The Launch Pad

NASA's LRO Returns its First Images of the Moon

2009-07-02T12:28:00.001-07:00

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter returned its first images of the lunar surface today. How beautiful, that magnificent desolation...

Visit the LRO homepage to view these images in high resolution.

Friday Funday #FFD: A trip down Memory Lane

2009-07-02T09:07:00.001-07:00

It's with quite a bit of sadness that I embark on my final Friday Funday activity (a day early, since I won't be in the office on Friday). It's been an amazing journey, this past year, and I want to take a moment to reflect on it.

Friday Funday began back in August of 2008 as an experiment in what we can do using Twitter. The very first #FFD was a crowdsourced mixtape about the Moon, which I compiled an uploaded to the now defunct (er, well, altered) service Muxtape. Sadly, I didn't record the tracklist before Muxtape went down. We repeated this experiment in a similar way many months later.

But by far my favorite Friday Funday activity was the Google Spreadsheets artwork day. Between 30-50 people helped to build a gigantic space mural, which can still be accessed (thought not edited).

Now it's your turn. What are your favorite Friday Funday #FFD memories? Or maybe just fun Google Lunar X PRIZE experiences. What are you most looking forward to in the future? Leave your thoughts, memories, etc. in the comments.

Evadot Podcasts with Google Lunar X PRIZE Teams

2009-07-01T14:07:00.000-07:00

The Evadot Podcast, hosted by Michael Doornbos, has been featuring several Google Lunar X PRIZE teams as well as the Foundation's Will Pomerantz. You can head on over to subscribe to the podcast, or check out the episodes so far using the players below.

Interview with team Frednet

Interview with team Odyssey Moon

Interview with Will Pomerantz of the X PRIZE Foundation

The Search for the Next @glxp

2009-06-29T14:42:00.001-07:00

I announced last week that I'll be leaving the Google Lunar X PRIZE, and while I certainly will not disappear from the community, we now need to begin the process of finding a rockstar community manager to take my place. What better place to ask first than within our little group of space friends?

We don't currently have a job opening, as the description isn't quite complete yet, but I'm putting this out there to get the search started. Could you be the next @glxp? Here are a few qualities I think are important for this job:

A vast - bordering on unhealthy - love for space, science, and general nerdery.

Compulsive and effortless use of a variety of social media technologies, including blogging, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc. - you've been posting videos on YouTube since you were in diapers. You're always abreast of what's new in the online media space. You think Twitter jumped the shark ages ago. The bleeding edge is slightly too well done for your taste.

Swiss Army Knife abilities. You wear a lot of hats (with style).

Patience, Grasshopper: trolls, flamers, and skeptics are a natural part of any community, but dealing with them properly and effectively qualifies you as a saint.

Similarly, you love to field legitimate requests: conversation is the name of the game.

A zealous and evangelical belief that incentive prizes are an effective and efficient method for solving the world's grand challenges.

There is no I in community.

Propensity for eating round marshmallow sandwiches with great speed not required, but a definite plus.

If you think you've got what it takes, drop a note in the comments, or hit us with an @ reply on Twitter (either to @glxp or @pomerantz or @nickyjor). As we all know, good help is hard to find.

Friday Funday #FFD Space Map Wrapup

2009-06-26T17:17:00.001-07:00

View #FFD Google Lunar X PRIZE Fan Map in a larger map
A long while ago, we began building a map of cool space-related sites - and people - using Google Maps. Today we continued building on that map, and added a lot of really interesting points. Browse around on the map above to see everything from rockets to rockstars.

Best. Sandbox. Ever.

2009-06-26T13:53:00.000-07:00

When I was a young boy, my family had a small, hand-built sandbox behind our house just outside of Buffalo, NY(w00t! Representin' the 14221!). The sandbox was a fun place for a young child to play--but also was a place that sparks creativity (Calvin picked a great place to go to await his creative spark, even if his real plan was to wait for the creative rush of last minute panic). Hop in a sandbox, and the curiosity and the ingenuity of youth naturally strikes, and in no time at all, you'll find yourself inventing fanciful castles, cities, and mountains, combining left and right brain in an activity that is part art, part structural engineer, and part demolition derby.

My family moved away from that house with the sandbox just before my eighth birthday, and I haven't had a sandbox since. Of course most of us don't ever get the chance to play in a sandbox after about that age anywhat--it just isn't something that adults (or even teenagers) do. It's not part of our preconceived notions of productive and acceptable adult behavior.

Well, it's time to throw those notions out the window, because our friends at the California Space Authority and at NASA's Ames Research Center are working together to offer researchers and inventors the chance to experiment in a new "Lunar Regolith Simulant Testbed"--which is just a fancy name for a really kick-butt lunar sandbox.

The idea for this sandbox was born out of the Regolith Excavation Challenge, an incentive prize program funded by NASA's Centennial Challenges program. The California Space Authority is the Allied Organization that manages the day-to-day conduct of the prize program, much like we at the X PRIZE Foundation do for the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. When running a prize that requires teams to dig out a bunch of Moon dirt, one first has to start with a big pile of Moon dirt--so at the start of this competition, CSA set out to create just such a pile, which is something that no one else had ever done.

Of course, there isn't a whole lot of actual lunar material here on Earth, and what there is is closely guarded for scientific research, so it would be impossible to pull together enough of the real thing. Thankfully, NASA has been interested in the materials that make up the surface of the Moon for a long, long time, and has developed Lunar Regolith Simulant--essentially artificial Moon dirt--to help researchers. It's been available for quite some time; but is usually obtained in very small quantities, and used in highly controlled lab settings. However, "small quantities" and "highly controlled lab settings" were not what CSA had in mind:

As they put these sandboxes together for these challenges, the staff at CSA and at NASA Centennial Challenges realized they had an exciting and unique resource on their hands. Experts who came to judge or watch the competition were noticing new things about the lunar simulant itself: effects and properties that hadn't been clear when dealing with much smaller quantities. The sandboxes, built originally for short term use by the contestants, had clear long-term research potential.

So CSA started looking for a permanent home for the sandboxes, which do carry some logistical complications (breathing in the Moon dust in large quantities can be hazardous to one's health and, as the Apollo astronauts learned, it has a habit of getting everywhere). After a long search, they've found a great home at NASA Ames.

On behalf of my colleagues at the X PRIZE Foundation and, I'd wager, of Moon enthusiasts everywhere, I want to say congratulations and thanks to the staff at both organizations. This is an excellent tool that will have a great impact on Google Lunar X PRIZE teams, NASA engineers, and planetary scientists alike. Kudos!

The Question of the Day

2009-06-25T13:23:00.000-07:00

To paraphrase one of my favorite artists of all time: y'all will have read that Mike F is soon to be no longer with us, but Nicky, Rovey, and I would like to carry on the good work that's always gone down at 5510 Lincoln.

We're sad to see Mike go, obviously, although we'll be happy that he'll be returning to his first love, the music world.

But as we make the most of Mike's remaining time at X PRIZE, and as we ready ourselves for the daunting task of trying to fill his over-sized shoes, I did want to ask one key question. I'm sure Mike didn't take his decision lightly, but perhaps this is one question even he neglected to ask:

PS - Regarding the Moon Pie Challenge: Bring it on. I'm eager to hash things out once and for all! Vegas oddsmakers will go crazy trying to assess odds. Cariann, Ben, Blair, and James--ball is in your court. Let's make this happen!

So long, and thanks for all the Moonpies

2009-06-24T14:47:00.001-07:00

This morning I dropped into the office early. In case you missed it, we announced our 19th team in the Google Lunar X PRIZE, and the website needed some tweaking before pushing the pages live. It's exactly this type of moment that makes my job so exciting, and makes the Google Lunar X PRIZE such a riveting competition to watch and participate in. And it is precisely that reason that I am sad to be telling you - the community - that I will be leaving the X PRIZE Foundation.

I started at the X PRIZE just over a year ago. When I came onboard, the community was anything but that - a neglected wasteland of unpublished blog posts and forum trolls. We didn't have a Twitter account. We didn't have a Facebook page. We didn't really have much of anything going on web-wise, except for a select few of our teams who took the first steps into the kiddie pool of blogging.

All that has changed.

I am proud to say that the Google Lunar X PRIZE community is flourishing, vibrant, connected, and devoted. We have active groups on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. The Launch Pad, which we launched in July 2008, has over 900 subscribers (according to Feedburner), and traffic has been growing by leaps and bounds, especially after we implemented regular posting this year. Our teams have become extremely active on their own blogs and YouTube channels, and are now posting some truly fascinating content, ranging from video of their fully developed rover prototypes to launch system tests to business trials and tribulations.

There is, of course, one common thread in all of this, and it is you. Without the continued enthusiasm of our community members, none of this would be possible. We certainly wouldn't have ever been able to accomplish this, or this, or this, or this, or this. And we certainly never would have created memes like #LOLSpace or #Moonpie or #Remembering_Challenger.

I'll miss the sticker giveaways and the Friday Fundays. I'll miss the rockets flying in the New Mexico desert sun. I'll miss the competitive eating smackdowns and the bitter rivalries (OK, maybe not so bitter). I'll miss telling you all about the incredible new teams that are joining the competition, and watching as they risk everything for a shot at seeing the Moon. I'll miss having the ability to make an utter fool of myself on YouTube.

Most of all I'll miss you, the community.

So what does the future hold in store for me? Well, I'll be heading up a different kind of community. For those who don't know, before I was a space geek I was a music nut, and always have been. I'm finally heading to work at a major record label managing artist communities there. It's a fantastic opportunity, and I'm truly excited to be a part of it.

I'll be sticking around X PRIZE for the next two weeks to make sure we can transition smoothly. If you'd like to keep in touch, you can follow me on Twitter, though I can't promise that you won't find copious amounts of food photographs, LOLcats, and random musings on life.

To everyone who has made this possible, I thank you.
Ad luna!

Mike Fabio.
Associate, Google Liaison, Google Lunar X PRIZE.

P.S. I'm officially throwing down the gauntlet: before I leave, I demand a Moonpie eating competition with Will, Cariann, Ben, Blair, and James. Can we make that happen? Double decker only. With RC cola.

Announcing the 19th Team in the Google Lunar X PRIZE: Part-Time-Scientists

2009-06-24T09:04:00.001-07:00

Team Part-Time-Scientists has joined the Google Lunar X PRIZE. This team, which is based in Germany, takes pride in its young age - which happens to be, on average, just over 20 years old. Team leader Robert Boehme says of the competition,

You don’t need a billion dollars and thousands of people to achieve something astonishing. Our goal is to show the world that there's a different approach to face the challenges of space.

We wish Part-Time-Scientists the best of luck. If you'd like to read more about this team, head on over to their team page.

Some Great Apollo 11 Photos

2009-06-23T14:19:00.000-07:00

Digging through some cool stuff one of our coworkers found this post with a fabulous set of pictures from the Apollo 11 Mission. I really enjoy them so I have posted some of it once again here in our blog for all of you to enjoy as well !! Click here for the complete "20 Forgotten Photos from the Apollo 11 Mission."

This summer marks the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Everyone knows the famous photographs of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walking on the surface of the moon. Lesser-known are the photos of what took place back on Earth. Recently, we searched the NASA images archive for some of the seldom-seen images of the 1969 lunar mission. These images show the trappings of the space age: Engineers in skinny ties, scientists with serious expressions, space buffs camping out in Detroit-built station wagons, and above all, the sublime awesomeness of being an astronaut.

03-armstrong

July 9, 1969: A week before the launch, the astronauts reported to the flight crew training building of the NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins arrived carrying a cup of coffee.

02-aldrin

Apollo 11 astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin arrives arrival at the flight crew training building.

05-pressconference

July 15, 1969: Collins, Armstrong and Aldrin, spoke to the press the night before launch.

Looking forward to the next generation of manned flights to the Moon!!!!! sign me up!!!!

Buzz Aldrin's Rocket Experience: Commemorating 40th Anniversary of Apollo 11 with Snoop Dogg and Talib Kweli

2009-06-23T09:48:00.001-07:00

Buzz Aldrin's Rocket Experience from Buzz Aldrin

Do I really need to tell you how cool Buzz Aldrin is? The man walked on the surface of the Moon! But Buzz apparently isn't content with that, no. He's so incredibly cool that he made this song and video with Snoop Dogg and Talib Kweli.

I'd also highly recommend the behind-the-scenes video, which features some racy language, but is absolutely hilarious.

Video Interview: Scientist Yuki Takahashi

2009-06-22T13:14:00.000-07:00

Last week, a friend and fellow ISU alum stopped by the office for a quick visit. I first met Yuki Takahashi though a mutual friend and ISU classmate; and together with a few others, we collaborated on some of the initial set up work for what eventually became the Young Lunar Explorers group within the International Lunar Exploration Working Group. Since then, I've followed along with Yuki's four exciting research trips to the South Pole, where he worked on a telescope project.

I asked Yuki if he'd be kind enough to sit down for a quick interview about his research, the importance of visiting extreme environments, and his thoughts about the Moon. Luckily for all of us, he said yes!

A New Dawn for Commercial Spaceflight

2009-06-22T08:42:00.000-07:00

This past Friday, our friends in New Mexico formally broke ground on Spaceport America, opening a new chapter in the storied aerospace history of New Mexico. When complete, this new facility will allow this generation’s space pioneers to join the illustrious ranks of Robert Goddard and Wernher von Braun. The skies of southern New Mexico will once again be filled with astounding spacecraft; this time they’ll carry passengers.

Five years ago, the State of New Mexico answered the X PRIZE Foundation’s call for a visionary partner to help host the emerging entrepreneurial space industry, in an unprecedented air and space exposition called the X PRIZE Cup. New Mexico’s combination of motivated, talented people and sincere interest in engaging the nascent space industry made the state a perfect choice, and we proudly formed a partnership. We were fortunate to have found people who shared our passion for a new era of spaceflight.

As our relationship with the state grew, we helped to communicate their desire to host entrepreneurial companies in New Mexico. In subsequent years, teams competing for the Ansari X PRIZE, the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge, and the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE have responded by locating major facilities and bases of operation in Southern New Mexico, helping bring high tech jobs and the promise of future visitors to the state. It is fitting that SpaceShipTwo, the descendent of the vehicle that claimed the Ansari X PRIZE in 2004, will call Spaceport America home.

Last week’s groundbreaking was the result of an enormous effort by a large number of dedicated individuals throughout New Mexico including Governor Richardson, Secretary Homans, Executive Director Steve Landeene, Spaceport America’s Board of Directors and so many others. A rich tradition driven by a passion to reach for the stars continues as the Land of the Enchantment takes another bold step in fulfilling its destiny in space with Spaceport America. Congratulations!

Robert K. Weiss
Vice Chairman and President
X PRIZE Foundation

Peter Diamandis in Wired Italia

2009-06-19T10:59:00.001-07:00

Above is a photo of the Wired Italia piece featuring X PRIZE Foundation Chairman and CEO Peter Diamandis. If you click through, you might be able to read it, although I don't know any Italian. Anybody want to send a translation?

Friday Funday #FFD: LROrschach

2009-06-19T10:41:00.001-07:00

Today's Friday Funday activity is simple, but a lot of fun: create Rorschach-like images from your favorite space photos. In honor of LRO's launch yesterday, I decided to get the ball rolling with my LROrschach, but you can feel free to use whichever image you'd like.

I made the above using Photoshop, but if you need a free alternative, you might want to try the Aviary suite, which is flash-based and works in any browser.

Post your design in the comments below, and I'll aggregate them in this post throughout the day. Have fun!

By Chris Radcliff:

By @drewbenn:

By Willy P:

Robot of the Week: Flame Throwers

2009-06-18T09:30:00.001-07:00

What is it about robots that makes us instantly think death and destruction? Why do we fear them so? I can't really speak for everyone, but I know there is a common preconceived notion that robots are giant, scary, powerful, and if you aren't careful they'll shoot fire at you and take over the world.

Of course, it might just be that we're fascinated with that particular kind of robot. After all, KIVA bots are pretty incredible, but do they spit flaming tentacles of incineration? (Come to think of it, I wonder what would happen if the KIVA bots were retrofitted to.... no, never mind. Forget I mentioned it.)

The bot in the video above was created by a couple of ~~aspiring pyromaniacs~~ high school engineers using little more than a VEX robot kit and a bottle of WD-40. Which reminds me: DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME.

Television programs like Robot Wars helped to make robotic battles an everyday event. Giant anthropomorphic flame throwing robots have been a staple at monster truck rallies and other testosterone driven events for a long time. But let's not forget how incredible beautiful such a robot can be. While many artists explore the destructive qualities of fire, another breed of fantastic robots use fire as a creative mechanism. Check out this video of a fire organ in action.

And of course, this blog post would not be complete if I didn't include extraordinarily creepy gigantic fire-breathing baby robots.

Got a flame throwing bot of your own? Leave a link in the comments. We'd love to see what kind of crazy contraptions you're cooking up (no pun intended).

Guest Blog: Bernard Foing, From SMART-1 to LRO/LCROSS

2009-06-18T09:03:00.001-07:00

As we approach the launch of NASA's LRO and LCROSS lunar probes--coming up in just a few hours, we have an excellent excuse to look back on some of the other recent spacecraft that have visited Earth's off-shore island. Bernand Foing--the Project scientist for Europe's SMART-1 lunar probe, the Executive Director for the International Lunar Exploration Working Group (ILEWG), and a wonderful friend to the X PRIZE Foundation--recently shared some of his thoughts on the relationship between these new missions launching today (knock on wood) and the SMART-1 mission from the first half of this decade. Writing to the ILEWG mailing list, Bernard relayed some answers to questions he's getting asked frequently these days.

How did SMART-1 help prepare for LRO and LCROSS?

The SMART-1 mission tested new propulsion and miniaturisation technologies. It also provided some data helping for future lunar exploration and human expeditions. The SMART-1 instruments delivered images and spectral analysis on sites of interest for scientific studies or exploration. Over more than one year, SMART-1 studied illumination daily variations at the poles, and identified peaks of quasi-eternal light that could be used for future robotic outposts and international lunar bases. In addition, SMART-1 X-ray and infrared instruments gave information on lunar elemental and mineral resources. Finally, the SMART-1 impact observation campaign could be used as 'dry run' for the LCROSS water detection observation campaign.

SMART-1 has been a precursor for the Robotic Village and the International Lunar Base that have been advocated by the International Lunar Exploration Working Group (ILEWG). LRO will extend this at much higher spatial resolution with an extensive set of cameras, instruments and techniques to deliver the data needed for preparing safely future human expeditions.

Do you believe there is water ice at the poles? If so, do you believe it is uniformly spread, or secluded in small pockets?

I would expect the water ice could come in thin layers separated by layers of covering protective dust layers. The ice thickness would vary with the history of bombardment of comets and water rich asteroids, but also could come in patches on the surface.

How could it have stayed frozen inside shadowed craters, without sublimating into the lunar exosphere?

Layers at colder temperatures than 80 degrees Kelvin would take billion of years to sublimate, if protected early enough from sputtering by meteorites or from energetic solar wind particles.

What have the Lunar Prospector, Chandrayaan-1, and Kaguya missions found that supports or casts doubt on the theory of lunar ice?

The theoretical prediction for lunar ice comes from studies by Watson (1961) and Arnold (1979). Lunar Orbiter IV showed already areas of permanent shadow, later imaged by Clementine and SMART-1. Clementine found anomalous bistatic radar reflection that may be interpreted as surface ice or surface roughness. Lunar Prospector detected an enhancement of H content in polar areas that could be due to trapping of comet ice (up to 1% mixed with soil) or solar wind Hydrogen. Kaguya did not find extensive surface deposits in the bottom of Shackleton crater that seems to be too warm to host extensive surface ice.

How LRO and LCROSS will further inform us on the possibility of lunar ice?

LRO camera will provide 1m resolution picture enabling to characterize future sites. LRO altimeter, diviner and Lyman alpha mapper will be able to see beyond the visible into permanently shadowed areas and to search for ice deposits. Chandrayaan-1 and LRO radars will search for near-subsurface water ice. Therefore the open question on lunar ice could be sorted soon. LCROSS impact will be a key to search and characterise the ice even buried under the dust.

The next challenge for future missions will be to land in the permanently shadowed bottom of a polar crater and extract a few meters core of soil, possibly sampling at once hundred layers of comets (or water rich asteroids) that impacted the Moon in the past 3 billion years!

What is Europe doing about lunar exploration and future landers?

After the SMART-1 development, operations and data analysis, ESA has been involved in Chang?E1 Chinese lunar mission, and contributed 3 instruments to Indian Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter, still delivering new data. ESA studied lunar polar lander with objectives to search and characterise polar regions. ESA released a call for ideas for techniques, instruments techniques and experiments that could be accommodated on a lunar cargo lander launched with an Ariane 5 and deploying 1 ton of equipment in support of future human lunar exploration. In April 2009, ESA received 194 proposals to this call showing a large interest from the community.

Many thanks to Bernard for allowing us to repost his thoughtful comments. And, of course: Godspeed, LRO and LCROSS!

White House Calls for Prize Suggestions

2009-06-17T15:30:00.000-07:00

Incentive Prizes have been around for a long time. The Longitude Prize of the early 1700s revolutionized nautical exploration, and paved the way for the powerful British Navy of the Colonial era. The Orteig Prize gave birth the modern aviation industry by spurring Lindbergh and his rivals to develop non-stop transatltantic flight capabilities and by popularizing aviation and aviators. Three quarters of a century later, the Orteig Prize provided the inspiration for the Ansari X PRIZE.

But incentive prizes may never have been more popular than they are today. The Google Lunar X PRIZE and the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge are just two examples of the many prizes available today. As shown in the recent report by McKinsey & Company, And the Winner Is..., there are presently about $375,000,000 currently available to be won through a variety of incentive prizes around the world. Clearly, the idea of incentive prizes has some fans!

Today, we saw that incentive prizes have fans even inside the White House. Thomas Kalil, the Deputy Director for Policy with the Office of Science and Technology Policy, has long been interested in prizes. Prior to joining President Obama's White House, he authored Prizes for Technological Innovation" for the Brookings Institute, a paper that proposed "expanding the US government's use of prizes and [Advanced Market Commitments] in five areas: space exploration, African agriculture, vaccines for diseases of the poor, energy and climate change, and learning technologies." He also was one of the featured speakers at the X PRIZE Foundation's recent incentive2innovate conference.

Today, Kalil published a post entitled "Prizes as Incentives for Public-Private Partnerships" at White House / OSTP's official blog. He writes

The [White House's] Open Government Initiative is interested in exploring how the government might partner with foundations, non-profits, philanthropists, and the private sector to support additional high-impact prizes, and to harness the power and reach of “innovation marketplaces” to achieve important goals. ... What prizes do you think the government should consider sponsoring?

It's great to hear such a well respected and influential person asking that question of the public. I hope that all of you--especially the US Citizens--will click through to Kalil's post, read what he has to say, and share your thoughts in the comments to his post!

Screening of ImagineIt!^2 with Filmmakers Richard Tavener and Rudy Poe

2009-06-17T13:39:00.001-07:00

Today, as part of the X PRIZE Foundation University - an internal series of lectures and presentations - we were treated to a special screening of the film ImagineIt!^2, a look at the driving force behind innovation, the human imagination. The filmmakers, Richard Tavener and Rudy Poe, joined us for a brief conversation about the film as well. I managed to shoot a couple of photos....

The film features a variety of incredible people, including the X PRIZE's own Peter Diamandis. Highly recommended viewing for anyone interested in the future of innovation, education, and technology.

More Space Art from Robert K. Weiss

2009-06-17T10:07:00.001-07:00

X PRIZE President and Vice-Chairman Robert K. Weiss is the proud owner of a veritable smörgåsbord of cool space-related artwork. You may have seen the posters he lent me a few weeks back, and now he's come through with a piece of Apollo hand-painted ceramics. Very cool. Thanks, Bob!

Moon 2.0 Wallpapers for Android and iPhone

2009-06-16T16:48:00.001-07:00

During a bit of downtime, I thought it might be fun to make up some cool wallpaper graphics for mobile phones. I adapted our classic Moon 2.0 image for use on both Android and iPhone. You can download your own copy over at our Fun Stuff page.

Guest Blog: An astronaut is born

2009-06-16T09:14:00.001-07:00

ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti. Credit: ESA - S. Corvaja, 2009

What's the next best thing for a space enthusiast after becoming an astronaut? Witnessing the professional birth of an astronaut. On May 20, 2009 the European Space Agency (ESA) announced 6 new European astronauts. My friend Samantha Cristoforetti, a fighter pilot with the Italian Air Force, is among them.

I first met Samantha in November 2007 at Astronauticon, the annual convention of the online community of Italian space enthusiasts Forumastronautico.it. We all had a great time, with former ESA astronaut Umberto Guidoni (STS-75, STS-100) as a guest of honor.

At the event Samantha casually mentioned that she speaks Russian. This rang such a loud bell that I still hear distant echoes. Future ESA astronauts will fly Soyuz spacecrafts, and knowledge of Russian was going to be an important skill for the upcoming ESA astronaut selection, the first since 1992. Samantha is a military pilot with a solid background. When I heard she also knows Russian, I felt I had a future astronaut in front of me.

We kept in touch. In spring 2008 ESA announced a new astronaut selection, and Samantha told me she had applied. Every now and then she mentioned passing yet another selection phase, with fewer and fewer applicants remaining of the 8413 initial ones from 17 European countries. The toughest part for her and other applicants, she said, was the uncertainty of passing tests and the wait for good or bad news.

In mid May 2009 ESA finally set for May 20 the official announcement of the new astronauts at its Paris headquarters. In the final week or so I didn't hear from her, which was reassuring. I was confident that if she was not accepted, she would have let me know. And keeping a low profile was just the right thing to do.

But mere days before May 20 something unexpected happened. Samantha deleted her Facebook account, which was getting increasing attention due to press rumors on the possible presence of Italians among the new astronauts. This was scary, I was concerned that the rumors might harm her. But there was still no word from her about an exclusion, actually no word at all. And deleting a Facebook account was consistent with what someone about to become a celebrity overnight might do.

A few sleepless nights later, on May 20, 2009, I was glued to the live webcast of the ESA announcement event. ESA officials introduced the new astronauts in alphabetical order, and she was the first to enter the room. I was speechless, breathless, anything-less. Samantha was also the first to introduce herself to the press, as you can see in this video which also includes the introduction of Luca Parmitano, a test pilot with the Italian Air Force also selected among the 6 new ESA astronauts.

And the rest, as they say, is history. History, indeed. It turns out that Samantha is the first Italian woman to be selected as an astronaut.

About the author: Paolo Amoroso lives in Milan, Italy, where he works in astronomy/space outreach and education. He wrote a book on Saturn and articles for Italian astronomy magazines.

We Get Mail

2009-06-15T16:05:00.000-07:00

Normally, Mike's the lucky guy who gets to open the awesome packages that y'all send our way. Whether its drawings or stickers or posters or even, yes, Moonpies, you all consistently amaze us with your creativity and generosity. You truly are the best fans in the Earth-Moon system.

Today, Mike was out of the office, so I received the mail that came in the the Google Lunar X PRIZE mailbox. And boy, was it a good day!

In two separate packages, we received three books:

The High Frontier by Gerard K. Oneill was sent in by fan SAZorak, whose bio says he loves the book "perhaps... too much." He writes

Read this book, it's an amazing piece of scientific literature. Everyone who is working with space should read this to see what is achievable through the development of space.

I've read the book before, and I certainly agree. I'm sure Mike and Nicky will greatly enjoy it--thanks, SAZorak!

The other two books -- A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by David Eggers and Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman by Richard Feynman -- actually are already mine. I'd loaned them to a friend (@kirkkittell) quite some time ago, and he was returning them to me. But he had a special surprise for me--he'd gotten Eggers to autograph his book!

~~I'm still trying to translate that exactly, but as best I can tell,~~ With the help of faithful readers Mike and Eronarn, I've translated what Eggers wrote:

Hi Dude named Will (on the Moon, have fun). [signed]

See? Everything, everything ties back to the Moon!

And by the way, if you haven't read Surely You're Joking, you should. It's a dang entertaining read from a Nobel laureate!

Friday Funday #FFD: Vent into Space

2009-06-12T08:41:00.001-07:00

You know the feeling: it's been a long long week, you're stressed about the impending doom of that project you've been procrastinating on, you got rear-ended by some jerk on the way into the office, and your morning coffee was bitter and gross. You just want to vent a little, and wrap up that message in a bottle and send it right off into outer space.

Now you can.

Use the form below to vent, and we will indeed send it along into outer space (maybe not today, but as soon as one of the Google Lunar X PRIZE teams launches). Everything is anonymous and will be edited - please no profanity, racist remarks, etc. This is a family show. I will edit liberally if needs be.

ENTRY NOW CLOSED! Thanks so much for participating.

Submitted "messages in a bottle":

It's just one of those days.

GAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!! Blackboard is driving me NUTS!

I miss you so much, and I can't wait for the day when we will finally spend the rest of our lives together. But for now, the distance makes our love burn that much brighter, so that I can still feel the warmth of your heart. This hardship will pass. We will be together, someday ... perhaps even on the Moon. I love you.

A day of travel from NYC--- LGA=flight canx; shuffle over to JFK=flight canx; back to LGA, different carrier=flight rebooked on original carrier and shuffle back to JFK; Flight @JFK is delayed=will miss connection and sleep on bench @ ORD--O'Hare; drink Bloody Marys @ JFK bar. Fly ORD=drink more Bloody Marys since you're going to miss that big presentation on Friday; Oh Joy! Gate agent sees black covered passport; holds airplane, boots dude off airplane, and sends you first class to your destination=arrive @destination w/no energy/too many Bloody Marys to prepare presentation that there is now time for. Telecon with Berlin @ 0300 local. Work completed=Presentation time. Fridays rock!

When did they decide that it is no longer needed to glue the bag inside your cereal box to the bottom? Why? Did the dollop of glue just cost too darn much? Now every morning, I go to pour my cap n' crunch WITH crunch berries and the whole bag inside slides on out! Where do I sign a petition so that they will start gluing the bags in again?!!?

Dear software developer, please don't ask me to refer to changelog.txt if that file does not exist in the package you have for download. Digging through hundreds of lines of Javascript to find a single changed line is not my favorite activity. Thanks!

I can't reach for the stars, but I can at least grab some coffee

One more ID10T problem today and I'm out of here! GRRRRRRRR!

J- You taught me a lot, and I'm sorry that I hurt you so badly that you have never made eye contact with me since.
J- I forgave you for your controlling ways and then you had the guts to tell me you "finally" forgave me for all the grief I gave you?? Have a good life.
C- I really did love you. I'm sorry it didn't work out.
B- Amazing. Thank you.
E- Also amazing. Thank you.
B- The best ever. How can you ever forgive me?
V- I'm sorry we lost touch and now we will never know each other.
M- I'm sorry I hated you for so long. I take it all back. They were my short comings, not yours.
H- How dare you? I tried to bleach my brain and still your memory remains.
B- Thank you for loving me when I thought I didn't deserve it.
J- I had the crush on you and you had the crush on him. Ha!
A- I appreciate you not freaking out, but I wasn't kidding.
A- I forgive you for being wrong, but even when you see I am right, I still don't want to be friends.
R- It was fun. But I'll never tell you that.
J- Thank you for not giving up on me.
B- My soulmate.
S- You're right. It's not me... it is you.
R- You got off easy. Karma will still catch up to you.
E- I don't know, but I don't trust you.
K- Sometimes older does mean wiser.
R- Thank you for finding me, although I'm sure we have nothing in common anymore.
C- I didn't mean it. But you were good about it.
A- Don't take it too hard... I didn't.
J- I would have. You missed it.
K- I think I may always miss you.

I am sick of people running into my car every time I get it fixed again! Develop some depth perception already, it's not that hard to avoid running into stuff. I had ZERO accidents until I bought a new car for the first time, and now I guess my new car is so cool, people can't help but ram into it. I'll tell you what, if you ware going to behave as if it is a bug zapper and you are a bug, maybe I should install some awesomely mid-evil Captian Nemo bug zapper stuff on my car to teach you all a lesson for being such bad drivers. There, I feel better.

Can users please stop emailing me with "urgent" questions that are answered with information plainly posted on our web site? It's called Control-F. Why do you all think there is some kind of hidden agenda or something? RELAX. We are an extremely small project team, and we can't help you if we get burried with questions we have already answered. I am on your side, but you keep trying to drive me crazy, I won't be anymore.

I have eight bosses...That's my only real motivation is not to be hassled...

I have so many ideas, and so little time. The days are a lot longer on the moon, right?

To my earthbound colleagues, who know who they are 1. There is nothing wired to the handset on your telephone that will deliver a fatal electric shot if you answer it. 2. The best way to make a phone stop ringing, in a way that not only does not jeopardize your employment status but may actually enhance it, is to answer it.

I trained hundreds of contractors, improved our business immensely, and then you laid me off two weeks before Christmas while keeping the contractors. You are indeed a class act.

There is too much hatred, self focus, rudeness, and prejudice here on Earth. Let us shed as much of that as mere moral humans can as we learn how to explore the moon and stars.

You are amazing and I am so lucky to have you. I just wist you were here with me now. This year will go so slowly without you.

So upset with people who adopt pets and the pitch them, feed them to dogs or toss them out of moving cars.

Serenity now. Serenity now.

I wish that I didn't have to deal with cranky customers every work day!

Why can't all mobile phone chargers be the same? Had to shell out for a new one. Bought from a 'reputable' dealer on a certain borg shopping website I will not mention by name. Stupid "genuine samsung charger" turns out not to be so genuine after all. It's too small for the slot. I'm telling you, CONSTANT beeping "I'm connected" "I'm not connected" "I'm connected" "I'm not connected" "I'm connected" "I'm not conne ...

James Meickle on Space Exploration

2009-06-09T04:22:00.001-07:00

James Meickle, a student volunteer at the X PRIZE Foundation's incentive2innovate conference and a huge Google Lunar X PRIZE fan (he's @eronarn on Twitter), offers up his thoughts on prize incentivized space travel.