Evadot

Zuckerberg, Brin join forces to extend life

2013-02-21T13:53:42Z

It’s really cool to see someone besides the XPRIZE foundation working on incentive prizes.

Interesting that Sergey never talks about the Google Lunar XPRIZE.

Sergey Brin and Mark Zuckerberg, along with their spouses, joined Russian venture capitalist Yuri Milner to award 11 scientists $3 million each to launch the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences.

via Zuckerberg, Brin join forces to extend life – FRANCE 24.

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US no longer lists satellites as weapons

2013-01-09T14:09:35Z

Satellites are no longer weapons, according to a change in US anti-arms trafficking law. The move gives hope to commercial spaceflight companies wanting to sell their technology on the global market rather than just within the US. However, the focus on Earth-orbiting craft means deep-space missions could still be hampered by onerous security laws.

On 3 January, President Barack Obama authorised a revision of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations law. Since 1999, ITAR listed US satellites and related technology as munitions with strict limits on exports to foreign powers – much to the annoyance of satellite makers. They say they cannot earn what they need to stay innovative without selling advanced technology abroad.

The updated law takes Earth-orbiting satellites and technologies off the list, although the president retains veto power, and the ruling doesn’t apply to some countries, including China, Iran and North Korea.

US no longer lists satellites as weapons – space – 09 January 2013 – New Scientist.

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Submission request! What’s the best thing for space exploration that will happen in 2013?

2012-11-28T13:51:01Z

It’s near the end of 2012 and it’s been sort of a “meh” year for space exploration. What is the most exciting thing you’re looking forward to in 2013?

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My final post from the Google Lunar X PRIZE sidelines

2012-10-10T13:36:31Z

Since meeting William Pomerantz in 2009, I’ve been covering the Google Lunar X PRIZE. I’ve been to two team summits (which media aren’t really invited to), done countless interviews, many podcasts, researched the hidden rooms of the Smithsonian Archives, and fought hard to get teams to tell their human story.

I’ve grown friendships with many people from many of the teams. There are some real visionaries in this competition.

I’ve become mini famous for my GLXP scorecard (infamous really).

I’ve decided to join the Part Time Scientists team as Press Coordinator.

My job at Part Time Scientists is twofold. First and foremost is to tell the human side of story. Robots, rockets, and rovers are cool, but it’s the human story that’s really interesting. I’m an expert in radio communications and technology, but it’s the emotional connection that I’m most interested in exploring. Second, I’m coordinating the PR. I’ll start mostly in the US, but I suspect as things ramp up, that scope will broaden quite a bit.

I believe that the Google Lunar X PRIZE is not about winning 20 million dollars and it’s also not about creating a way for private companies to secure fat government contracts.

The prize is about what is created because of the competition.

My vision for space is a big one. We need a real private industry in space. One where governments serve their people by assisting their aspirations rather than achieving goals for them.

Obviously being a team member will mean I will have to stop maintaining the scorecard. I’m going to leave it up with a notice that says that this is what I thought the standings were in September 2012. If you’re interested in picking up where I left off I might entertain the thought of that. Send me an email and we can chat about it.

I want kids to be able to look up and say “I want to work on THAT.”

I want people to get out of their seats and participate in a bright future where anything is possible.

I’m on to build shoulders for future generations to stand on and reach higher than we were able to. A small group of dedicated people can change the world … and that’s exactly what we’re going to do.

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Find a way or make one

2012-08-14T13:27:57Z

“Aut inveniam viam aut faciam”

is Latin for

“I shall either find a way or make one.”

We’re about a third of the way through our Firefly Kickstarter project.

The idea is simple:

We want everyone to be able to do some science and exploration.

Students
Hackers
Small startups
Garage Inventors
HAM Radio operators

“Firefly” mimics some of the key features of spacecraft development in a four-inch by four-inch prototyping area, the outward dimensions of the extremely popular Cubesat. Because coders can use the Arduino development environment to create and download sketches to the board, Firefly will be familiar to anyone who works with Arduino.

Kentucky Space is using it initially in its active high altitude balloon program.

The board is free from ITAR restrictions, though if you use it as the brains for your project in orbit, ITAR may still apply.

Firefly will be the featured board at the Cubesat Space Hackers Workshop in San Jose, California, scheduled for Oct. 26 – 28. Bob Twiggs, the creator of the Cubesat, will discuss the development and execution of low cost space missions at the workshop.

When complete, we’ll have the resources and platform you need to get your project started with everything from shared code libraries to an online community.

We need your help!

Please go to our Kickstarter project and back it.

Just as importantly… tell everyone you know!

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Evadot

Zuckerberg, Brin join forces to extend life

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