Space on Michael Doornbos

The luxury of being ordinary

Mon, 21 Mar 2016 10:34:16 +0000

“Enriched by a singular event that is larger than life, I no longer have the luxury of being ordinary. To stand on the lunar surface and look back at our Earth creates such a personal sense of awe that even Alan Shepard wept at the view. Trying to exist within the paradox of being in this world after visiting another may be why some Moon voyagers tend to be reclusive.”

JJ Abrams newest documentary series episode two features my dear friend Robert

Thu, 17 Mar 2016 22:54:51 +0000

My Dear friend Robert is the focus of Episode two of JJ Abrams / Bad Robot’s latest documentary series. Robert and his team are an amazing group and I’m so glad JJ did such a good job doing something I tried to do for this competition for years. I get to say “I knew them before” and nothing could make me happier.

[youtube=://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-8-pkCXhKw&w=854&h=480]

The value of 3D printing in space

Mon, 08 Sep 2014 13:56:17 +0000

This week, NASA is going to send the first 3D printer to the International Space Station. The purpose is to test the manufacture of spare parts in space and hopefully reduce the number of spare parts we send up there.

One of the problems of being off planet for a long time is that humans, as a general rule, require food and drink. Fortunately, food can be planned for and water can be close to 100% recycled. It’s hard to bring parts for every conceivable part you might need to replace, so being able to “push print” to make parts that break or wear out is a great addition to the toolset available to future trips.

It's a Curious Raspberry Monday Mars Pi

Mon, 06 Aug 2012 08:10:04 +0000

Not only did Curiousity land safely last night and is already sending images

but I have 5 Raspberry Pi’s on my desk at work right now.

Happy Monday!

An update on my book

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 00:55:24 +0000

I’ve been working on a book for about 2 months now with a working title “A New Kind of Hero”. It was originally going to be entirely based on the Google Lunar X PRIZE but has been broadened in scope a little (okay, a lot) to include heroes outside of that particular competition. This was necessary to keep the theme of the book in focus.

Answers to some FAQs that I’m getting:

The most important question you need to ask yourself: why not?

Fri, 01 Oct 2010 11:18:55 +0000

I’m already planning SpaceUp DC 2.0, but in case you missed how rediculous I’m willing to look in the name of Space Exploration:

(Photo credit: Chris Radcliff)

Haley Stephenson did a terrific writeup of her experience at SpaceUp DC here. I have two favorite quotes from it:

An important aspect of the unconference was the opportunity to have fun and enjoy the things that interested us in space in the first place. We fiddled with pipe cleaners (out of which one person constructed the space-time continuum), built spaceships and rovers out of Legos (our “green” ship was powered by Lego conifers), conducted a MoonPie eating contest (beware the banana flavor), and held what is probably the first Tribble war ever (they’re not as soft as they look). If this all seems quite silly, then take a moment to think on what sparked your interest in space and what fuels it now. When did you realize that space is cool?

Inspiring kids by thinking big in space

Fri, 07 May 2010 09:31:03 +0000

The audio quality is shockingly bad in this video. This was on Feb 18th, at Ignite-DC. I’d like to do a new spin on this talk soon. This is an Ignite talk. If you’re not familiar with Ignite, the talks are all EXACTLY 5 mins. You get 20 slides that auto advance every 15 seconds. It’s a real challenge to not get behind on the slides.

Despite the challenge of giving a compelling talk in this format, I do really enjoy it. It forces presenters to get the point in 5 minutes and you can get through quite a few really great ideas in a 90 minute session.

On saving NASA

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:38:55 +0000

I noticed a new Twitter hashtag this morning for the first time: #SaveNASA I love rallying cries.

I also love the huge list of things that the world benefits from as a result of NASA over the last 50 years.

BUT (come on, you knew there was a BUT in here)

Making lists of things accomplished in the past isn’t enough to get programs funded for the future. They are a by-product of other goals.

"Significant" water on the moon

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 19:09:05 +0000

Some sites are talking about a press conference being set up on Thursday to talk about what they are calling “Evidence of Water on the Moon - Lots of It”. If you’re not a space geek, let me back up a second since NASA isn’t even on most people’s mind these days and fill you in on what’s going on.

The short short version.

We’ve had this space shuttle since the 1980’s. Technologically amazing, but pretty boring from an exploration standpoint. As a result, the fine folks at NASA have performed amazing feats of technological greatness and the public has met this with a collective “ho hum”.

The Launch Pad: Successful NASA Program in Jeopardy!

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 11:27:01 +0000

This afternoon (June 24, 2009) at 2:30pm Eastern Time, the Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Subcommittee of the United States Senate’s Appropriations Committee will be marking up the FY 2010 Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill. For those of you feeling lost by that sentence, the plain English translation is: this afternoon, a group of Senators will be making edits to the proposal for the amount of money to provide to NASA and other federal agencies for fiscal year 2010. If recent history and the Washington rumor mill are accurate predictors–and they almost certainly are–one of the first things that will happen tomorrow is that these Senators will slash the $20 million NASA requested for Centennial Challenges, the Facilitated Access to the Space Environment for Technology Development and Training (FAST) program, and the Partnership Seed Fund. With near certainty, the budget for these programs will be reduced to zero.

Google Lunar X-Prize Moon 2.0 - Japanese Version

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 09:53:51 +0000

I like that they call the first moon missions Moon 1.0. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZwMxHDfeO8&hl;=en&fs;=1]

An industrial flag on the moon.

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 21:57:47 +0000

Bill Stone is my hero. Really. http://static.videoegg.com/ted/flash/loader.swf

NASCAR vs the Space Program

Wed, 07 May 2008 13:36:32 +0000

I went to my first NASCAR race last weekend. It was cool, but I’m not sure I liked it enough to be an avid fan. It seems like a whole lot of time, money, risk and energy to end up where you started.

I was struck by something while I was there. What if we were that enthusiastic about Space exploration? My father’s generation (he was born in 1950) witnessed his parents generation spend a huge amount of time, money, risk and energy getting into space, to the moon, and sending spacecraft all over the solar system. All with computers and technology many of us have in our homes today.

Arthur C Clarke

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:56:07 +0000

I’m very sad to hear that we lost Arthur C Clarke today. He was 90. Thanks for everything Arthur, we miss you already.

Google Sky is now on the Web

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 13:38:12 +0000

Great, another thing to suck away my attention. But it’s just so cool: Google Sky

Google Lunar X PRIZE Foundation

Fri, 14 Sep 2007 08:24:56 +0000

The Google Lunar X PRIZE seeks to create a global private race to the Moon that excites and involves people around the world and, accelerates space exploration for the benefit of all humanity. The use of space has dramatically enhanced the quality of life and may ultimately lead to solutions to some of the most pressing environmental problems that we face on earth – energy independence and climate change.