The home of the Occupy Mars and Cabo Verde Tenth Island STEAM++ Projects
Month: September 2016
http://edition.cnn.com/videos/world/2016/07/25/inside-africa-cabo-verde-spc-c.cnn
A man whose resume reads: former Air Force Test Pilot, America’s First African American Astronaut Candidate, IBM Computer Systems Engineer, Aviation Consultant, Restauranteur, Real Estate Developer and Construction Entrepreneur can best be described as a true renaissance man. Ed Dwight has succeeded in all these varied careers. However, for the last 30+ years, Ed has focused his direction on fine art sculptures, large-scale memorials and public art projects. Since his art career began in 1978, after attaining his MFA in Sculpture from the University of Denver, Dwight has become one of the most prolific and insightful sculptors in America.
Air Force Pilot and America’s First Black Astronaut Cadidate
Born and raised in Kansas City, Kansas, Ed left his hometown in 1953 to join the U.S. Air Force. After completing pilot training, he served as a military fighter pilot and obtained a degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Arizona State University. In 1961 Dwight was chosen by President John F. Kennedy to enter training as an Experimental Test Pilot in preparation to become the first African American Astronaut candidate. Ed completed the Experimental Test Pilot course and entered Aerospace Research Pilot training. He successfully completed the course and continued on to perform duties as a fully qualified Aerospace Research Pilot. Three years after the death of President Kennedy, Ed left the military and entered private life.
A New Beginning
After leaving the military in 1966, Ed took a position with the IBM Corporation as a Marketing Representative & Systems Engineer. After leaving IBM, Ed became an Aviation Consultant for a Dallas firm and performed pilot duties with Executive Aviation, an executive air charter service. This was followed by the development of a restaurant chain. In 1970, Ed founded Dwight Development Associates, Inc., a real estate land development and construction company, making him one of the larger real estate development entrepreneurs in Denver.
Black Frontier Spirit in the American West
Ed’s childhood dream was to become an artist, but was encouraged by his father to become an engineer. He received a B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering from Arizona State University in 1957. With little formal art training, his first serious artistic endeavor began with a commission to create a sculpture of Colorado’s first Black Lt. Governor, George Brown in 1974. From this first artistic endeavor, he was commissioned by the Colorado Centennial Commission to create a series of bronzes entitled “Black Frontier in the American West.” The series depicted the contribution of African Americans to the opening of the West. Few facts were known about Black pioneers, explorers, trappers, farmers and soldiers. Through using his newly developed and unique artistic style, Ed opened the minds of viewers to this unknown history of the American West. The Series of 50 bronzes was on exhibit for several years throughout the U.S., gaining widespread acceptance and critical acclaim.
Jazz: An American Art Form
After the success of his “Black Frontier Spirit Series” exhibit, at the behest of the National Park Service, at the St. Louis Arch Museum, Ed began to explore the most significant Black contribution to the culture of America: the history of Jazz in a sculptural form. He studied the African culture and the improvisational role the Africans contributed to the art form. This led to Ed’s study of his next major series of bronzes, “Jazz: An American Art Form”. This series depicts the evolution of jazz music from its roots in Africa to the contemporary superstars of the jazz era, and focuses on this style as a pure American musical idiom. Elements of the Jazz series are on display at major galleries and museums throughout the U.S. and Europe, and have received critical acceptance internationally. This series of over 70 bronzes features many works focusing on the African tribal contributions, then presents such great jazz performers as Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and Benny Goodman.
The Barboza Space Center: www.BarbozaSpaceCenter.com is collecting Raspberry Pi projects to share with the Open Source Community. Send us what you are working on an we will share the resources that we are working on. If you need more information you can contact us at Suprschool@aol.com.
The Raspberry Pi is a series of credit card-sized single-board computers developed in the United Kingdom by the Raspberry Pi Foundation to promote the teaching of basic computer science in schools and developing countries.[3][4][5] The original Raspberry Pi and Raspberry Pi 2 are manufactured in several board configurations through licensed manufacturing agreements with Newark element14 (Premier Farnell), RS Components and Egoman.[6] The hardware is the same across all manufacturers. The firmware is closed-source.[7]
Several generations of Raspberry Pis have been released. The first generation (Pi 1) was released in February 2012 in basic model A and a higher specification model B. A+ and B+ models were released a year later. Raspberry Pi 2 model B was released in February 2015 and Raspberry Pi 3 model B in February 2016. These boards are priced between US$20 and 35. A cut down “compute” model was released in April 2014, and a Pi Zero with smaller size and limited input/output (I/O), general-purpose input/output (GPIO), abilities released in November 2015 for US$5.
All models feature a Broadcom system on a chip (SoC), which includes an ARM compatible central processing unit (CPU) and an on chip graphics processing unit (GPU, a VideoCore IV). CPU speed ranges from 700 MHz to 1.2 GHz for the Pi 3 and on board memory range from 256 MB to 1 GB RAM. Secure Digital SD cards are used to store the operating system and program memory in either the SDHC or MicroSDHC sizes. Most boards have between one and four USB slots, HDMI and composite video output, and a 3.5 mm phone jack for audio. Lower level output is provided by a number of GPIO pins which support common protocols like I²C. The B-models have an 8P8C Ethernet port and the Pi 3 has on board Wi-Fi 802.11n and Bluetooth.
The Foundation provides Raspbian, a Debian-based linux distribution for download, as well as third party Ubuntu, Windows 10 IOT Core, RISC OS, and specialised media center distributions.[8] It promotes Python and Scratch as the main programming language, with support for many other languages.[9]
In February 2016, the Raspberry Pi Foundation announced that they had sold eight million devices, making it the best-selling UK personal computer, ahead of the Amstrad PCW.[10][11] Sales reached ten million in September 2016.[12]
There’s Still Time to Sign Up! (Mars Society News)
Q&A with NatGeo MARS Series Executive Producer Justin Wilkes, Keynote Talk by Former NASA Ames Head Pete Worden and Live Skype Chat with Mars 160 Crew from MDRS as part of 2016 Mars Society Convention Banquet
As part of its 19th Annual International Mars Society Convention, the Mars Society will be hosting a special banquet on Saturday, September 24th from 7:00-11:00pm at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.
Considered the highlight of the annual four-day Mars Society conference, the evening will involve a number of exciting and timely talks and presentations, including:
+ A Q&A session about National Geographic’s new MARS serieswith Executive Producer Justin Wilkes, President, RadicalMedia. Moderating the conversation will be veteran space journalist Leonard David.
+ A keynote banquet talk with Dr. S. Pete Worden, Former Director, NASA Ames Research Center, & Chairman, Breakthrough Prize Foundation — The Breakthrough Initiatives: Life in the Universe.
+ A live update from the crew of the Mars 160 mission (via Skype) from the Mars Desert Research Station, just hours prior to beginning their 80-day simulation in Utah.
+ Remarks by Mars Society President & Founder Dr. Robert Zubrin.
There are still places available for the Saturday banquet. If you’re interested in attending, please register today by clicking here or contact Carie Fay (cfay@marssociety.org). To learn more about the 2016 Mars Society convention, including registration details and the complete program itinerary, please visit our web site.
The Mars Society banquet promises to be a great night. Please join us this month in Washington, D.C.!
Kids Talk Radio Science News: Bob Barboza is scheduled to present “The Occupy Mars Learning Adventures” at the Mars Society Convention. September 22, 2016.
Jr. Astronauts at the Barboza Space Center are studying space history as part of their training program. We have spent the last four months at the Columbia Memorial Space Center learning as much as we can and uncover classic new documents.
http://www.BarbozaSpaceCenter.com
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| E2M Lem Man Member Posts: 793 From: Los Angeles CA. USA Registered: Jan 2005 |
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NASA Searches for Big Idea from Students for In-Space Assembly of Spacecraft
by Staff Writers
Hampton VA (SPX) Sep 07, 2016
 NASA’s Game Changing Development Program, managed by the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, and the National Institute of Aerospace are seeking novel and robust concepts for in-space assembly of spacecraft – particularly tugs, propelled by solar electric propulsion, that transfer payloads from low earth orbit to a lunar distant retrograde orbit. Image courtesy Analytical Mechanics Associates. For a larger version of this image please go here. |
In the 2017 Breakthrough, Innovative, and Game-changing (BIG) Idea Challenge, NASA is engaging university-level students in its quest to reduce the cost of deep space exploration. NASA’s Game Changing Development Program (GCD), managed by the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, and the National Institute of Aerospace (NIA) are seeking novel and robust concepts for in-space assembly of spacecraft – particularly tugs, propelled by solar electric propulsion (SEP), that transfer payloads from low earth orbit (LEO) to a lunar distant retrograde orbit (LDRO).
“GCD initiated the BIG Idea Challenge in 2016 as a unique approach to finding top talent for NASA, and it proved to be more successful than we had hoped,” said Mary E. Wusk, acting GCD program manager at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.
“In last year’s challenge, students from across the nation proposed innovative solutions to the technology challenge of controlling a heat shield upon reentry, Wusk said.
“The 2016 BIG Idea Challenge finalists are now interning at NASA Langley where they are building prototypes of their designs under the mentorship of experts in the field. These students bring new ideas, new perspectives, new tools and unlimited energy to solving real world challenges that NASA is working on. It is a win-win for NASA and the students. I am excited to kick off our second Challenge which will address our ability to make in-space assembly a reality.”
Why is this important? Think: ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.’ Combined with advances in robotic technology, SEP tugs (i.e., transportation systems) enable NASA to move toward the use of more modular space systems that can be assembled into functional space craft hundreds of thousands of miles from Earth. The modular design also allows for upgrades, replacement of components, and reconfigurations for new mission application.
The 2017 BIG Idea Challenge invites teams and their faculty advisors to work together to design and analyze potential modular concepts and systems that provide the ability to construct large SEP tugs in space. Concepts can employ:
+ New approaches for packaging modules in one or more launch vehicles that minimize launch loads
+ Modular solar arrays and ion engines
+ Robust robotic assembly of the modules that form the SEP tug.
Interested teams of three to five undergraduate and/or graduate students are asked to submit robust proposals describing their concepts by Nov. 30.
From these proposals, a panel of NASA experts will select four teams to move to the next phase of the competition. Teams will then have to submit full technical papers on their concepts and present their concepts in face-to-face oral presentations/design reviews at the BIG Idea Forum at NASA Langley in mid-February 2017.
Each finalist team will receive a $6,000 stipend to facilitate full participation in the forum. BIG Idea Challenge winners will receive offers of paid internships with the GCD team at NASA Langley, where they can further develop their concept.
BP-19. Credit: Rob Godwin, Apogee Books, used with permission
