a trade between cost, parts availability, and performance.
TSGC Teams
TSGC Topics - You can see all of the topics here.
Free Flying Mini Lunar Lander - Texas Space Grant Consortium topic for Spring 2009 Design Challenge - This one mentions the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge and the Google Lunar X PRIZE:
PROBLEM:
Design and build a small scale, free flying lunar lander vehicle that can be used to study some of the larger aspects of the lander problem and perhaps ultimately even compete in the Lunar Lander Challenge. The lander should be designed such that it can evolve to accommodate future growth both in size and complexity. Although not a requirement, it is anticipated that the initial vehicle would be on the order of 10-20 kg and utilize common off the shelf parts. Ultimately, it is a trade between cost, parts availability, and performance.
TSGC Teams
TSGC Topics - You can see all of the topics here.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Detailed Review of X PRIZEs in Discover
Should American Science Be More Like "American Idol"? - Discover:
One morning while I was visiting, Diamandis sat in his corner office with his assistant at the time, Angel Panlasigui, and waded through potential prize ideas in advance of a board meeting. One possibility, hashed out with James Cameron, director of the movie Titanic, would foster the development of three-man submarines that could dive to the ocean floor. The next idea took the concept to a fantastic level: autonomous robots, cheap enough to mass-produce, that could sink to the bottom of the sea, collect data, and return to the surface to share that data with a central computer. “This is an idea that I kicked around with Larry Page,” Diamandis explained. “If you have thousands of these going down randomly, gathering data, you then can stitch the data all together.”
This is just a brief excerpt. It's a 4-page article; don't miss the "next page" key.
One morning while I was visiting, Diamandis sat in his corner office with his assistant at the time, Angel Panlasigui, and waded through potential prize ideas in advance of a board meeting. One possibility, hashed out with James Cameron, director of the movie Titanic, would foster the development of three-man submarines that could dive to the ocean floor. The next idea took the concept to a fantastic level: autonomous robots, cheap enough to mass-produce, that could sink to the bottom of the sea, collect data, and return to the surface to share that data with a central computer. “This is an idea that I kicked around with Larry Page,” Diamandis explained. “If you have thousands of these going down randomly, gathering data, you then can stitch the data all together.”
This is just a brief excerpt. It's a 4-page article; don't miss the "next page" key.
Masten Intership Updates
Briefs: Masten Space update; Euro space tourism studies - RLV News
Long overdue update Part 1 - RocketDeech - Not only was his update long overdue, but my link to his post is also way late - his post was in early December as his Masten internship was finishing up.
Happy 2009! - Colin Ake:
This year, I graduate Georgia Tech with an undergrad in Management. That means I have to find gainful employment or move back to the parents’ place. I think they’d probably prefer me to find gainful employment. I’m interning this semester with Masten Space Systems, learning from Michael Mealling, their VP of Business Development and helping him manage his workflow. ... In April I’m going out to Phoenix to the Space Access Conference - I’m looking forward to meeting some more people in the new space industry and hearing some very smart people speak about the industry and where it’s at. I’ve always been interested in space (I have Dad to thank for that) and I’d LOVE to work in the industry over the next few years doing the business side of things.
Colin Ake on Twitter
Barcamp Atlanta 2008:
Recent Happenings in Commercial Space Development
Michael Mealling
I'm going to go over recent events in the commercial space industry such as XCOR's XRacer, Bigelow's inflatable habitats, and Masten Space's XA 0.1 flights.
...
VOIP on the iPhone
Colin Ake
A look at different VOIP/SIP solutions for the iPhone, including the iCall beta, Fring, Truphone, and some of the web-based applications. I'll summarize each solution, compare them to each other, complain about some lacking features, and attempt to demo a few things.
Long overdue update Part 1 - RocketDeech - Not only was his update long overdue, but my link to his post is also way late - his post was in early December as his Masten internship was finishing up.
Happy 2009! - Colin Ake:
This year, I graduate Georgia Tech with an undergrad in Management. That means I have to find gainful employment or move back to the parents’ place. I think they’d probably prefer me to find gainful employment. I’m interning this semester with Masten Space Systems, learning from Michael Mealling, their VP of Business Development and helping him manage his workflow. ... In April I’m going out to Phoenix to the Space Access Conference - I’m looking forward to meeting some more people in the new space industry and hearing some very smart people speak about the industry and where it’s at. I’ve always been interested in space (I have Dad to thank for that) and I’d LOVE to work in the industry over the next few years doing the business side of things.
Colin Ake on Twitter
Barcamp Atlanta 2008:
Recent Happenings in Commercial Space Development
Michael Mealling
I'm going to go over recent events in the commercial space industry such as XCOR's XRacer, Bigelow's inflatable habitats, and Masten Space's XA 0.1 flights.
...
VOIP on the iPhone
Colin Ake
A look at different VOIP/SIP solutions for the iPhone, including the iCall beta, Fring, Truphone, and some of the web-based applications. I'll summarize each solution, compare them to each other, complain about some lacking features, and attempt to demo a few things.
2009 Business Plan Competition Deadline
I actually briefly mentioned this one recently, but now they have a post about it at the Space 2.0 Blog:
8C Business Plan Competition 2009 - deadline approches - Space for All
8C Business Plan Competition 2009 - deadline approches - Space for All
Griffin Wins National Space Trophy
Former NASA Administrator Mike Griffin Wins RNASA Trophy - SpaceRef:
Rodolfo Gonzalez, President of the RNASA Foundation in Houston, Texas, reported that Griffin was selected for the National Space Trophy for: developing the plan for completion of the International Space Station following the loss of Space Shuttle Columbia, personally directing the shuttle return-to-flight activities; initiating the first procurement of commercial cargo and crew service in the agency's history; successfully establishing the architecture for a sustainable, achievable, and technically viable human exploration program; and awarding the initial spacecraft and launch vehicle contracts that will ensure the program meets its demanding schedule.
...
Griffin will receive his trophy at the RNASA annual black-tie banquet to be held on Friday, May 8, 2009, at the Hyatt Regency Houston. Veteran space correspondent Miles O'Brien will serve as Master of Ceremonies. Information on corporate sponsorship opportunities and other program information are available on the Foundation's Web site: http://www.rnasa.org.
Rodolfo Gonzalez, President of the RNASA Foundation in Houston, Texas, reported that Griffin was selected for the National Space Trophy for: developing the plan for completion of the International Space Station following the loss of Space Shuttle Columbia, personally directing the shuttle return-to-flight activities; initiating the first procurement of commercial cargo and crew service in the agency's history; successfully establishing the architecture for a sustainable, achievable, and technically viable human exploration program; and awarding the initial spacecraft and launch vehicle contracts that will ensure the program meets its demanding schedule.
...
Griffin will receive his trophy at the RNASA annual black-tie banquet to be held on Friday, May 8, 2009, at the Hyatt Regency Houston. Veteran space correspondent Miles O'Brien will serve as Master of Ceremonies. Information on corporate sponsorship opportunities and other program information are available on the Foundation's Web site: http://www.rnasa.org.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Ocean Engineering at the MIT X PRIZE Lab
It's a bit late to actually go to this unless you're Marty McFly, but it sounds like it must have been an interesting workshop. Hopefully the X PRIZE folks let us know how it went:
X PRIZE Lab “Deep Dive” Ocean Prizes Workshop
MIT Center for Ocean Engineering (another view)
Spotlights -->
X Prize Lab - Ocean Prizes IAP Workshop
Register Today!
January 7-8, 2009
Join us for an exciting and interactie workshop looking at how prizes could open up the oceans for revolutionary new exploration and science.
If you are interested in the deep sea, exploration, oceanography, autonomous vehicles, manned submersibles, marine biology, marine chemistry, new frontiers, innovatio, incentives, or just stimulating conversations, register today.
The panel will include: Graham Hawkes, Sylvia Earle and David Gallo!
Big Google Earth Announcement with Al Gore and More - Google Earth Blog - Sylvia Earle is also part of this announcement. If it's a big announcement on Google Earth, it's sure to be interesting, and if it's dealing with the oceans (which seems pretty likely) even better. Will there be any prizes in the mix? I have no idea.
X PRIZE Lab at MIT notes that the Spring 2009 class is on Bionics.
Here's the Fall 2008 Syllabus and the class page on X PRIZE Workshop: Grand Challenges in Energy. There are some impressive instructors for that class.
X PRIZE Lab “Deep Dive” Ocean Prizes Workshop
MIT Center for Ocean Engineering (another view)
Spotlights -->
X Prize Lab - Ocean Prizes IAP Workshop
Register Today!
January 7-8, 2009
Join us for an exciting and interactie workshop looking at how prizes could open up the oceans for revolutionary new exploration and science.
If you are interested in the deep sea, exploration, oceanography, autonomous vehicles, manned submersibles, marine biology, marine chemistry, new frontiers, innovatio, incentives, or just stimulating conversations, register today.
The panel will include: Graham Hawkes, Sylvia Earle and David Gallo!
Big Google Earth Announcement with Al Gore and More - Google Earth Blog - Sylvia Earle is also part of this announcement. If it's a big announcement on Google Earth, it's sure to be interesting, and if it's dealing with the oceans (which seems pretty likely) even better. Will there be any prizes in the mix? I have no idea.
X PRIZE Lab at MIT notes that the Spring 2009 class is on Bionics.
Here's the Fall 2008 Syllabus and the class page on X PRIZE Workshop: Grand Challenges in Energy. There are some impressive instructors for that class.
Lunar Prize Update - January 28, 2009
More Excuses, Excuses - Selenian Boondocks - Jon shows some reasons why he hasn't posted much recently. Those are pretty good excuses if you ask me. He also hints about a future Masten update.
Briefs: Unreasonable update; Ramping up a rocket - RLV News
Meet Jaluro, a Two-Wheeled Open-Source Lunar Rover - Space.com
Plus, there are numerous updates on the Google Lunar X PRIZE Team Announcements page.
Briefs: Unreasonable update; Ramping up a rocket - RLV News
Meet Jaluro, a Two-Wheeled Open-Source Lunar Rover - Space.com
Plus, there are numerous updates on the Google Lunar X PRIZE Team Announcements page.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Student Launch Initiative Challenge 2009
NASA Challenges University Student Launch Initiative Teams - SpaceRef:
Twenty student teams selected by NASA from colleges and universities around the country are spending the winter building sophisticated rockets they will launch high over Alabama during NASA's 2008-2009 University Student Launch Initiative in April.
The annual rocketry challenge will be held April 18 at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Student teams will bring their rockets to the NASA center, where professional engineers will conduct formal design reviews of the vehicles before the students take part in a final, all-day launch.
Twenty student teams selected by NASA from colleges and universities around the country are spending the winter building sophisticated rockets they will launch high over Alabama during NASA's 2008-2009 University Student Launch Initiative in April.
The annual rocketry challenge will be held April 18 at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Student teams will bring their rockets to the NASA center, where professional engineers will conduct formal design reviews of the vehicles before the students take part in a final, all-day launch.
Insurance Blog on Automotive X PRIZE Press Release
Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE Applauds President Obama’s Plans to Tighten Environmental Automobile Standards - Insurance Blog - We have to get the space industry to the point where places like the Insurance Blog cover it without batting an eye.
UK Space Conference 2009
UK Space Conference 2009 - Rocketeers.co.uk - UKSC 2009, to be held April 1-4, includes lots of events, including the following prize-related ones:
UKAYRoC
Is a model Rocket competition the final of which will be held at Charterhouse on April 2nd. Those schools that have qualified for the final will fly their model rockets, which are designed to achieve a precise flight profile. The team that comes gets closest win a trip to the United States to take part in a American competition.
The Sir Arthur Clarke Awards
(April 4th evening)
The Arthurs are the UK Space equivalent of the Oscars. Dress is black tie and the evening includes the presentation of the awards in various categories. There is a meal and live music and a chance to socialise with some of the stars of the UK Space community.
Individual seats are only available to those attending the conference or by invitation. Tables can be purchased by organisations (the price includes a donation to Sir Arthurs favourite charity).
UKAYRoC
Is a model Rocket competition the final of which will be held at Charterhouse on April 2nd. Those schools that have qualified for the final will fly their model rockets, which are designed to achieve a precise flight profile. The team that comes gets closest win a trip to the United States to take part in a American competition.
The Sir Arthur Clarke Awards
(April 4th evening)
The Arthurs are the UK Space equivalent of the Oscars. Dress is black tie and the evening includes the presentation of the awards in various categories. There is a meal and live music and a chance to socialise with some of the stars of the UK Space community.
Individual seats are only available to those attending the conference or by invitation. Tables can be purchased by organisations (the price includes a donation to Sir Arthurs favourite charity).
Science Fiction Prizes
Science Fiction Awards Watch - This site is overwhelmingly full of information and updates about awards in the SF genre.
Win a Mars book in Sci-Fi photo caption contest - Marooned: Science Fiction books on Mars
The Jim Baen Memorial Writing Contest - I haven't seen any promotion of this contest this year, but I'm going to assume it's on just like the last 2 years, since the linked pages says:
-Deadline - April 1, 2009. ...
PRIZES: - The GRAND PRIZE winner will be published in a future issue of Jim Baen's Universe* and paid at the normal paying rates for professional story submittals. The author will also receive a specially designed award, free entry into the 2009 International Space Development Conference, a year's membership in the National Space Society ($45 level) and a prize package containing various Baen Books, Jim Baen's Universe and National Space Society merchandise. ...
- Winners will be announced and notified no later than May 5, 2009. (only the winners will be notified) The winners will be honored at the 2009 International Space Development Conference in Orlando, Florida, May 28-31, 2009. (though we would prefer the winner attend the conference, it is not required.) ...
Win a Mars book in Sci-Fi photo caption contest - Marooned: Science Fiction books on Mars
The Jim Baen Memorial Writing Contest - I haven't seen any promotion of this contest this year, but I'm going to assume it's on just like the last 2 years, since the linked pages says:
-Deadline - April 1, 2009. ...
PRIZES: - The GRAND PRIZE winner will be published in a future issue of Jim Baen's Universe* and paid at the normal paying rates for professional story submittals. The author will also receive a specially designed award, free entry into the 2009 International Space Development Conference, a year's membership in the National Space Society ($45 level) and a prize package containing various Baen Books, Jim Baen's Universe and National Space Society merchandise. ...
- Winners will be announced and notified no later than May 5, 2009. (only the winners will be notified) The winners will be honored at the 2009 International Space Development Conference in Orlando, Florida, May 28-31, 2009. (though we would prefer the winner attend the conference, it is not required.) ...
Masten and Space Angels
Virginia-based Space Angels names presenting firms for venture forum - Tech Journal - Of course I'm going to point out the (former?) Lunar Lander Challenge competitor Masten Space Systems. The others include GPS service, VTOL, remote sensing from blimps, and more.
SPACE ANGELS NETWORK AEROSPACE VENTURE FORUM - Space Angels Network:
Jan 30, 2009 Morrison & Foerster, McLean, VA ...
Presenting companies will include:
SPACE ANGELS NETWORK AEROSPACE VENTURE FORUM - Space Angels Network:
Jan 30, 2009 Morrison & Foerster, McLean, VA ...
Presenting companies will include:
- American Dynamics Flight Systems of Jessup, MD
- Astronix Research of Richmond, VA (link seems to have reverted to NSI)
- flaik of Boulder, CO
- Masten Space Systems of Mojave, CA
- Skymeter Corporation of Toronto, ON
- TopEyeView of Norcross, GA
Monday, January 26, 2009
2009 Dannie Heineman Prize Winner for Astrophysics
University of Hawaii at Manoa Astronomer Wins Heineman Prize - SpaceRef - The award goes to Dr. Lennox Cowie "for his innovative observations and studies of the distant universe, which have significantly advanced our understanding of the formation and evolution of galaxies."
American Astronomical Society Grants, Prizes, and Awards
American Astronomical Society Grants, Prizes, and Awards
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