Monthly Archives: January 2013

Jasmine Johns: ‘Space’ – A tribute to ‘Arabia’ by Walter de la Mare Space

Vast are the reaches of space,
Where the dreamers propel towards infinity,
‘Mid the scintillating galaxies of stars,
Beyond the shadow of their world;
And so beloved is that verdure hearth
Suns in the cosmos rise
And cast their rays upon humanity
Bold pioneers forever gazing into eternity.

Space a Lulling symphony
In my heart, and in my seams
a constant reverb oscillating through my veins
Guiding my perceptions and facilitating my dreams;
This grand outré conception void of boundary
Resonating fiercely transcending my mind above the confines of this world
On the final cord clinging to the last note
My eyes descend reiterating this vestige of melody

It haunts me — the phantasm of space;
No beauty on earth I see
But ignited by the cadence recollects
Its loveliness to me:
Still eyes look coldly upon me,
Harsh voices whisper and say —
‘She’s crazed with the spell of Space,
And her soul has been stolen away.’

A Cinematic Love Letter to Space Exploration "The Sky is Calling Us"

From copywriter Nickolaus Sugai and interaction designer Lauren Geschke comes this poignant video poetry, a kind of love letter to NASA posing a difficult question that we as a culture and a society must answer.

We once dreamt of open sails 
and open seas
We once dreamt of new frontiers 
and new lands
Are we still a brave people?
___
Somewhere along the way 
we forgot to look up
we forgot to wonder
we forgot to imagine
we forgot to dream.
When history writes about us
what will they say?
Will they say they watched the masses huddle idly 
and weak voices whispering apathy?
Or will they say that we turned the 
question marks that loom over this 
generation into declarative periods?
A statement that shouts, “We will not
choose to sit idly while the cosmos moves on!”
The sky is indifferent. For I have never seen it cry.
It will not wait for us, so we must go to it.
Because if we ignore the cause of the sky,
who then will draw the maps of the universe? 

Comprehensive & Concise: David Gump "Deep Space Industries Sets Sights On Asteroids"

“…basically helping everyone to live off the land in space rather than hauling everything we need to up from the ground…therefore our first markets are in space markets. Asteroids contain a good deal of volatiles – water, methane, hydrocarbons – and there’s a big demand for hydrocarbons, propellants, in space. Communication satellites up in GEO orbit – it costs them ten thousand dollars a pound to bring up the propellant they need for station keeping. When that runs out they are no longer worth anything to the owners. With propellant that can be provided cheaply by our services – each extra month they can squeeze out of those satellites is five to eight million dollars per satellite. So that’s one of the first markets we intend to serve.
And as we serve a commercial growing market for propellant that’s a great benefit to NASA and their exploration programs. NASA when its planning Mars missions, ninety percent of what it has to launch from the ground is propellant – if they can just launch the hardware and tank up in orbit, they can do Mars missions sooner, and they can repeat Mars missions so they’re not just flags and footprints once and we stop going. 
…
We can start getting our energy from space, its clean, no pollution, no carbon build up…I’m sure everyone in Beijing would love to get their power from solar powered satellites instead of a ring of coal fired plants around a city. So that is in the longer-view: the market to bring clean abundant electricity to Earth. And so that is a trillion dollar a year enterprise to serve electrical power on Earth. 
…as we move into the larger things that actually bring back a hundred to two hundred tons of material, the market activity that will pay for that kind of thing is going to be communications satellites. I think that is the early market for asteroid material. Once you get cranking on producing propellant you can then look to doing other things: creating photovoltaic cells to increase power available in space – then, in the fullness of time, after you’re already processing the satellite for other things you’ll be able to get platinum and gold and silver in sufficient quantities to merit export back down to Earth. But our analysis is you really can’t just start up to mine asteroids for platinum group metals – the economics just do not add up.
Turning that rock into something you want to buy.”

NSS Kickstarter: "Our Future in Space" Promotional Video

The National Space Society (NSS) has just launched a Kickstarter for the creation of a cutting-edge film about the ways in which all of humanity benefits from the expansion of space exploration and development. This ground-breaking education initiative, entitled “Our Future in Space” is designed to bring NSS’s vision of human beings living and working in space to a broader audience.

The campaign can be accessed via their Kickstarter web page. It provides an opportunity to help fund and support the film’s development and promote the Society’s mission.

Deep Space Industries "Our Future is Amazing" (Promotional Animations by Bryan Versteeg)

“Deep Space is a new kind of company with a new kind of plan.”
“We don’t build rockets, we don’t do astronomy, we are explorers, harvesters, makers, and suppliers.”
“As they say, timing is everything, and for space, right now is that time.”
“In fact, some of the planet’s most successful people are placing their bets on this new frontier.”
“The resources in space will lead to…”
“…a renaissance.”
 “…both in space and back here on our precious Mother Earth.”
“We will be the gas station, the oasis, for air and water.”
“And the building supply center for the frontier.”
“The goal is a better future for all of us through space resources.”
“When the first asteroid is mined, Deep Space will be there.”
“When the first power plants come on line, Deep Space will be there.”
“When the first space colonies are built…”
“…Deep Space will be there.”
“We can have an amazing…”
“…future.”
“We are Deep Space.”
“The frontier is coming. And our time is now.”

“Right now the best way for everyone to get involved is to share our vision with others.
Surprisingly there are a lot of people out there who have lost touch with a fundamental human
condition…PROGRESS; a forward or onward movement: a royal journey marked by pomp and
pageant: gradual betterment; especially for the progressive development of humankind! All of
you are here today because you have NOT lost touch with this desire, and you leap at the
chance to express it! There are hundreds of articles in circulation right now about DSi and there
are many people out there who are unable or unwilling to understand the magnitude of what
we have just shared with the world. So our challenge to you is to take that spark and share it
with those who have lost theirs, be our voice and fight for our cause!

“You are here to enable the divine purpose of the universe to unfold.
That is how important you are!”
Eckhart Tolle