Astronaut for Hire

Moon 101

8/25/2009 10:24:00 PM

I stumbled upon an excellent lecture series called "Moon 101 - A Course in Lunar Science for non-specialists", which was presented by Dr. Paul Spudis and other lunar experts to NASA Johnson Space Center employees from June-October 2008. The lectures cover a range of topics related to lunar geology and exploration in a form that's easy to understand. They are available both in video and PDF slide forms. Although the website says the videos only work with Internet Explorer or Netscape, I found that they worked just fine in Firefox on a Mac (not Safari though).

---

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!

8/21/2009 02:37:00 PM

No, I'm not talking about drag racing monster trucks.

Usually, when I have free time on Sunday nights, I try to watch The Simpsons and Family Guy on Fox, but I might just have to change that routine. A blog reader who works for the National Geographic Channel tipped me to a couple of upcoming space-related programs. Alien Earths and Hawking's Universe will air back-to-back on Sunday, August 23. In addition, the struggling space-based relationship drama Defying Gravity continues with its fifth episode on ABC (see previous episodes on Hulu). With all of these shows to watch, I guess my TiVo will get a workout this Sunday.

---

FMARS Video #9: From Gypsum to Water

8/20/2009 07:56:00 AM

Recall last month's post on our FMARS EVA to Gemini Hills to collect gypsum. I just finished editing some video of Vernon's water extraction demonstration and uploaded it to YouTube. This is my ninth FMARS video episode, and it may be my last unless I can eek out some time to make another one (maybe of our UAV flights).

---

MDRS Call for Applicants

8/18/2009 05:29:00 AM

Do you want a chance to gain some first hand experience as an astronaut crewmember on a simulated Mars mission? The Mars Society is currently looking for people to apply to the 9th season of the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in Utah. MDRS is similar to FMARS, but crews generally only spend 2-week rotations at the site, which is only about 7 miles (11 km) from the town of Hanksville.

---

Mapping FMARS EVAs

8/09/2009 03:11:00 PM

In addition to my seismic and electromagnetic projects, I made other significant contributions to the FMARS 2009 mission, including creating our mission patch and all of our EVA maps. In this post, I'll describe the maps. These are more more than mere geographic illustrations since they include georeferenced photos, heart rate and other information. My main goal was to integrate geotagged photos and GPS tracks within the geographic context of Google Earth to help the interested public share in our experiences.

To accomplish this, one first needs geotagged photos. Last year, Wired Magazine had a good article introducing the concept, and an Outdoor Photography article summarized the concept nicely:

Geotagging is a way to add location or GPS data to your photos to help you organize, search, find and share your images. In the past, it was difficult for even the most advanced photographers to geotag images. There was a patchwork of technology that could do it, but it was by no means easy. Recent technology has taken geotagging mainstream, making it accessible to all photographers.

---

Beard Blog

8/04/2009 04:18:00 PM

There's hair on my face. Maybe you're wondering why.

One of my least favorite things about "normal" life is shaving. It's time-consuming and painful. Plus, a few hours after going through all of the trouble to shave, the hair comes back. When I started doing scientific field work about 11 years ago I made myself a promise:

Field work time is a holiday from shaving.

---

FMARS Summary

8/02/2009 06:01:00 AM

The FMARS-XII 2009 expedition reached its formal conclusion at the 12th Annual International Mars Society Convention. Four of the six crewmembers were able to attend the meeting and address the Convention last night. I unfortunately could not be there, so I recorded a video to show in my absence. You can watch my video blog #7 here:

The Mars Society press release summarizing our accomplishments is reproduced below:

---