“The vision of Planetary Resources is to make the resources of space available to man both in space and here on Earth,” he said.

The leadership of Planetary Resources, Inc. gathered at the Museum of Flight April 24 for a news conference to talk about the company's plans to mine asteroids. From L-R: Peter Diamandis, Eric Anderson, Chris Lewicki, and Tom Jones. Photo: Greg Scheiderer.

Diamandis acknowledged the wild, science-fiction nature of the notion of sending robots to asteroids to mine them for the resources we need on Earth and to further explore space. In fact, he gives sci-fi credit for shaping his personal dreams, held since his early teens, of being an asteroid miner.

“Part of it is the spirit of extraordinary writers and artists like Heinlein and Clarke and Bonestell who envisioned what the future would look like,” he said. “Ultimately my passion about opening up space makes the vision of asteroid mining not only a reality, but something that we need to do.”

The company is on a fast track. Eric Anderson, co-founder and co-chairman, said they plan to launch their first spacecraft within 24 months, and seemed a bit taken aback at the enthusiastic applause the announcement generated.

“This company is not about paper studies. This company is not about thinking and dreaming about asteroid mining,” Anderson said. “This company is about creating a space economy beyond the Earth. It’s about building real hardware. It’s about doing real things in space to move the needle forward.”

The concept is attractively simple. Use private investors and innovators to drive down the cost of space exploration. Get the technology up in space to start examining the nine thousand near-Earth asteroids to determine which might be rich in water and precious minerals useful here on the home planet and to those who may further explore space. Send up robots to mine those materials and bring them home.

Sure, it may sound easy.

“It’s very difficult, no question,” Diamandis said, “but the return economically and the benefits for humanity are extraordinary.”

Anderson agreed.

“There will be times when we fail, there will be times when we have to pick up the pieces and try again. But we’re going to do it,” he said. “We’re not going to talk about it, we’re just going to do it.”

Planetary Resources is based in Bellevue, Wash. Chris Lewicki, the company’s president and chief engineer, said they looked at a lot of places before settling on the Seattle area.

A model of the Arkyd 101, the space telescope Planetary Resources plans to launch within the next 24 months to start prospecting for asteroids to mine. Photo: Greg Scheiderer.

“Some of our investors were here, some of our partners were here, and it’s a beautiful place to live,” Lewicki said in explaining the choice. “All of the infrastructure and the industry that’s in the area is what we need to be able to do this.”

The company has been in existence since 2009 under the name Arkyd Aeronautics. Planetary Resources spacecraft will bear the Arkyd name. Part of the reason they’re going public with a big splash now is that they need to hire more engineers, according to Lewicki. Diamandis added that the game has changed.

“There’s a rising tide going on right now in commercial space,” he said, noting the booming investment in launch technology and in lunar and asteroid missions. Having more capital is a big deal. “That changes the equation and allows us to go much further much faster than ever before in opening up space for the benefit of all.”

The investors, for the most part, remained on the sideline, though one of them, Ross Perot, Jr., praised the effort by telephone and Charles Simonyi was on hand to make a few remarks.

“I don’t think this would be an appropriate investment for NASA,” Simonyi said of the venture. “I think that this is where private enterprise comes in. The genius of the system is that private investors can take the risks.”

“I’m very excited about what you guys are doing, I’m very proud of you and feel privileged to be a part of it,” he added.

They’ve certainly generated some buzz. A large group of reporters turned out for the news conference and hundreds of people chipped in $25 for lunch to hear about it first hand. It’s fair to say most of them are boosters. It will be interesting to watch the dream unfold.

A new company to be formally launched tomorrow during a news conference at Seattle’s Museum of Flight will take wing with the ambitious goal to “expand Earth’s resource base.”

A news release from Planetary Resources, Inc. through the museum calls the company:

…a new space venture with a mission to help ensure humanity’s prosperity…[T]he company will overlay two critical sectors—space exploration and natural resources—to add trillions of dollars to the global GDP. This innovative start-up will create a new industry and a new definition of ‘natural resources’.

This may sound pretty lofty, but the company may have the coin to pull it off. The release lists an impressive group of investors, including billionaire space tourist and former Microsoft executive Charles Simonyi; Google’s Larry Page and Eric Schmidt; film maker James Cameron; K. Ram Shriram, an early Google investor and founder of Sherpalo; and Ross Perot, Jr., chairman of Hillwood Development Corporation and The Perot Group.

As reported here last week, the April 24 news conference and luncheon will include presentations by Eric Anderson, chairman of Space Adventures, Ltd.; Peter H. Diamandis, chairman of the X Prize Foundation; Astronaut Tom Jones; and Chris Lewicki, former NASA Mars rover and lander flight director and mission manager. All are now listed as investors in and/or advisors to Planetary Resources, Inc.

Seattle Astronomy will attend the event Tuesday and file a full report.

Helix House is home of the Battle Point Astronomical Association, the Edwin E. Ritchie Telescope, and John H. Rudolph Planetarium on Bainbridge Island, Washington. BPAA hosts a series of beginning astronomy courses at the facility Thursdays starting April 26. Photo: Greg Scheiderer.

Beginners who want to learn the basics of amateur astronomy will have an excellent chance starting April 26. The Battle Point Astronomical Association will offer its six-session Introduction to Amateur Astronomy series in conjunction with Bainbridge Island Parks.

The course will be taught by Ph.D. astronomer David Fong, who is BPAA education director, and Steve Ruhl, the president of the association. They’ll cover the art of observing, solar system objects, constellations, star hopping, planets, nebulas, galaxies, strange sky phenomena, astrophotography, and computer programs.

Sessions will be held at the association’s Edwin Ritchie Observatory at Battle Point Park on Bainbridge Island on Thursdays from 7 p.m. until 9 p.m. beginning April 26. There will be no session May 10, and the last class will be held June 7. Cost is just $49. Anyone over 14 is welcome. Signup online through Bainbridge Island Metro Park and Recreation District using course code 131855-01, or phone (206) 842-2306.

BPAA does a great job with education and community outreach, and its observatory and planetarium facilities at Battle Point are top notch.

A new company will be unveiling its mission to revolutionize current space exploration activities and ultimately create a better standard of living on Earth. Don’t miss your opportunity to be among the first to find out what’s next from the world’s leading commercial space pioneers and the people who will chart the future.

The Charles Simonyi Space Gallery at the Museum of Flight in Seattle will be the site of a news conference and luncheon Tuesday, April 24 about the future of space exploration. Photo: Greg Scheiderer.

The April 24 event in the Charles Simonyi Space Gallery at the museum gets under way at 10:30 a.m. and includes a news conference and luncheon with presentations. The lineup of space luminaries scheduled to attend includes:

• Charles Simonyi, billionaire space tourist and museum benefactor
• Eric Anderson, chairman of Space Adventures, Ltd.
• Peter H. Diamandis, M.D., chairman of the X Prize Foundation
• Astronaut Tom Jones, Ph. D.
• Chris Lewicki, former NASA Mars rover and lander flight director and mission manager

After the luncheon, starting at about 1:30 p.m., Diamandis and Jones will sign books for attendees. Diamandis is a co-author of Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think and Jones penned several books, including Planetology: Unlocking the Secrets of the Solar System and Sky Walking: An Astronaut’s Memoir.

Cost for the event is $25. You can find more information and pay online at the Museum of Flight website.

Seattle Astronomy will attend the event and post a full report.

Keep up on local astronomy events by following the Seattle Astronomy calendar.

The Astronomy Magazine Blues Band will play a couple of sets on the final day of this year's Astronomical League Convention in Chicago. The band, L-R, is Mike Soliday, Jeff Felbab, Keith Bauer, and Astronomy editor Dave Eicher. Photo: Astronomy Magazine Blues Band.

I have to admit that AlCon 2012 wasn’t even on my radar until this item turned up in my newsreader this morning. The notion that Astronomy magazine staffers have a blues band covering the likes of Hendrix, Cream, The Band, Koko Taylor, Muddy Waters, and more was just so mind-bogglingly cool that I immediately started investigating the event. It turns  out that there is a lot of fun stuff to do in connection with the convention. I love a good astronomy lecture more than most guys, but the real fun is in the extracurricular activities.

July 4 features a field trip to the Adler Planetarium and the Field Museum of Natural History. We paid a visit to Adler in November 2010 during a Chicago layover on a cross-country train trip, and I wrote about it on Examiner.com. It’s chock full of great stuff, including lots of Apollo 13 memorabilia from Jim Lovell, who is a trustee of Adler and now runs a steak house in the Chicago area. The planetarium itself was closed for renovations during our last visit, so I’m looking forward to a longer stay, to seeing a planetarium show, and to tacking the Field Museum onto the itinerary.

The next day features a road trip to Batavia and Fermilab, where conventioneers will learn about particle physics and dark matter, and then see the play Creation’s Birthday, which is all about understanding the science and philosophies of 100 years ago. Characters include Edwin Hubble, Henrietta Leavitt, Father Georges Lemaitre, and Albert Einstein. The convention materials describe presenter Hassam Padamsee as a “playwright and CERN scientist”, a description that puts me in mind of today’s drive to educate scientists and engineers at the expense of education in the arts. As noted above we love science and arts, and don’t think they’re mutually exclusive.

July 6 is the day for the field trip to Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, and a look at the famed Alvin Clark 40-inch refractor. About eight years ago I attended a business meeting in Lake Geneva, just a hop and a skip away. Unfortunately, Yerkes was closed during my entire time there. The observatory is only open for public tours on Saturdays, so we’re lucky to get a look on a Friday with the AL group.

Finally on Saturday the Astronomical League holds its awards banquet and the Astronomy Magazine Blues Band plays a couple of sets. It all happens July 4-7 at the Lincolnshire Marriott Resort in the North Chicago suburbs. Registration materials are online here. If you can’t make it, Seattle Astronomy will likely be on hand and will post dispatches (if there’s time amid all the fun!)

Oh, yes, and there is baseball. The Cubs are on the road during this week, but the White Sox are at home. I expect I’ll sneak away for a ballgame.

Seattle Astronomy may well be a dork, but this sounds like a heavenly trip. And Astronomical League, take note: the sale was made by a blues band!

The first open house of the year at the Theodor Jacobsen Observatory on the UW campus will be held Wednesday, April 4. Photo: Greg Scheiderer.

Another sign of spring arrives this week in Seattle. Twice-monthly open houses resume at the Theodor Jacobsen Observatory on the University of Washington campus. The first event of the year will be held Wednesday, April 4 beginning at 8 p.m.

Dr. Ana Larson, senior lecturer at UW who is the observatory director, will give a talk titled “You Are the First Kid on Mars” based on the book by Patrick O’Brien. Larson will explore effects of microgravity in space, the lower gravity of Mars, and what it might be like should we ever really colonize Mars. Reservations are strongly recommended as the classroom at the observatory holds only 45 people. Mars is just a month past opposition and in prime position for observing. If the weather cooperates visitors will be able to get a look at the Red Planet through the observatory’s vintage telescope, operated by volunteers from the Seattle Astronomical Society. Even if it is cloudy, tours of the observatory are fun and informative.

Open houses at Jacobsen Observatory will be held the first and third Wednesday of every month through October.

Mars will be in the spotlight this weekend at the Museum of Flight, where visitors will be able to take a simulated voyage to the Red Planet through the museum’s Challenger Learning Center. The mission starts at 11 a.m. on Saturday, April 7. Call 206-764-1384 to pre-register. Cost, which includes museum admission, is $15 for adults, $10 for youth under 18, $3 off for museum members.

Keep up with local happenings by visiting the Seattle Astronomy Calendar.

The Mercury 7 astronauts were enormous American heroes, and John Glenn was the biggest name of them all. Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth 50 years ago, on Feb. 20, 1962. Photo: NASA.

For a nation that sometimes seems obsessed with meaningless milestones, there sure wasn’t much hullabaloo today to mark the 50th anniversary of the first American orbital space flight. On this date in 1962 John Glenn orbited the Earth three times, and it was the first small step of the giant leap to the Moon by the end of the decade.

Roger Launius, curator of the space section of the National Air and Space Museum at the Smithsonian and a former NASA chief historian, spoke Sunday at the Museum of Flight in Seattle about the historical significance of that first orbital mission.

“John Glenn, the most popular of the Mercury 7 astronauts, the one who was the most glib, the most forthcoming, the most extroverted, the one who spoke so incredibly well about everything, was the man who carried the standard for Americans into Earth orbit,” Launius said. “It seems quite fitting that he did so.”

Launuis spoke with true affection for Glenn, whom he knows well and describes as one of the nicest men he has ever met. One of the more interesting stories Launius told during the talk was about how Glenn practically smuggled a drugstore camera onto his Friendship 7 flight.

“Nobody at NASA at the time seemed to realize that people would want pictures of Earth from space,” Launius marveled about the agency that now puts out terabytes worth of photos. “Hard to believe. But they were engineers and they were mostly concerned with the technical stuff.”

GI Joe was NOT the first man in space, but many of us who grew up in the 1960s had the GI Joe Mercury capsule, and splashed it down in whatever bodies of water we could create in our backyards. This one is on display at Seattle's Museum of Flight. Photo: Greg Scheiderer.

“[Glenn] took those pictures, they were developed and released to the public, and everybody went crazy, and everybody at NASA said, ‘Why didn’t I think of that?’” Launius said. “It set a standard for what would become normal activity of all human spaceflight missions up to the present.”

The Mercury 7 astronauts achieved hero status even before they accomplished much of anything, which Launius said baffled most of them. But he said the recognition was deserved as the astronauts were the point people for an enormous effort.

“It’s important to remember that while these guys get the fame and the accolades—and clearly they deserve that; they’re the ones risking their lives in a very difficult setting—they have thousands of people behind them making it possible for them to do that,” Launius said.

Glenn had the right stuff to achieve greater fame than any of the others. Launius said that Glenn quit the space program out of concern he would never get to fly again; NASA probably would not want to risk losing the most visible icon of the space age. When Glenn finally did fly again he created quite a stir. It was 1998 when he flew on a mission of the space shuttle Discovery and became, at 77, the oldest person to travel in space. Launius noted that by then the shuttle missions had become mundane in the public eye.

Astronauts rode in Mercury capsules less than 10 feet long and barely six feet in diameter at the base. The thing hurtled through space at speeds greater than 17,000 MPH. This mockup is at the Museum of Flight. Photo: Greg Scheiderer.

“John Glenn is approved to fly into space a second time, and it again is like 1962,” Launius said. “Everybody is excited, all the media show up, and the public is energized in ways I had never seen previously. It was a stunning accomplishment, and it says a lot about the character and the mindset of the public in relationship to this hero that goes back now 50 years.”

Launius is amazed at what we accomplished in such a short time after the Mercury 7 astronauts were introduced in 1959.

“Within a decade we were standing on the Moon and putting the American flag on it, and demonstrating to the world that we are second to none when it comes to science and technology,” he said. “That’s fundamentally what Apollo was about.”

Now, Launius says, we’re poised to take the next giant leap.

“Earth orbit is no longer a frontier. When John Glenn flew in 1962 it was very much a frontier,” he said. “This is now a normal realm of human activity.”

“In 50 years we’ve gone a long way,” he added. “One would like to think in the next 50 years we will go much beyond this.”

Predictions that the world is coming to an end in December represent a kitchen sink of hoaxes, according to Alice Enevoldsen, author of Alice's Astro Info and an educator at the Pacific Science Center. Enevoldsen debunked the doomsayers at this week's meeting of the Seattle Astronomical Society. Photo: Greg Scheiderer.

“It’s really cool how wrong they are,” Enevoldsen, planetarium specialist for the Pacific Science Center and author of Alice’s Astro Info, said during a talk this week at a meeting of the Seattle Astronomical Society. It was difficult to detect any signs of panic among the society membership, and there was much levity in the discussion. Enevoldsen said that while she’s not concerned about the destruction of Earth, the hoax is not entirely a laughing matter.

“The thing about the 2012 hoax is that it is hurting people. There are children writing to scientists saying ‘I’m scared that I’m not going to grow up.’ That just gives me the shivers,” she said. “There are children threatening to kill themselves. This is not OK with me.”

“That’s one of the reasons I use the word hoax. Anybody who supports this non-science stuff about how the world is going to end in 2012 is supporting children threatening to kill themselves.”

Much of the talk about impending doom is fueled by a strange mashup of three stories: the fictional planet Nibiru (and its ancient astronauts) cooked up by novelist Zecharia Sitchin, predictions by “psychic” Nancy Lieder that a “Planet X” would slam into Earth, and the 2009 disaster film 2012. Enevoldsen expressed dismay that people can be swayed by movies, pointed out Lieder’s original prediction was that “X” would smack us in 2003, and noted that astronomers have found no evidence of anything large with the remotest chance of colliding with us.

“You guys all know if there’s a planet that’s close enough to hit Earth at the end of this year we would be able to see it by now,” she told the society gathering.

Another misconception that is driving talk that the end of the world is nigh is that the Mayan calendar “ends” on Dec. 21 because the Maya somehow knew that was the last day.

“Today’s Maya all think we’re insane talking about how they think the world’s going to end,” Enevoldsen said. She explained that while we use month, day, and year to describe any date, the Maya “long count” uses five numbers to do so. A kin is a day, a uinal is about 20 days, a tun is about a year, a katun is roughly 20 years, and a baktun is about 400 years. By coincidence, they all re-set in December.

“It just rolls over. It’s like an odometer,” Enevoldsen said. “It’s not ending, we’re rolling over to the next count.” She said it is something like our turn of the century.

“If I were using the Mayan long count I would be pretty excited on Dec. 20 of this year because it means I get to change over all the numbers on my calendar,” she said. “This is a cool thing, but it’s kind of meaningless.”

Several other apocalyptic notions are included in the kitchen sink, some of them with at least a grain of truth.

• The Earth’s magnetic poles will shift, causing earthquakes and leaving us exposed to radiation. Enevoldsen said we’re sort of due for a shift, but there’s no reason to believe it will happen this year. It’s happened before and we’re still here.
• The Earth’s rotational poles will shift. Enevoldsen said it would take a collision with a massive object to make that happen. There’s nothing on the radar that is on a collision course.
• Solar maximum will arrive and the Sun will zap us with cosmic rays. 2012 does promise to be an active year for sunspots and such, but scientists think the true maximum won’t get here until 2013. This is a roughly 11-year cycle that hasn’t wiped us out yet.
• The planets will align, causing lots of disruption. Enevoldsen pointed out that this simply isn’t true.
• We’ll be lined up with the galactic plane and the center of the galaxy, causing lots of disruption. Enevoldsen said there are some half a dozen definitions of the galactic plane, and there’s no reason to believe that our periodic passes through it mean anything. And we’re aligned with the center of the galaxy every year around the winter solstice.

Enevoldsen suggested not simply dismissing people who have concern about 2012, but instead validating their interest in the subject. But, she said it’s important to share the facts in order to quash the hoax, and suggest astronomical activities to share, such as this year’s solar eclipse or the transit of Venus. She added that professional help might be in order for those truly gripped by fear that the world is doomed.

The 2012 hoax has received enough attention that many mainstream media have taken on the task of providing more information. Enevoldsen suggested the website 2012hoax.org as a great source about the topic. She’s also written her own paper, published by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific and aimed at educators, that explains many of these concepts in greater detail.

Curiosity!

One of the scientific leaders of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory mission will give a talk in Seattle next week. Dr. Pamela Conrad of the Planetary Environments Lab, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center will speak on “Assessing the Habitability of Mars: Exploring Gale Crater with the Curiosity Rover.”

Curiosity is on its way to Mars, scheduled to land in Gale Crater on Aug. 5. Conrad will explain how the rover will go about determining if Mars is or ever has been capable of supporting life.

The free talk will begin at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 23 in room 210 of Kane Hall on the University of Washington campus. The talk is sponsored by the UW Astrobiology Program and Astronomy Department.

The Right Stuff

This Sunday the senior curator  in the Division of Space History at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum will give a talk at the Museum of Flight about “The Right Stuff Revisited: Project Mercury 50 Years On.” Roger Launius, former chief historian for NASA, will look back at the Project Mercury space program and the individuals who carried it out, and discuss what it means today on the eve of the 50th anniversary of John Glenn’s first U.S. orbital flight.

Launius, co-author of Robots in Space: Technology, Evolution, and Interplanetary Travel, is a compelling speaker who gave a couple of talks here in 2010.

The talk begins at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 19 at the museum. Free with admission.

Doom!

Worried about the world ending this December? Alice Enevoldsen says you shouldn’t be. The author of Alice’s Astro Info and planetarium whiz at the Pacific Science Center will discuss “The 2012 Hoax: The Kitchen Sink” at tonight’s meeting of the Seattle Astronomical Society. The kitchen sink of apocalyptic indicators includes the planet Nibiru, the rollover of the Maya Long Count, a long-expected and non-conjunction of planets, some sunspots, and a lack of reversal in the Earth’s magnetic field, and the continued alignment of the Earth, Sun, and galactic center. Enevoldsen will debunk the doomsayers.

SAS meets at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15 in room A-102 of the Physics/Astronomy Building at the University of Washington in Seattle. It’s free and open to the public.

Keep on top of space and astronomy related events in the area by following the Seattle Astronomy calendar.

Dr. Bernard Harris, retired astronaut and founder of the Harris Foundation, spoke Feb. 4 at the Museum of Flight in Seattle.

“It was not only a giant leap for them, but for this little boy to look at that little back and white television and say that he wanted to follow in their footsteps was powerful, because for someone like me, it had never been done before,” Harris explained. “As I looked at who America chose as their right stuff, as you recall there were seven white guys that started that program. There were no minorities, certainly no African Americans, none that I could see out front, and there were no women in the program. Thank God things have changed since that time.”

Harris, who in 1995 became the first African American to walk in space, spoke Feb. 4 at the Museum of Flight in Seattle as part of the museum’s observation of Black History Month and in connection with its Michael P. Anderson Memorial Aerospace Program. Harris told the audience at the museum that he didn’t let the all-white nature of the early space program deter him.

“The lesson for the young folks is that if you have a dream, don’t let what you might see around you that you might think of as an obstacle,” he said. “I would say reverse it and think of it as a challenge. Don’t let that interfere with you accomplishing your dream.”

Harris is big on dreams. He has written a book titled Dream Walker, and he calls dreams the “reality of the future.”

“In order to have a future, you must have a dream,” Harris said. “In order to have a future you must have the ability to see yourself doing whatever it is that you want to do in life.”

Harris is not just a retired astronaut, he’s a scientist and a doctor and a businessman who heads a venture capital firm and established the Harris Foundation to support science, technology, engineering, and math education. Given that background, and the fact that the Anderson program also is focused on education, it wasn’t surprising to hear Harris build a close tie between dreams and education.

“Education is the way to fulfill dreams,” he said. “I see education as the value proposition for human achievement.”

Anderson was a Spokane native who died in 2003 when the space shuttle Columbia wrecked. Harris said astronauts know the danger they’re getting into, but carry on.

“At the heart of all of this is this notion that we would rather die doing what we want to do in life and accomplishing a dream than sit around and let life pass us by,” he said.

Harris gets a little agitated when he hears talk about the “end” of the space program.

“We still have the mandate as an agency to go forward; to put people on the Moon, to put people on near earth asteroids, and perhaps put people on Mars,” Harris said. “All of that work is still being done. The only significant change is that the next generation vehicle is going to be done by private industry.”

“The space program is not going away, it’s just beginning,” he added. “I think it’s going to allow us to do things that have not been done before, and we won’t be held hostage by government restraints and budgets.”