SpaceVision 2012

I was hoping to be able to attend SpaceVision 2012 in Buffalo, NY this year. It is going on right now, and they are discussing some fascinating subjects that I want to participate in! It will be going on all weekend, and you can follow along at the Spacevidcast Live Channel:

http://www.spacevidcast.com/live/

Next year for sure!

Peter Diamondis' Creed of the Persistent and Passionate Mind

Some of these are really obvious. Others make you think. Below are Peter Diamondis' (think X Prize) 28 rules for a persistent and passionate person:

• 1. If anything can go wrong, Fix It!!... to heck with Murphy!
• 2. When given a choice... take both!!
• 3. Multiple projects lead to multiple successes.
• 4. Start at the top, then work your way up.
• 5. Do it by the book... but be the author!
• 6. When forced to compromise, ask for more.
• 7. If you can't win, change the rules.
• 8. If you can't change the rules, then ignore them.
• 9. Perfection is not optional.
• 10. When faced without a challenge, make one.
• 11. "No" simply means begin again at one level higher.
• 12. Don't walk when you can run.
• 13. When in doubt: THINK!
• 14. Patience is a virtue, but persistence to the point of success is a blessing.
• 15. The squeaky wheel gets replaced.
• 16. The faster you move, the slower time passes, the longer you live.
• 17. The best way to predict the future is to create it yourself!
• 18. The ratio of something to nothing is infinite.
• 19. You get what you incentivize.
• 20. If you think it is impossible, then it is... for you.
• 21. An expert is someone who can tell you exactly how it can't be done.
• 22. The day before something is a breakthrough, it's a crazy idea.
• 23. If it were easy it would have been done already.
• 24. Without a target you’ll miss it every time.
• 25. Fail early, fail often, fail forward!
• 26. If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.
• 27. The world’s most precious resource is the persistent and passionate human mind.
• 28. Bureaucracy is an obstacle to be conquered with persistence, confidence and a bulldozer when necessary.

From Singularity.

SpaceVision 2011

This update is late in the coming, mainly because of brief and puzzling start-up problem with my computer, but I'm back up and running now and ready to post.

The Iowa State Space Society is a chapter of the Students for the Exploration and Development of Space organization, which has a national conference once a year at various universities across the country. This year it was in Boulder, Colorado, and about ten students from Iowa State (myself included) made the trip this past weekend. It was a great experience traveling, networking and meeting new people.

Why didn't I go to school here??

Oh yeah. $45k out-of-state tuition.

Anyway, I am reinvigorated to pursue a great career in space industry. Specifically, I was surprised by how far the private space industry has advanced. We've got companies building capsules for CCDev, we've got an explosion of suborbital launch vehicles, companies like SpaceX and ATK are building their own launch vehicles, and myriads of other private ventures, such as teams competing in the Google Lunar X Prize.

I am a busy college student, and I don't have the time to write down all my cool stories from this adventure unfortunately. I will at least share a few pictures:

 

This is a VTVL monopropellant rocket built by Frontier Aerospace. I talked to a guy named Jack, who I believe build this rocket, for upwards of half an hour. He was very interesting.

 This a snap of me behind the wheel of a full-size mockup of the new Dream Chaser commercial crew vehicle being developed by Sierra Nevada.

This is a 1/16th scale model of the Dream Chaser with the hood open. This was actually primarily constructed by undergraduates at CU Boulder, and was drop tested from a helicopter at 15,000 feet.

I really should have taken more pictures, but I kept forgetting. Some blogger I am, ay?