Summary of November 2, 2019 Meeting – Tom Rowan – Apollo 11 Engineer and Yash Chandramouli – Matthew Isakowitz Fellow

We started the meeting with Tom Rowan. He had worked on the actuator for the radar disk on the Apollo lander. He also worked on the arm for the Mars Viking missions. And he has had a multi-decade career in engineering.

Yash Chandramouli shared information about the Matthew Isakowitz Fellowship program. He is a MS/PhD student studying Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford University.  His research interests include spacecraft formation-flying, reinforcement learning, and spacecraft pose estimation from images. The Matthew Isakowitz Fellowship Program made an immense impact on his life and career path and he is excited to talk about his experience!  

-Matthew Isakowitz was an extraordinary young man whose passion for opening the commercial space frontier was only matched by his kindness and generosity to those around him. -Despite leaving us far too soon, Matthew’s contributions left an outsized impact on the space community. Finding inspiration in Carl Sagan’s words, “Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known,”

-Matthew began exercising his passion in high school by serving on the XPRIZE Foundation during the flight of SpaceShipOne, the first privately piloted spacecraft. -In college, Matthew worked on NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto at the Applied Physics Lab, -human space travel at Space Adventures, -and the Dragon capsule at SpaceX.

-Matthew’s career took flight as Associate Director of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, which contributed to the transformation of commercial space pioneers—such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, and Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic—into the notable players they are today. -Afterwards, Matthew continued to push humanity’s frontiers as an entrepreneur and engineer at Planetary Resources and Astranis. -Matthew was granted early acceptance to Phi Beta Kappa Academic Honor Society and graduated summa cum laude with a degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University.  He also earned a Masters Degree in International Science and Technology Policy from George Washington University.  -Matthew was a warm, compassionate, and generous person, who loved life to the fullest and whose enthusiasm for commercial space exploration inspired everyone who knew him.

Both speakers received a Ecosphere.

A little about the Ecospheres: Like the earth, it is a self-contained world. There are shrimp and algae living in a mutually dependent cycle. The shrimp eat the algae and produce waste and carbon-dioxide that the algae then use to grow and produce oxygen that help the shrimp. As long as it receives the right amount of sunlight at the right temperatures, the process will continue.

The earth is a much bigger, more complicated system. But both systems are very contained. The shrimp will forever be trapped to their container. But the people of earth might be able to expand and branch out from this small world. And if we do, it will be because of efforts like our speakers Tom and Yash.

Thank you for all that you do!

We also had a few door prizes that were given out based upon a random drawing.

January 4, 2020 – Monthly Meeting – Guest Speaker: John Diiorio – LaGrange and Lunar Halo Orbit Space Station Designs

Join us for our Monthly NSS North Houston Space Society (http://NorthHoustonSpace.org) meeting. Come join others who are excited about exploring the cosmos, learning how to use the resources of space to improve human life, and who want to go and spread humanity to the rest of the universe.

The meeting will be on Saturday, January 4, 2020 at Barbara Bush Library (6817 Cypresswood Dr.; Spring, TX 77379) at 2PM.

John Diiorio will be discussing several possible space stations designs for LaGrange and Lunar halo orbits, including their size, shape, stability, reliability and more.

Mr. DiIorio has a Mechanical Engineering degree in power, propulsion, and energy plus a diploma in Quality and Reliability Engineering. He has presented at professional societies including ASQ and NOMADS, and also at NSS,NASA Lunch and Learns at JCS, NASA JSC ATS (Annual Technology Symposium), and outreach events at GRB convention center and NRG center in Houston. Also, he lectures and supports school provided STEM conferences to encourage students to participate in science fairs and to start STEM college careers.

Meetings open to all age groups and interest levels. Come explore with us the potential that developing and exploring space has to better life here on earth and to open up new frontiers creating new perspectives that can help enrich the human experience.

The Vision of NSS is people living and working in thriving communities beyond the Earth, and the use of the vast resources of space for the dramatic betterment of humanity.

The Mission of NSS is to promote social, economic, technological, and political change in order to expand civilization beyond Earth, to settle space and to use the resulting resources to build a hopeful and prosperous future for humanity. Accordingly, we support steps toward this goal, including human spaceflight, commercial space development, space exploration, space applications, space resource utilization, robotic precursors, defense against asteroids, relevant science, and space settlement oriented education.

Website:  http://NorthHoustonSpace.org
MeetUp: https://www.meetup.com/Future-North-Houston-National-Space-Society-Chapter/
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/NssNorthHoustonSpaceSociety/

December 14, 2019 – Monthly Meeting – Guest Speaker: Trent Martin from Intuitive Machines

Join us for our Monthly NSS North Houston Space Society (http://NorthHoustonSpace.org) meeting. Come join others who are excited about exploring the cosmos, learning how to use the resources of space to improve human life, and who want to go and spread humanity to the rest of the universe.

The meeting will be on Saturday, December 14, 2019 at Barbara Bush Library (6817 Cypresswood Dr.; Spring, TX 77379) at 2PM.

Our guest speaker will be Trent Martin, Vice President of Aerospace Services for Intuitive Machines. Intuitive Machines is one of 9 companies selected by NASA to deliver payloads to the surface of the moon as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS). Intuitive Machines is one of two companies are currently working under an active task order and plans to land their Nova-C Lunar Lander in 2021.

Trent Martin has a BS in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Texas in Austin and a MBA from the University of Houston in Clear Lake. He has served in a variety of positions at Lockheed Martin including as Structures Engineer, Project Manager, Contract Capture Manager. He has worked at NASA in many roles including Manufacturing Manager and Assistant Director for Advanced Development Projects.

Meetings open to all age groups and interest levels. Come explore with us the potential that developing and exploring space has to better life here on earth and to open up new frontiers creating new perspectives that can help enrich the human experience.

The Vision of NSS is people living and working in thriving communities beyond the Earth, and the use of the vast resources of space for the dramatic betterment of humanity.

The Mission of NSS is to promote social, economic, technological, and political change in order to expand civilization beyond Earth, to settle space and to use the resulting resources to build a hopeful and prosperous future for humanity. Accordingly, we support steps toward this goal, including human spaceflight, commercial space development, space exploration, space applications, space resource utilization, robotic precursors, defense against asteroids, relevant science, and space settlement oriented education.

Website:  http://NorthHoustonSpace.org
MeetUp: https://www.meetup.com/Future-North-Houston-National-Space-Society-Chapter/
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/NssNorthHoustonSpaceSociety/

Nov. 2, 2019 – Monthly Meeting – featuring Tom Rowan – Apollo 11 Engineer and Yash Chandramouli – Matthew Isakowitz Fellow

Join us for our Monthly NSS North Houston Space Society (http://NorthHoustonSpace.org) meeting. Come join others who are excited about exploring the cosmos, learning how to use the resources of space to improve human life, and who want to go and spread humanity to the rest of the universe.

Our November 2, 2018 meeting will be at Barbara Bush Library (6817 Cypresswood Dr.; Spring, TX 77379) at 2PM.

We will have Tom Rowan come speak to us. He designed the actuator for the radar disc on the Lunar Lander used on Apollo 11 which landed Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong on the moon on July 24, 1969.  He also invented the hermetically sealed DC motors that were used by the NASA Viking Lander on Mars in 1976.  And he has over 50 years of engineering experience. 

And we will also have Yash Chandramouli come talk to us about the Matthew Isakowitz Fellowship. He is a MS/PhD student studying Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford University.  His research interests include spacecraft formation-flying, reinforcement learning, and spacecraft pose estimation from images.

The Matthew Isakowitz Fellowship Program made an immense impact on his life and career path and he is excited to talk about his experience!  

If you are a college junior, college senior, or graduate student who intends to pursue a full-time career in the commercial spaceflight industry, then you should apply before the December 2, 2019 deadline: https://www.matthewisakowitzfellowship.org/apply

Meetings open to all age groups and interest levels. Come explore with us the potential that developing and exploring space has to better life here on earth and to open up new frontiers creating new perspectives that can help enrich the human experience.

The Vision of NSS is people living and working in thriving communities beyond the Earth, and the use of the vast resources of space for the dramatic betterment of humanity.

The Mission of NSS is to promote social, economic, technological, and political change in order to expand civilization beyond Earth, to settle space and to use the resulting resources to build a hopeful and prosperous future for humanity. Accordingly, we support steps toward this goal, including human spaceflight, commercial space development, space exploration, space applications, space resource utilization, robotic precursors, defense against asteroids, relevant science, and space settlement oriented education.

Website:  http://NorthHoustonSpace.org
MeetUp: https://www.meetup.com/Future-North-Houston-National-Space-Society-Chapter/
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/NssNorthHoustonSpaceSociety/

Summary of October 5, 2019 Meeting

We had a wonderful October meeting at the Barbara Bush Library.

Nathan Price, chapter founder and president, introduced himself:

And shared the Vision of the National Space Society (NSS):

He also shared recent space news. There were 7 launches since the last meeting (https://spaceflightnow.com/launch-log/):

October 3, 2019 – NASA astronaut Nick Hague, Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin and United Arab Emirates space agency astronaut Hazza AlMansoori return safely to earth in a  Russian Soyuz MS-12 capsule from the International Space Stations (ISS).

Intuitive Machines announced that they would use a SpaceX Falcon 9 in 2021 to launch their Nova-C lunar lander

We are excited about the progress that Intuitive Machines is making. And we look forward to our December 14, 2019 meeting when Trent Martin, VP of Aerospace Services will be speaking to our chapter.

We also talked about Elon Musk’s starship update:

And we look forward to the great things coming up. In a couple of months Starship Mk 1 will travel to 20kms. In 6 months it achieves orbit. And then in 2023 the DearMoon project to send a group of artists around the moon.

The Anastasia Prosina shared with us the projects she is working on in Space Architecture.

Master student of Sasakawa International Center for Space Architecture, University of Houston, will give a talk on why space architecture is a critical point in any space mission. She will cover projects she has been involved in, in particular, a Mars Analog Habitat commissioned by Mars Society.

Afterwards Mallesh Maharana shared his weightless experience

We also covered some upcoming events:

October 5, 2019 https://moon.nasa.gov/observe

World Space Week, October 4-10 annually, is the largest space event on Earth.

“The Moon:  Gateway to the Stars.”

“The General Assembly declares 4 to 10 October World Space Week to celebrate each year at the international level the contributions of space science and technology to the betterment of the human condition”

UN General Assembly resolution,
6 December 1999

https://www.WorldSpaceWeek.org/

Thank you, Anastasia and Mallesh for sharing your knowledge and experience. They each received an Ecosphere.

We also had a few drawings.

Next Meeting Saturday, October 5, 2019, 2 PM – Space Architecture with Anastasia Prosina

Join us at Barbara Bush Library Saturday, October 5, 2019 – 2PM.

Monthly NSS North Houston Space Society (http://NorthHoustonSpace.org) meeting. Come learn about Space Architecture, the NASA High School Aerospace Scholar’s program, and what it is like to experience weightlessness. Hear about the latest news in space and discuss with other interested people.

Featured Speaker: Anastasia Prosina
Master student of Sasakawa International Center for Space Architecture, University of Houston, will give a talk on why space architecture is a critical point in any space mission. She will cover projects she has been involved in, in particular, a Mars Analog Habitat commissioned by Mars Society.

Also speaking: Mallesh Maharana
As the winner of the 2018 Space Vacation Contest, he was able to experience weightlessness on a ZERO-G flight. (Scott Kelly also was on that flight)

Notice for all High School Juniors. NASA High School Aerospace Scholar’s program – Applications due October 23, 2019 More info at: https://nas.okstate.edu/has/

Meetings open to all age groups and interest levels. Come explore with us the potential that developing and exploring space has to better life here on earth and to open up new frontiers creating new perspectives that can help enrich the human experience.

The Vision of NSS is people living and working in thriving communities beyond the Earth, and the use of the vast resources of space for the dramatic betterment of humanity.

The Mission of NSS is to promote social, economic, technological, and political change in order to expand civilization beyond Earth, to settle space and to use the resulting resources to build a hopeful and prosperous future for humanity. Accordingly, we support steps toward this goal, including human spaceflight, commercial space development, space exploration, space applications, space resource utilization, robotic precursors, defense against asteroids, relevant science, and space settlement oriented education.

Website:  http://NorthHoustonSpace.org
MeetUp: https://www.meetup.com/Future-North-Houston-National-Space-Society-Chapter/
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/NssNorthHoustonSpaceSociety/

Summary of September 7, 2019 Meeting Featured Speaker: Carl Carruthers, Jr. – Chief Scientist, Nanoracks LLC

The meeting started with chapter president, Nathan Price giving an overview of NSS and some recent space events.

What is our future? If we were to come back in 100 years, 500 years, or even a thousand years, how far would we have gone.

Would our future be only limited to the earth?

Or would humanity have started making use of the limitless resources and possibilities of space? Our future can be earth plus all of this:

and More!!

How do we make that happen? First thing is we need to dream about it, research it, educate and excite each other about the possibilities. And that is the goal of the National Space Society (NSS).

The vision of NSS is “People living and working in thriving communities beyond the Earth, and the use of the vast resources of space for the dramatic betterment of humanity.” (If that is something that you share, join us!)

SpaceX did there first 150m flight of a Raptor engine

This engine will power the Starship which will be the most powerful rocket ever built. But it will be the cheapest per launch because it will be 100% reusable. SpaceX is working on a full scale version that will be tested in 2020.

Then we had our guest speaker, Carl Carruthers, Jr. Ph.D., the chief scientist from Nanoracks come and speak.

He shared a little about his career.

And he talked about the work that Nanoracks does to assist researchers and companies to get experiments into space and to get the data back. http://nanoracks.com/

We gave Dr. Carruthers an Ecosphere to show our appreciation for him making the drive to North Houston to share the work that he has been doing.

We also had a chance to recognize Doug Hall for his support of the June meeting:

And several people walked away with some door prizes.

Next Meeting, Saturday, September 7, 2019 – 2PM – Barbara Bush Library – Featured Speaker: Carl Carruthers, Jr. – Chief Scientist, Nanoracks LLC

Join us at Barbara Bush Library Saturday, September 7, 2019 – 2PM. (Note that our meeting times have change.)

Our featured speaker is Carl Carruthers, Jr., Chief Scientist at NanoRacks LLC.

Dr. Carruthers is the Chief Scientist for the commercial space services provider NanoRacks. In this multifaceted role, he works directly with client researchers to assist in designing their microgravity projects, and acts as a liaison between principal investigators and NanoRacks technical staff over the course of their projects. Dr. Carruthers also provides inputs on NanoRacks science hardware design and meeting the future needs of microgravity researchers.
Dr. Carruthers received his B.S. in Chemistry at Florida Atlantic University and M.S. in Biochemistry and BioPhysics at Texas A&M University. As a researcher in the lab of Dr. John Baxter at The Houston Methodist Research Institute, he studied the structure and function of nuclear receptors and their co-regulators. During this time he also completed his Ph.D. in Biochemistry under Dr. Jan-Ake Gustafsson at The University of Houston’s Center for Nuclear Receptors and Cell Signaling. Dr. Carruthers has been the PI of multiple microgravity experiments on reduced gravity aircraft, the Space Shuttle, and the International Space Station.
When not chasing rockets, Dr. Carruthers can be found flying, backpacking, mountain climbing, or discovering other ways to escape gravity.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carl-carruthers-jr/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/payloadwrangler

Website:  http://NorthHoustonSpace.org
MeetUp: https://www.meetup.com/Future-North-Houston-National-Space-Society-Chapter/
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/NssNorthHoustonSpaceSociety/

Summary of August 3, 2019 Meeting

August 3, 2019 was one of our most well-attended meetings yet. Nathan gave an overview of the NSS and a recap of some of the space events since the last meeting. Then our featured speaker Anima Sabale journey of exploring her dream of becoming an astronaut. (Read a summary of Anima’s presentation here.) We closed the meeting with a drawing for Lego Apollo Lunar lander.

Now is an amazing time to be involved in space. Launches that used to happen months apart are now happening multiple times a week. There were 10 launches since the last meeting.

•July 10, 2019 – Soyuz 2-1v – Kosmos 2535-2538 – 4 Russian Military Satellites
•July 10, 2019 – Arianespace Vega rocket – UAE Surveillance Satellite (failed) •July 13, 2019 – Proton – Spektr-RG – X-ray telescope
•July 20, 2019 –  Soyuz – ISS 59S – 3 astronauts to the ISS
(Andrew “Drew” Morgan (NASA), Luca Parmitano (ESA), Alexander Skvortsov (Roscosmos))
•July 22, 2019 – GSLV Mk.3 – Chandrayaan 2 – India’s second mission to the moon.
•July 25, 2019 – Hyperbola 1 • Multi-payload – i-Space, a commercial space company in China – launches several small payloads including CAS-7B amateur radio satellite
•July 25, 2019 – Falcon 9 – SpaceX CRS 18 – supplies to the ISS
•July 25, 2019 – Long March 2C – Yaogan 30-05 – surveillance satellites for the Chinese military •July 30, 2019 – Soyuz – Meridian – communications satellite for the Russian Ministry of Defense.
•July 31, 2019 – Soyuz – Progress 73P – Supplies to the ISS
(See SpaceFlight Now’s launch log for details about these and other launches: https://spaceflightnow.com/launch-log/ )

The Planetary Society Announces LightSail 2 is a Success (
http://www.planetary.org/blogs/jason-davis/lightsail-2-successful-flight-by-light.html )

The Planetary Society’s ligthsail was launched on a Falcon Heavy as part of the STP-2 Mission.
“The STP-2 multi-manifest (rideshare) launch will demonstrate the capabilities of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch vehicle and provide critical data supporting certification for future National Security Space Launch (NSSL) missions. In addition, SMC will use this mission as a pathfinder for the development of mission assurance policies and procedures related to the reuse of launch vehicle boosters. The STP-2 payloads are assembled from a host of mission partners including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), DoD research laboratories, and university research projects. STP-2 provides a unique space access opportunity for DoD and inter-agency science and technology missions that directly enhance the space capabilities of the U.S. and its allies and partners.”
https://www.spacex.com/stp-2

SpaceX performs a free-flying hopper test of StarHopper. This is a key test of the SpaceX Starship which will be able to carry more than 100 people into space at a time. There will be more tests later this year with orbital test flights as early as next year.

The StarShip will revolutionize space travel. It may be hard to truly understand how transformational this will be. But there is something in our past that can help.

Imagine being in the age when airplanes looked like this:

Image result for barnstormers

Only carried a single person, didn’t fly so far, maybe wasn’t too safe. Imagine now that I try to convince you that you will be able to get on a plane in Houston, pay only $1,000 and be in Tokyo in less than 14 hours. Imagine how you might dismiss this idea.

But then I show you this:

Image result for 747

You will be like “of course the air transportation system will develop into what we have today.”. Well, the starship, 100% reusable, most power rocket built, and cheapest to launch rocket ever will change space transportation (and earth transportation) in a similar way.

SpaceX will be flying a group around the moon in 2023.


https://dearmoon.earth/

She talked about her experience with HERA (Human Exploration and Research Analog).
HERA is a unique three-story habitat designed to serve as an analog for isolation, confinement, and remote conditions in exploration scenarios. Learn more at https://www.nasa.gov/analogs/hera/
You can also volunteer for a mission: https://herastudy.jsc.nasa.gov/

Anima had also participated in Project Possum (https://projectpossum.org/ )

Project PoSSUM operates several programs including:

Anima also participated in a simulation at the Mars Desert Research Station operated by the MarsSociety
http://mdrs.marssociety.org/

The audience was amazed by her experiences.

Connect with Anima on social media to learn more as she continues her journey.

Website: https://animapatilsabale.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/animasabale/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/animpatilsabale/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AnimaOnTwit
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/astroanima/?hl=en

Thank you Anima for speaking to our group.

And we had a drawing for a Lego Apollo Lunar Lander.