As outlined in the February 13th, 2019 IPPro Magazine post, "EU copyright directive: article 11 and 13 text agreed," the final vote on whether to implement the directives could occur as soon as March 25th - 27th.
The BBC has weighed in on the EU copyright directive with its February 13th, 2019 post, "What is Article 13? The EU's copyright directive explained," which noted that "Google has been particularly vocal about the proposed law, which it says could 'change the web as we know it'" and "Article 13 of the EU Copyright Directive states services such as YouTube could be held responsible if their users upload copyright-protected movies and music."
Its worth noting that this blog will also be affected, since it often links to sources and uses tools and services provided by major US based internet giants such as Google, YouTube and others targeted by the EU copyright directive.
Change is almost certainly coming over the next few months, although very few are aware of the specifics of those changes.
Last week's announcement that the Canadian government planned to spend a larger lump sum of Federal funding to prop up traditional Canadian media outlets than it annually gives to the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), seems more than a little disconcerting.
Perhaps the Justin Trudeau Liberals simply believe that it is more important who you hear the news from than it is to get the story right, create new jobs in media and aerospace, or even "go boldly where no one has gone before!"
Perhaps those other concerns are just different line items in the next Federal budget. Or maybe not.
The article quoted Paul Godfrey, the CEO of Toronto ON based Postmedia Network (which publishes the National Post and daily broadsheets in many of Canada’s largest cities) as saying that the tax credit:
... could be looked upon as a turning point in the plight of newspapers in Canada…I tip my hat to the prime minister and the finance minister. They deserve a lot of credit.
Everyone in journalism should be doing a victory lap around their building right now.
John Hinds, the CEO of Toronto ON based News Media Canada, a trade association representing over 830 Canadian daily, weekly and community newspapers, is also quoted in the article:
We’ve been asking for help and they listened to us. I think they delivered. It’s a substantive investment.
While its expected that smaller media outlets (including this blog, which has applied for and received Federal funding in the past) will also be eligible under the new program, it's likely that the larger players will receive the lion's share of any new funding.
The new program will offer the money to organizations that are "arms-length and independent of the Government. To this end, an independent panel of journalists will be established to define and promote core journalism standards, define professional journalism, and determine eligibility."
And this is where the new proposal becomes more than a little problematic. professional media is defined, at least by the online Oxford Dictionary, as "engaged in a specified activity as one's main paid occupation rather than as an amateur" such as being "a professional boxer."
Which kinda makes it sound like all you really need to be a professional, is to be paid for doing it.
Getting to the issue a little deeper, it's also worth noting that the online Oxford Dictionary defines journalism as "the activity or profession of writing for newspapers, magazines, or news websites or preparing news to be broadcast."
Which kinda makes it sound like you don't even need to be paid to be a journalist, although if you're intending to be a "professional" then you need to be paid by someone.
And the government has offered to step in to help create the next generation of professional journalists by paying them under the newly announced program.
These professional journalists (or "presstitutes," as some might call them) will receive the opportunity to join the "panel of journalists" who will help to "define and promote core journalism standards, define professional journalism, and determine eligibility."
Just so long as they don't take too much money from the government and are able to retain their "independence."
Chris Hadfield is a popular icon and regularly addresses space issues within Canada as outlined most recently in the November 18th, 2018 CTV News post, "Astronaut Chris Hadfield calls on feds to fund Canadian space program." It’s also no surprise that media companies are excited about the hundreds of millions of dollars they can now put to good use. They must have offered something to the government’s vision of Canada that Hatfields message about funding the space industry didn’t fit into. Photo c/o CTV News.
What could possibly go wrong. Surely the plan won't prop up the legacy print media and make it more difficult for new media models to grow and become profitable.
Say it isn't so, Mr. Prime Minister!!!
Of course, it's not all bad. As outlined in the November 25th, 2018 The Conversation post, "Funding journalism means defining who’s a journalist – not a bad thing," the new program "will incentivize consumers to sign up for digital news subscriptions and subsidize publishers through a tax credit on salaries paid to journalists."
To do this, the program does need to develop standards to figure out who will receive the new funding. That seems reasonable.
On the other hand and at the time of writing neither myself nor this publication have seen any of this money (although sometimes, some of us do get paid through other sources). But I do sometimes cover meetings and events as a journalist. Usually the food is fairly good, especially at political events. We usually also get the best spots to stand to see what's going on.
The perks don't sway my personal coverage of the event.
If however, they had been handing out hundreds of million dollars I just might be inclined to speak highly of them. Since that didn't happen I will have no choice but to stick to the truth.
If you are interested in supporting real independent journalism please support the Commercial Space blog on Patreon. If you'd like to make a lump sum, one time payment please contact my editor, Chuck Black at chuck.black@commercialspacemedia.com.
If you don't like this blog, then give the funding to someone else who is actually doing journalism.
Just don't expect the government to solve the problem for you. They already have too much on their plate and normally take a large percentage off the top of any contribution, in order to cover their expenses.
But if you believe in the corporate media in Canada and think that even the CBC qualifies as “independent media,” that should be supported through the funding largesse of the Federal government, then you may as well rely on a Bombardier press release to find out the truth about Montreal PQ based Bombardier Aerospace.
It won't give you any real answers or information, but I bet it has nice graphics.
The Commercial Space blog will be taking a short break to enjoy the final two weeks of summer and go to the beach.
We'll also be doing some background research on one possible American and one far more probable European Union (EU) legislative initiative directly related to news coverage and freedom of speech issues.
Both have the potential to change, disrupt or even shut down almost all online news services, including this blog.
Section 230 has been traditionally interpreted by US courts as saying that operators of internet services (including social media outlets, such as Menlo Park CA based FaceBook, San Francisco CA based Twitter and others) are "not to be construed as publishers" and are therefore not legally liable for the words of third parties who use their services.
...the single most important legal protection for free speech on the Internet, (which) establish a safe harbour that ensures online services are not liable for the content posted by their users.
My (previous) Globe and Mail op-ed (the November 30th, 2017 post, "NAFTA offers the chance to establish long overdue online speech safeguards" ) notes that over the past two decades, the CDA Section 203(c) provision has been used by every major internet service – from Google to Amazon to Airbnb – to ensure that courts, not private companies, determine what is lawful and permitted to remain online.
But this very successful legislation currently seems to be breaking down.
Both right and left wing advocates for the major US political parties now argue that the very same digital monopolies created by the Section 230 regulations dominate entire sectors to the point where it is practically impossible to avoid using them when exchanging information.
Which means that anyone looking to get his or her message out, including politicians, activists, advocates and even news services, are forced to use social media outlets and follow their rules.
Pundits also argue that social media organizations are increasingly caving to political programs designed to pressure them into "deplatforming" controversial political viewpoints, long before the specifics can be adjudicated by the court system.
This state of affairs is contrary to the original intent of the Section 230 legislation which, is intended to preserve freedom of expression.
Both republicans and democrats in the US have accused the various social media giants of bias because of the onerous legal process required to adjudicate social media decisions. The process is considered to be undefined, opaque and not terribly understandable to social media users on either side of the political spectrum.
All of which suggests that, if any intentional bias actually does exists, then it almost certainly favors the social media monopolies who can pretty much do whatever they want, a situation which is also contrary to the intent of the Communications Decency Act.
As things stand now, you need a great deal of money, time and effort to sue Facebook if it blocks your posts, which gives the social media monopolies a substantial advantage during negotiations.
The Donald Trump administration in the US has signaled to the public that it will be "reviewing" the Section 230 regulations, in part because of the recent banning of American radio show host Alex Jones and other conservative voices from San Mateo CA based YouTube and other social media platforms.
Jones, a strong Trump supporter (and a bit of a crazy "conspiracy theorist," with extreme, but not necessarily illegal viewpoints), will likely need to sue multiple tech giants over a period of years in order to clear his name and regain his online access.
All of which bodes ill for anyone else the monopolistic tech giants might dislike or disagree with.
It's also worth noting that the current US president receives the majority of his positive media coverage from online conservative focused outlets including Infowars (owned by Jones), the Breitbart News Network and the Drudge Report, which make heavy use of social media channels.
The Democratic party would surely appreciate any new opportunity to diminish positive coverage of Republican activities and promote more traditional and (currently) anti-republican media outlets such as the New York Times, The Washington Post, MSNBC and CNN, especially given the upcoming mid-term elections scheduled in November 2018.
To be fair to Trump, the original intent of Section 230 was to guard against censorship before those being censored had a chance to defend their words in a court of law. Since that isn't happening, perhaps the US president is correct to suggest that an update to the current legislation is in order.
Just remember that any new legislation in this area has the potential to completely change the way this blog, and every other online news service functions, even if the end results turn out to be favorable. Given that, we need to learn more.
The second initiative, this one coming out of the EU, has been slightly delayed but is also far further along the path to being legislated into law. It's also far more problematic for news outlets and free speech advocates.
...rejected controversial legislation intended to reform online copyright. 318 MEPs (members of the European parliament) voted against the draft law, compared to 278 in favor. The legislation now returns to the drawing board, before being sent for a second vote in September.
...as a simple update to copyright for the internet age. But it attracted substantial criticism for the inclusion of two key provisions: Articles 11 and 13.
The first, Article 11, was a “link tax” that would force online platforms like Facebook and Google to pay news organizations before linking to their stories; while the second, Article 13, proposed an “upload filter” that would have required all content uploaded online to be checked for copyright infringement.
The article noted that the initial vote was a relief to US tech giants, "who would have incurred serious costs to adapt to the ruling. Individual users would also have likely been adversely affected by the law, with some campaigners claiming the proposed “upload filter” would have meant an end to sharing memes, which frequently use copyrighted material."
It would also directly impact the structure and operation of this blog, which uses tools supported by the US tech giants being targeted by the EU legislation (who could reasonably be expected to pass along the new fees to end users in all jurisdictions) and often provides direct links to source materials referenced in posts.
This blog would certainly not be able to afford to pay an online "link tax." Some have argued that the tax is designed to act as a "barrier to entry" to all but the largest and longest established legacy media organizations.
The EU copyright legislation, while delayed, is expected to be updated and reconsidered by the EU in September 2018, but has already begun to directly effect Canadian political discourse.
As outlined in the August 19th, 2018 OpenMedia.ca e-mail to members entitled, "They're trying to censor us," the Vancouver BC based Open Media organization, has accused an unnamed "big corporate publishers in the EU" of originating a "takedown notice" to censor international news relating to Article 11 and Article 13 of the EU copyright legislation.
Open Media Canada is a "non-partisan, non-profit advocacy organization working to encourage open and innovative communication systems within Canada," according to Wikipedia.
The EFF post also discussed efforts to take down online posts from various free-speech advocates, including German MEP Julia Reda, the VP of the Greens–European Free Alliance who has strongly advocated against Article 11 and Article 13 on free speech grounds and seems to want to get her information out to potential opponents of the EU legislation, no matter where they might live.
As outlined in the July 23rd, 2018 Entrepreneur Europe post, "What Is Article 11, and Would It Help Businesses in the EU?," even the EU is more than a little confused over the consequences of Article 11 and Article 13 legislation. Given that, the proposed legislation certainly warrants a second look from both free speech advocates and media outlets of all sizes.
This blog certainly will when it returns with all new stories, beginning September 4th, 2018.
It's amazing the differences between what MDA, the now Brampton, ON based subsidiary of Westminster, CO based Maxar Technologies, will tell traditional media outlets like the venerable Toronto, ON based Canadian Press, and what it's willing to tell media outlets it sponsors and feels friendly towards.
MDA's new group president Mike Greenley is seen in front of one of three RADARSAT Constellation Mission (RCM) spacecrafts being built for the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) at the MDA facility in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, PQ on January 30th, 2018. As a Canadian based company under the name MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates (MDA), the firm was responsible for earlier Canadian successes such as the various Canadarm's and RADARSAT 1&2. The new MDA wants to remain the "go-to" private sector supplier for Canadian government space focused hardware and Canadian industry "capacity building," a process where individuals and organizations "obtain, improve, and retain the skills, knowledge, and resources needed to do their jobs competently or to a greater capacity." It's worth noting that capacity building generally costs more than normal procurement. Photo c/o CP/Ryan Remiorz.
As outlined in the post, Greenley, the head of the new MDA, said that MDA and Maxar have been "very transparent and talked openly" about shifting the head office south of the border.
Greenley oversees all of the MDA lines of business and its 1,900 employees in Canada. He's quoted in the article as stating that:
My job is to run it and grow it bigger in Canada, for Canada, and exporting from Canada to the rest of the world.
You have to export and access foreign markets in order to grow to scale (because) Canada's economy is only so big...
As outlined in that story, there have been at least a few, major changes:
One of the notable changes Greenley instituted was moving senior management to the Brampton, Ontario office.
Greenley says the downtown Vancouver office which served as MDA’s corporate headquarters will eventually close.
SpaceQ is heavily sponsored by MDA and provides mostly favorable coverage of MDA activities, as can be seen on the main SpaceQ website. That's probably why the SpaceQ post (which included an audio interview) led with the updates to the MDA product line, a far less newsworthy story, and only included the news about MDA's corporate HQ relocation further down in the body of the article.
This blog reached out by e-mail to Peter Rakobowchuk, the author of the CP article for his response to the SpaceQ post.
According to Rakobowchuk, the CP interview was held some time ago, and "Greenley mentioned in the recent CP interview that he would be working out of MDA’s Brampton office," but didn't specify that the MDA HQ was relocating to Brampton.
In essence, the relocation and any implications that may have for BC employees, may not have been finalized when the interview took place. So nothing was noted in the CP article.
An April 23rd, 2018 screenshot of the SpaceQ website showing MDA advertising in the bottom right hand corner. As demonstrated in the April 23rd, 2018 SpaceQ "Shorcuts" Newsletter MDA also promotes its Canadian heritage through the SpaceQ newsletter. It's certainly not uncommon for large aerospace companies to sponsor smaller news outlets. A recent example of this would be Politico Space, a "weekly must-read briefing on the policies and personalities shaping the second space age. Presented by Boeing." While there is nothing wrong with this sort of sponsorship, just so long as everything is out in the open, it's also an obvious editorial bias, which readers should note. Screenshot c/o SpaceQ.
Over the longer term, MDA's US managers at Maxar may have come up with an alternate plan to control the message getting out to their shareholders. They'll write it themselves.
Since February 2018, the company has been posting short articles written by Maxar executives on its new "Maxar Technologies Blog."
But there's also at least one, March 29th, 2018 post from Walter Scott, Maxar's EVP & CTO under the title, "How the US Government Benefits from 'Buying Commercial'" and more posts from other senior Maxar executives can be reasonably expected over the next little while.
Ostensibly independent news outlets like SpaceQ, along with legitimately independent (if more traditional) outlets like CP (and even this blog) need to prepare for the day when large companies like Maxar attempt to exert tighter control of their own news stories and content distribution.
After all, hundreds of millions of dollars of stock valuation are at stake and large, publicly traded companies like Maxar/ MDA cannot be expected to simply lie back and let others define their valuations and future options.
We've also applauded, as outlined in the November 8th, 2015 post, "A New Era for Canadian Space or More of the Same?," when then newly minted Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains fulfilled a Liberal party campaign promise to allow government scientists and experts to comment on their work to the media and to the public, without interference from their political masters.
And we've complained loudly when, as outlined in the September 29th, 2014 post, "No Visas for Russian and Chinese Space Delegates to Attend IAC 2014," the Federal Conservative government under Prime Minister Stephen Harper refused access to senior members of both the Chinese and Russian delegation to attend the 65th International Astronautical Congress (IAC2015), which was held in Toronto, ON from September 29th to October 3rd, 2014.
But the recent refusal to allow independent Canadian journalist Lauren Southern to enter the United Kingdom (UK) to report on UK immigration and the domestic political situation is problematic to all journalists, everywhere.
Southern is known online for her you-tube videos, and is considered as an independant representative of the growing new media. As outlined on her Wikipedia page:
Lauren Cherie Southern (born June 16th, 1995) is a Canadian far-right political activist, Internet personality, and journalist associated with the alt-right. In 2015, Southern ran as a Libertarian Party candidate in the Canadian federal election.
She worked for The Rebel Media until March 2017.Southern continues to work independently and publishes videos on YouTube.
To be fair, the reference for Southern's categorization as a "far-right political activist," is from the July 27th, 2017 Canadaland podcast, "Why Lauren Southern Got Banned From Patreon." According to Canadaland:
The Patreon account of former Rebel Media personality Lauren Southern was banned late last week by the subscription-based crowdfunding website, following a lobbying campaign by the UK based anti-extremism charity HOPE not hate.
“Yes, HOPE not hate lobbied Patreon directly, and they removed everyone connected to Defend Europe (a European based identitarian focused political organization which Southern reported on and was active in, but which was also actively at odds with the viewpoints promoted by HOPE not hate) from their service,” Hope not hate director of communications Nick Ryan told CANADALAND in an email.
A Patreon representative informed Southern by email last Thursday that her account was being banned because some of her actions were “likely to cause loss of life” but didn’t elaborate further on any specific actions that prompted the ban.
Patreon is a popular crowdfunding platform used by independent media creators, including CANADALAND (and the Commercial Space blog), that allows “patrons” to pledge support via recurring payments.
Curiously enough, HOPE not hate also has other aspects to its agenda. As outlined on its website, the organization grew out as a response to the gains made by the British National Party (BNP) in the middle 2000's.
HOPE not hate opposed the BNP and eventually took credit for its collapse.
So Southern and HOPE not hate both had agendas and viewpoints to disseminate. Southern simply preferred to state her biases in her editorials, unlike others, who preferred campaigns designed to "defund" and "de-platform" their opponents.
Much of the rest of our current media landscape also comes with an attached agenda.
This includes traditional media outlets such as the CBC, and more alternative outlets such as the Vancouver BC based Universe Today (a competitor to this blog, since we both cover many of the same topics) and Toronto, ON based Rebel Media (where Southern used to work).
For example, its interesting to note how Kent, WA based Blue Origin owner Jeff Bezos gets such wonderful coverage of his rocket company from the Washington DC based Washington Post, which Bezos also owns.
Even Elon Musk might just be looking to get into the media business. As outlined in the March 14th, 2018 Gizmodo post, "Elon Musk Starts Media Business, Possibly Named 'Thud!,' Musk has certainly made suggestions in that area.
In essence, there is nothing wrong with setting up your own media outlet, or bringing a viewpoint to your posts. The problem isn't even when other organizations (like HOPE not hate) with contrary viewpoints seek to compete in the marketplace of ideas in order to advocate and effect change.
The problem occurs when governments, often in response to lobbying efforts from organizations like HOPE not hate, take it upon themselves to censor people like Southern.
When that happens we all need to take note and object.
Otherwise, the freedom to research, assess, develop independent conclusions then speak and subject those conclusions to peer review via publication and exposure to a wider audience, is in jeopardy.
This is what seems to have happened to Lauren Southern.
As journalists and commentators, we need to point this out and object to it, in order to prevent those same surreptitious actions from secretly hanging over the heads of each and every one of us.
And most of the best of that coverage has originated from Alexandria, VA based Space News senior staff writer Jeff Foust.
Space News Senior correspondent Jeff Foust, during one of his three recent appearances on C-Span. According to his Wikipedia page, Foust is also publisher of the Space Review (an online publication covering space activities) and the Space Politics blog (which he shut down in 2014 to take his present position at Space News). He has also written for or Astronomy Now and The New Atlantis. Photo c/o C-Span.
The February 15th, 2018 Space News post, "Canadian Space Agency president not surprised by NASA ISS transition plans," an interview with Canadian Space Agency (CSA) president Sylvain Laporte, who suggested that Canada's decision to follow the Americans down the path of developing "commercial low Earth orbit capabilities, including those that might be able to take over some part of the ISS when NASA funding ends," wasn't a new path or set in stone with a funding commitment. Until funding was forthcoming, Canada would take a "wait and see" approach instead of committing to the US plans.
The February 18th, 2018 Space News post, "Telesat to announce manufacturing plans for LEO constellation in coming months," which quoted Telesat VP of low Earth orbit (LEO) Erwin Hudson as stating that "the company was currently reviewing proposals for the 117-satellite constellation submitted by a number of major satellite manufacturers" and plans to settle on a contractor "in the next couple of months."
Competitor coverage, such as the event approved items provided by Kitchener/Waterloo ON based SpaceQ tended to be much slower, focused less on developing an overall sense of what was going on and wrapped around re-purposed talking points cribbed from attendee presentations.
For example, the SpaceQ story on the Planet ground station licence, the February 22nd, 2018 SpaceQ post, "Planet and KSAT Threaten to Pull Ground Station Assets out of Canada (Updated)," came out much later than the Space News post, required updating almost as soon as it was published, and seemed to include far fewer quotes from those involved.
Which is kinda odd, since SpaceQ said they had a team covering the conference. Space News parachuted Foust into the event as a solo act.
Overall, while its a bad idea to restrict the ability of journalists to cover a story, coverage of the space industry is building out to a point where no single source of information is able to cut off all contrary viewpoints.
This is a good thing. It might also be a leading indicator of the future of journalism.
It's difficult to believe, but one of our greatest living space advocates was once known by an earlier generation for just being the second man to walk on the Moon.
Buzz Aldrin explaining to Ali G (played by Sasha Baron Cohen) that astronaut Neil Armstrong and not musician Louis Armstrong, was the first man to set foot on the Moon. Later in the interview, Aldrin said that he was not jealous of Michael Jackson, even though Jackson had received the credit for the "Moonwalk," dance while Aldrin had only walked on the Moon. Screenshot c/o Ali G in the USAiii.
Eighty five year old Edwin Eugene "Buzz" Aldrin Jr., a strong practitioner of the William Shatner School of not taking oneself all that seriously (even when engaged in serious discussions), will be in Toronto this week as part of the National Space Society’s (NSS) annual International Space Development Conference® (ISDC), which is being held at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Toronto.
Here are a few of his recent and more memorable moments.
In 2010, Aldrin competed as a contestant on the ABC television series "Dancing with the Stars." According to Aldrin, dancing is a more "rapid" activity than Moon walking and doesn't have a lot of the floating about normally indicative of lower gravity environments.
As outlined in the March 23rd, 2010 Space.com article, "Buzz Aldrin Moonwalks for 'Dancing with the Stars' Debut," Aldrin's dancing was generally considered inspirational, if only because of his age as compared to that of some of the other competitors.
Under the tagline, "Nothing beats an astronaut, ever," the campaign, evidently targeted at high school and university males without a significant romantic relationship, ran throughout 2013. As outlined in the February 13th, 2013 post on "The Buzz Aldrin Show" the campaign even initiated a certain amount of controversy.
Although focused mostly on the great triumphs and potential future innovations expected from science and technology, the conference also provided a forum for Aldrin to get down and have a little fun while promoting "SCIENCE!!!!"
In 2014, Aldrin even provided his likeness and portions of his history to Jockey International for a whimsical commercial suggesting how much more Aldrin could accomplish with the right underwear.
What does Aldrin plan for Toronto? For that, you need to check out the ISDC 2015 website, which is available online at http://isdc2015.nss.org/wordpress/.
Space: the final frontier! These are the voyages of the IXS Enterprise, the latest starship concept design with warp drive capabilities.
IXS Enterprise. Graphic c/o Harold White.
NASA physicist, Dr. Harold White, has been working to make
his Star Trek dreams of interstellar travel a reality and has been trying to
push humanity closer to faster-than-light travel.
Dr. White, head of NASA’s Advanced Propulsion Team, started
his faster-than-light work in 2010, and announced it publicly last fall. But according to the June 12th, 2014 CNN article "What an Enterprise! NASA physicist, artist unveil warp-speed craft design," it
wasn't until he joined forces with artist Mark Rademaker, that his inner sci-fi lover was awoken and excited.
Rademaker spent more than 1,600 hours perfecting the
designs, and is still not quite finished, as he plans to repaint and add texture to the designs. The full collection can be viewed in his online flickr album.
In the June 10th io9 article "Here's NASA's New Design for a Warp Drive Ship," White explained that his design
would not defy any laws of physics; “Remember, nothing locally exceeds the
speed of light, but space can expand and contract at any speed…“Perhaps a ‘Star
Trek’ experience within our lifetime is not such a remote possibility.”
Theoretical physicist Miguel Alcubierre
first proposed the idea for a warp drive, basing it on a solution of Einstein's
field equations in general relativity. In short, the Alcubierre warp drive
would stretch spacetime in a wave, which causes the fabric of space ahead of
the spacecraft to contract and the space behind it to expand. The ship would ride
the wave to accelerate to incredible speeds.
Adding onto the efforts of Alcubierre, White’s design allows for the creation of a warp bubble, through the addition of the two enormous rings surrounding the spacecraft. The space at the front of the ship compresses, while the space behind expands, re-positioning the ship without it actually moving, or breaking any physical laws.
However, White is not the only person to have designed a convincing
and feasible spacecraft. The Atomic Rockets of the Space Patrol website has a database of amazing and
realistic spacecraft concepts. The ships are all planned out with exploration
of the galaxy as their primary focus, and are meant be scientifically accurate. Crew modules, habitation modules, various shields,
batteries and propulsion methods are discussed in full detail, and the
movements as well as accelerations are all apparently pre-calculated.
There is much praise for the ISV Venture Star from the James Cameron movie Avatar, and the owners of the webpage claim that it
is the most scientifically accurate space ship seen in a movie. The ship’s
engines are on the front, towing the rest of it behind, and following a concept created by Charles Pellegrino and physicist Jim Powell. Their innovative
antimatter powered starship design, called a Valkyrie, was seen in Cameron’s movie, where Dr. Pellegrino was a scientific consultant.
Sarah Ansari-Manea.
These beautiful and scientifically accurate designs are promising and exciting, though out of our reach for now, and will remain as nothing more than concepts for many years to come. But it is inspiration for the next generation of space travelers, and will hopefully will be the push they need to boldly go where no man has gone before.
__________________________________________________
Sarah Ansari-Manea is an aspiring astrophysicist, currently completing a specialist in physics and astronomy at the University of Toronto.
On May 30th, a volunteer team of scientists, engineers and programmers reestablished contact with a 30+-year old NASA spacecraft and are now working to make it do science again.
Originally launched in 1978, the International Sun/Earth Explorer 3 (ISEE-3) was (along with two other satellites, ISEE-1 and 2) part of a joint effort between NASA and the European Space Research Organization (the predecessor of today's European Space Agency) to study the interaction between Earth's magnetic field and the solar wind.
ISEE-3 carried out its primary mission from 1978 until 1981. NASA then re-tasked the satellite with studying two comets, Comet Giacobini-Zinner in 1985 and Comet Halley in 1986 and also renamed the satellite as the International Cometary Explorer (ICE), to reflect the new role.
In 1991, NASA again changed the probe's mission and tasked the satellite to investigate, in coordination with ground-based observations and aided by NASA's Ulysses probe, the Sun's coronal mass ejections as well as cosmic rays. In 1997, NASA finally ended the ISEE-3/ ICE mission and ordered the probe shut down.
In 2008, NASA, with the help of KinetX Aerospace (an Arizona-based space systems operations firm), located ISEE-3/ ICE using the Deep Space Network after discovering that it had not been powered down after the 1999 contact. A systems check revealed that all but one of the satellite's 13 experiments were still running, and that the probe had considerable propellant remaining for maneuvering.
In light of this, NASA scientists considered reactivating the ISEE-3/ ICE on its next close approach to Earth in 2014. The idea, however, when faced with waning official NASA interest and scarce resources due to budget cuts and the ongoing costs of the ISS program, gained little traction.
But in April 2014, a new player stepped up to the table. A group calling itself the ISEE-3 Reboot Project announced its intentions to reactivate the spacecraft using a team of students, engineers and programmers led by former NASA astro-biologist (and current editor of NASAWatch.com) Keith Cowing and Aerospace/Computer engineer Dennis Wingo, CEO of space systems engineering firm Skycorp Inc.
The team's goals are to reestablish contact with ISEE-3/ICE and place it in an orbit near earth so that it can do science again. The team also stated its intent to use the resurrected spacecraft as a public outreach tool, as a training exercise for the next generation of space personnel, and to show the public what small teams are capable of. To this end, the ISEE-3 Reboot Project announced that it would launch a campaign on crowd-funding site Indiegogo to raise $125,000 USD.
On May 15th , the ISEE-3 Reboot Project reached its crowd-funding goal of $125,000 USD. The team then set a "stretch goal" of $150,000 USD, which it not only met but exceeded on May 23rd with a final total of $159,502 USD raised.
The money will be used to cover the cost of writing the software needed to communicate with the probe, searching through NASA archives for the spacecraft's technical documentation, and buying time on NASA's Deep Space Network dishes.
The ISEE-3 Reboot Project operates out of an abandoned McDonald's restaurant on the grounds of NASA's Moffett Field Research Center, affectionately dubbed "McMoon's" in honour of Cowing and Wingo's other venture, the Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project.
The team relies on volunteer labour, and a mixture of customized/donated/scavenged/purchased equipment. The team emphasizes speedy, low-cost, off-the-shelf solutions rather than the slow, large-scale proprietary approach of NASA. Although NASA has provided no funding for the project, it has provided technical assistance and encouragement. On May 21st, NASA signed a non-reimbursable space act agreement with the ISEE-3 Reboot Project, officially endorsing its efforts.
The team is racing against the clock. They have until mid-June to change the spacecraft's orbit by harnessing the Moon's gravity to draw it closer to Earth. If not, the spacecraft will remain in its current orbit, and will not approach Earth again for two centuries.
The team has already hit several technical snags. Earlier this year, they were told that the legacy transmission gear needed to communicate with the spacecraft via the NASA Deep Space Network had been decommissioned in 1999, and that replacing it would not be economical. However, project members obtained the needed hardware (a power amplifier and a modulator/demodulator) from a German supplier and dispatched a team to install it on the 305-meter dish at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico on May 19th. In addition to the Arecibo dish, the ISEE-3 Reboot team is using two other ground stations to communicate with the spacecraft; a 21-meter dish located at Kentucky's Morehead State University Space Science Center and a 20-meter dish at Bochum Observatory, Germany.
On May 29th , the ISEE-3 Reboot team successfully made contact with the probe and commanded it to switch into "engineering mode" and start broadcasting telemetry data. Over the next few weeks the team will use this data to assess the spacecraft's health and practice the techniques needed to fire its engines and bring it back to a near-Earth orbit.
Brian Orlotti.
The success of the ISEE-3 Reboot Project will be a powerful statement of the strength of small teams to obtain big results. The author, and space enthusiasts everywhere, wish them the greatest success.
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Neil deGrasse Tyson, one of the world’s best-known, and popular astrophysicists, gave two talks at Canadian universities this month, and his fan club is expanding across the country.
Though he often seems to be most well known for his role
in the demotion of Pluto’s planetary status, incredibly interesting tweets, and a variety of of interesting internet “memes,” Dr. Tyson also does his fair share of educating, and strives to participate often in
open ended Q&A sessions.
He began his Canadian talks at the University of Manitoba on March 13th, as keynote speaker for the their 2014 Dream Big conference, and his presence was greatly
celebrated and appreciated. General WalterNatynczyk, president of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and former Chief of the
Defence Staff, introduced Dr. Tyson who opened for the week long, space themed
event.
A week later, after a short detour to host the 2014 Isaac Asimov Memorial debate on "selling space" on March 19th, Dr. Tyson returned to Canada. I had the pleasure of attending the
University of Toronto based David Dunlap Institute for Astrophysics on March 21st, 2014 for their inaugural Dunlap prize lecture,
given to none other than Dr. Tyson. His talk was definitely
impressive and engaging, allowing for the interaction of a huge and diverse
audience.
“Our vision for the award,” according the Dunlap Institute’s interim director, Peter Martin, “is to recognize an individual whose remarkable achievements resonate with our goals for excellence in astronomy and astrophysics. As a reflection of the Dunlap Institute’s commitment to public outreach and education, the first Dunlap Prize is being awarded to astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson.”
With many books, videos, and other publications captivating audiences across the globe, Dr. Tyson definitely knows how to spark science and space interest in the hearts of many, and raise awareness of scientific illiteracy.
His latest endeavor, as the host of COSMOS: A Spacetime Odyssey, is a great representation of his constant attempt to popularize the sciences, and bring excitement rather than fear, to the dark corners of the universe. A continuation of the original COSMOS series by Carl Sagan, Dr. Tyson is working to inspire a new generation of thinkers and doers our societies need in order to continue their expansion and existence.
Sarah Ansari-Manea.
Few people have what it takes to engage the general public in the sciences, as they appear irrelevant to most daily engagements, but Dr. Tyson is right up there with Sagan, and other scientifically literate men and women, who want to make the world a better, smarter, place.
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Sarah Ansari-Manea is an aspiring astrophysicist, currently completing a specialist in physics and astronomy at the University of Toronto.
MG2 "White Bat" Spacecraft. Graphic c/o Oscar Viñals.
According to Spanish based industrial and graphics engineer Oscar Viñals, up until a few years ago, space tourism was "utterly science fiction."
But now, "with private operations already underway and queues of wealthy travelers lining up, this ultimate thrill-seeker’s adventure has become a reality."
It's also become trendy and Viñals has celebrated this change with a series of design studies highlighting various different types of aerospace vehicles.
The designs are featured in Yanko Design, a web magazine "dedicated to introducing the best modern international design, covering from industrial design, concepts, technology, interior design, architecture, exhibition and fashion."
The publication, active since 2002, has been promoted in "high profile" media outlets as a leading edge industrial design publication, according to the Yanko Design website.
The publisher, Japanese Canadian Takashi Yamada, was previously a consultant in the multi-billion dollar Japanese luxury industry. His clients included Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Bulgari and Richemont (a Swiss based luxury goods holding company founded in 1988, which includes Cartier, Alfred Dunhill and Montblanc).
Trendhunter, which bills itself as the "world's largest, most popular collection of cutting edge ideas," gave the topic high marks for trendiness, which seems reasonable enough given the graphics and obvious engineering expertise which went into the designs.
It will be interesting to see how the old-fashioned and unstylish engineers and scientists who've shepherded the space age up until now end up bonding with their new, haute-coutured companions.
As outlined by Canadian Space Society (CSS) president Wayne Ellis, who chaired the panel discussion, the media today is technically reliant on space and telecommunications technology as a medium to get their stories and messages out to the Canadian public, as well as to people around the world.
Ivan Semeniuk.
According to Semeniuk, the media’s responsibility is to reflect what is significant for the interests of the public, and that “we need a scientifically literate media.”
He also went on to discuss the benefits of the story format used by journalists to convey messages, as well as the increasingly visual and moving picture media. However, he made sure to mention that he felt the media was lacking in scientific substance, and that Canadian space is not getting the public coverage it deserves.
According to Semeniuk, "Chris Hadfield was a great success for Canadian and international space and media, but not that great because it did not fully publicize the rest of what Canadian space does.”
Chuck Black
Black agreed with Semeniuk’s definition of the media’s responsibility, but went on to speak of the categorization of media stories, and the fact that he writes for a different audience.
Black specified three different types of stories: inspirational, which generally appeals to a broad audience; science stories, which focus on describing the how and why of science and technology; and business stories, which focus on economic and business issues.
Elizabeth Howell.
Howell said that journalism used to be the main channel of information, but this has changed because of social media and the internet.
She discussed three personal problems she's seen in Canadian media.
Firstly, it is difficult to find the important and significant news, and difficult to sort through what is to be given to the audience. Secondly, the lack of funding and inability to get the media and writers to important events greatly impacts the coverage of certain necessary topics. Finally, she felt that “Canadian news is not fully known internationally, and we need to make sure that something significant in Canada is appropriately explained to the rest of the world.”
The floor was then opened to audience questions.
When asked about the effectiveness of a single news source to provide Canadians with the important space stories, Black mentioned that there are a number of independently funded news sources in the US already doing this and Canadian coverage will likely follow down this path over time.
Seneniuk felt that change was necessary to open hidden science facilities to everyone. He also felt that Canadian scientists and science facilities must work to become less fearful of the public’s interests in their work. He said that “Canada is very clamped down, and not a healthy democracy or open society. Scientists can’t talk to the public or media directly, and they think there is nothing to be gained from science talking to the press.”
The final audience question was about the effectiveness of a lot of coverage in order to accomplish scientific goals in Canada, to which Howell replied “if you shine more light, yes you get more attention.”
Overall, the theme was that Canadian space science and technology is very isolated from the public, making it difficult to gauge the interest of the general public and share information on all the great new advances seen at this year’s Canadian Space Summit.
