I’ve decided that for the meantime I’ll maintain this domain until I get a few things sorted out for an undertaking I’m planning for the next year.  If that happens, the content of this current site will be printed off and saved to my computer but otherwise erased from the Internet.  Why?

This blog is most likely to become the site where I will report back to friends, family, and fans as I undertake a solo walk across the United States of America from New York City to Los Angeles.  It will be a once in a lifetime opportunity that if I do, will occur next spring-summer.  I’m looking for a cause to walk for and am adding up the costs/benefits at present, so an official decision is still a ways away.

But if I decide to walk, what better site to chronicle it on then Zeitgeist Zephyr, Spirit of the Westward Wind.  I’ll be walking west and in my walk across America, document the zeitgeist of the age.  I will have just one opportunity to do this and that will be during what would be my Junior year of college.  Of course, in taking time off from school to do this, I will be graduating at a later date, but it is a sacrifice I’m willing to make before my life becomes absorbed by my passion for space exploration.  A walk across America will surely cement my roots and mind to terra firma and the land of E Pluribus Unum.

Once again, this site will no longer be used to blog about politics, but I will update frequently regarding my theoretical trek, which at present I’m taking fairly seriously despite what the naysayers might be saying!  Stay tuned for more updates!

Once the new domain and blog are set up, it will be found at:

www.newspaceodyssey.com

The general format that I’ll be aiming for will have all the old, non-space related Zeitgeist Zephyr posts chronicled away onto their own page on the site, with all the older space posts, and the new posts to come, posted on the main site.

I’ve truly enjoyed exploring my “inner blogger” over the past three and a half years, covering everything from spaceflight to politics, but for the sake of growing my readership and focusing my own interests, NewSpace Odyssey will allow my blog to have focus and wider meaning and depth, on the Internet and in my own mind, and, most importantly, for those who at present and in the future will be reading it.

Happy New Year to everyone and I’ll see you on the other side of the blogosphere as the spirit of the westward wind carries this blog into the space age.

In a statement released by the director of Roscosmos (Russian Federal Space Agency) Anatoly Perminov, he said “I don’t remember exactly, but it seems to me it could hit the Earth by 2032.” 

While the asteroid does in fact pose a threat in an April 13, 2029 encounter with the Earth, the risk of impact has been ruled out as the 885 foot asteroid will pass no closer than 18,500 miles (to put that in perspective, geostationary satellites orbit at 22,000 miles).  Gravitational perturbations from Earth may deflect the asteroid onto a new path that will increase the odds of impact on subsequent passes, but it is not until a 2036 pass that the odds give an even reasonable chance of impact (a 1 in 250,000 chance, up from an initial estimate of 1 in 45,000 chance.)  The 2032 pass does not even amount to a blip on the radar.

The seeming lack of information that the Russians have on the issue aside, I do applaud the move as a significant recognition of the risk that asteroids pose to humanities future and our ability to prevent a cosmic apocalypse.  Though the techniques likely to be used in such a mission will be less than extravagant (don’t expect a Bruce Willis-type mission to blow the asteroid in half with nukes), the development of such technologies will be crucial for future, more threatening encounters. 

In the same statement, Perminov invited NASA, ESA, the Chinese space agency, and other space programs to join in the endeavour.  Such cooperation will be fundamental, obviously lowering the costs for all, but the technology and information to be gained from such a feat would prove beneficial for everyone involved and will surely pave the way for future activities, beyond deflecting asteroids, the least of which would be mineral acquisition.  Perhaps this could convince President Obama as he decides on the future of NASA’s manned spaceflight program to include an asteroid mission of its own?

We Will Prevail

By “The Zeitgeist Zephyr”

The aughts are out, the teens are in

A decade past, the present in spin

Reflecting back on times of old

Painful tears begin to flow 

The decade started full of hope

But people fast had to learn to cope

As towers fell and bombs were dropped

Mere retaliation was deemed not enough

Wars were started to never end

Taxes were cut, we continued to spend

Good triumphed over evil, with a victory bittersweet

The pain grew at home, soldiers dead in Iraqi streets

No weapons were found, but liberty now reigns

In a troubled nation, struggling in vain 

Yes, through the pain we all have suffered

Into the future, hope is our cover

To heal the pain, we must move on

And learn from our mistakes, not doing so is wrong

We will prevail! We will renew!

The aughts are gone!  The teens are new!

Waves crashed on distant shores

Earthquakes shook mountains, a tremendous roar

Thousands died, millions cursed their affliction

Yet hope remained, indeed a strong conviction

Then disaster struck in the Crescent City

A hit close to home, it was still one of many

A mile wide twister took out a mile wide town

The residents picked themselves up, a remarkable turn around

A model for the future, in the midst of great strife

Hope emerges, the town breathes new life

Yet war continues, and thousands die

Families at home wonder why? And they cry.

Freedom fights an uphill battle

Nearby tyrants begin to saber rattle

Battle cries ring out, the threat of new war ensues

Nations everywhere protest, but try to diffuse

Differing views come head to head

Without mediation, how many could now be dead?

Yes, through the pain we all have suffered

Into the future, hope is our cover

To heal the pain, we must move on

And learn from our mistakes, not doing so is wrong

We will prevail! We will renew!

The aughts are gone!  The teens are new!

The bull soon grows weary, the decade nearly out

The housing bubble crashes with questionable fallout

The DOW follows suit, and it soon becomes clear

Recession is upon us, the times are very dear

As families begin to struggle, forced out of their homes

The economy heaves, a collective groan

Talk of depression, one for the ages!  

The brink of socialism, healthcare debate rages!

The right is wrong, the left is inept

A nation of mortar, is now a divided sept

Once a monument of stone becomes a deck of cards

Seething rage, boils like molten tar

Tar!  Tar those responsible for this decade of pain!

Let our retaliation fall down like a torrent of fiery rain!

Yes, through the pain we all have suffered

Into the future, hope is our cover

To heal the pain, we must move on

And learn from our mistakes, not doing so is wrong

We will prevail! We will renew!

The aughts are gone!  The teens are new!

Seize the day!  The new decade is yours

Make of it what you wish, but do not ignore

The ten years of the past, which painful they were

A lesson in history that life will endure

We are here today, with an uncertain tomorrow

Yet the sun will rise the same, through joy or sorrow 

A century of easy access to the automobile has transformed the American landscape into a vast unending plot of land spanning oceans to one that is cris-crossed with roads as easily accessible to the casual traveler as birds have access to the air.  Where once people were confined to their region of the country, with dreams of traveling elsewhere perhaps being realized just once, if ever, in their life, the entire continent can now be reached in 3 very long days of traveling by someone with a central location.  Every road holds the potential of bringing a traveler to thousands of destinations, locally or farther away.  It is why, even in harder times economically, Americans do not lose or lack any ability to move about the continent.  Statistically, more people travel during times of economic hardship then any other time.

The investment that can and should be made in America’s vast landscape transcends anything that even a Ken Burn’s documentary can address.  The landscape speaks for itself.  From snow capped indigo mountains, framed by deep blue skies and amber plains to oceans meeting land by crashing into its high cliffs or kissing its shores on a tropic coast, the land itself speaks its own defense on the extent to which it should be valued.  That same voice though is what affects everyone, from environmentalists and ranchers to suburbanites and pop-stars.

Sometimes the voice is as loud as a mountain waterfall or a summer tornado, but sometimes it’s as soft as a sunset or wind rustling Aspen leaves through a mountain pass.  Often times the voice is something else entirely, a sweeping mountain vista or the smell of wildflowers blooming in spring on a prairie.  Indeed the voice comes in many forms, but when listened to, it has the ability to change a person from the inside out.

God spoke into existence creation and His echo can be heard everywhere in the American landscape.

Numerous road trips across the country have presented me with an opportunity to listen to God’s echo, and each trip has left me a little bit different from when I left home and hit the road initially.  It has been my conclusion that any landscape where the sights, sounds, smells and even touch of the land can overwhelm any of the advice provided by Western society, then it is a landscape worth listening to.  In my experience, no better insight into what life means has ever been offered to match the fruits of insight born by the land itself.

If I had to offer a new years resolution to anyone for 2010, it would be not just take a walk and smell the roses, so to speak, but rather to take a walk and take pause.  The voice of America’s landscape is elusive, but when it is heard, it transcends even the loudest preaching of a society dominated by information overload and over stimulation from electronic trinkets.  In terms of the three steps of advice that might be the only thing that sticks with you once you’re done reading this: unplug, pause, and listen.

You don’t need to be religious to hear what I call God’s echo, but I believe that in the landscape of this continent called North America, every person can find their purpose in life and useful insights to guide them through the daily grind.  Its not a huge time commitment and I hope that if you do decide to take time to unplug, pause, and listen that you will be rewarded with the same fruits that I have found.

A link to the lyrics can be found here.

Augustine Commission and Obama Space Policy

Unless an announcement is made later this year, it is entirely likely that early 2010 will see the creation of a new space policy for the United States following President Obama’s announcement of his official plans for NASA in the wake of the Augustine Commission.  That future is still unknown, but the options could range from extending the shuttle program through the time Orion is available with a flight a year, all the way to scrapping the Orion capsule and Ares I booster entirely in favor of a commercial alternative.  It is simply too early to know what President Obama will decide.  His nievety of the space program makes it difficult to predict the outcome, and it will be a game of wait and see until then.

Space Shuttle Program Ends

As was outlined by President Bush in his 2004 ‘Vision for Space Exploration Speech’, the space shuttles are to be retired this year following completion of the International Space Station, which itself is due to be completed this year.  The shuttles, flying since Columbia made its first flight in 1981, have been NASA’s longest operating spacecraft and are to be replaced by the more modest Orion space capsule around 2015.  There are five flights scheduled, all to the International Space Station.  The flights, designated STS-130 to 134 will carry the remaining modules and supplies to the station to get it ready for the post shuttle era, including the Node 3 module, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, a disposable Multipurpose Logistics Module that will be left at the station, and the Mini Research Module 1.

The five year gap between the Shuttle and Orion will be filled by buying tickets on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft, in operation since the 1960’s. As stable as U.S./Russian relations may seem now, a NASA/Roscosmos agreement for buying tickets on Soyuz is limited; one by how many tickets the U.S. Congress will buy and two how stable U.S./Russian relations remain.  The hot button issue that could affect American access to space in the years prior to Orion’s first flight is Iran.  If the U.S. and Russia become bitterly divided on the issue, American astronauts may simply have no way to access the International Space Station until the new NASA ship or some commercial alternative is available.  This is a scenario that played out a few years ago when wording was discovered in the Iran Non-Proliferation Act that prohibited NASA from purchasing seats on the Soyuz as part of a Congressional response to Russia’s stance on Iran.  The wording was amended so that NASA could continue to buy seats, as at the time the shuttles were not regularly flying following the Columbia accident.

A shaky and fragile future is ahead for American spaceflight.

China Rising

Current plans on the board have China launching their first space station, Tiangong 1, by years end, followed by the Shenzhou 10 manned flight.  Shenzhou 1o will be China’s fourth manned flight and the establishment of a station would mark yet another milestone for the burgeoning space program.  China is currently building its manned program up to a future Moon landing, a fact that has been frequently overlooked and doesn’t recieve the attention it should from lawmakers in Washington.  However the secretive nature of China’s space program makes it hard to know for sure if Tiangong 1 will be flight ready by years end as many are speculating, but it will certainly capture the headlines and will hopefully be the message that Capitol Hill needs to hear to ensure that NASA receives the funding it needs for its Moon program and for trail blazing missions to worlds beyond.  The space programs of the United States and China are subconsciously in a space race and the time is rapidly approaching that the nations themselves will be in a new space race as well.

The U.S. likes to think that the Moon is won and theirs, but only if a return is made a permanent presence established.  Space conquests, like any on Earth, depend on concrete action, and not just some abandoned landers and flags from 40 years ago.

New Space

Earlier this month, SpaceShipTwo was finally revealed, 5 years after SpaceShipOne made its record breaking flights and captured the X-Prize.  The WhiteKnightTwo has already been put through several tests, but as a duo the test flights slated for them in the coming year will be a first.  Like SpaceShipOne, a series of test flights will commence with WK2 and SS2 taking off, flying around, and landing.  The first individual tests of SS2 will be glide tests, where it will get dropped from WK2 and glide back to a safe landing.  The glide tests will transition to high atmospheric flight tests, utilizing its engines for the first time before moving into test flights into suborbital space.  For the sake of safety, these tests will take as long as necessary.  Current projections have the first paying customers flying into space sometime in 2011, but that date could be pushed back if problems arise.

The milestone for 201o?  If SS2 reaches space, it is entirely likely that, much like 2004, 2010 will be only the second year in history where more manned flights into space were made by a privately built spaceship than by government built ships.  (In 2004, SpaceShipOne flew a total of three flights into space and Russia launched two Soyuz craft to the space station.)  A high goal to reach considering the robust Shuttle flight schedule discussed earlier.

The other milestone everyone will be eagerly watching and waiting for will be the test flights of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spaceship.  As part of NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services contract, they are required to make three test flights of their vehicle before Dragon is utilized to resupply the International Space Station.  Their contract with NASA has 12 ISS resupply flights between 2010 and 2015.  Astronauts have already been trained to fly the ship and dock it once it comes within range of the station, the remaining question is when the flight will occur.  It is currently scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral in February, a date subject to change.

Solar System

The Japanese space probe Hayabusa will make its return to Earth in June, marking the end of a mission launched in 2003 to capture and return to Earth a sample from the asteroid Itokawa.  The status of the sample is unknown, but the craft became the first to ‘accidentally’ land on an asteroid and then to take off again.  The probe has been plagued with problems and is currently suffering problems with its ion engines but it is expected to deliver its sample capsule as planned.

NASA’s Deep Impact now (EPOXI) comet probe will  fly by Comet 103P/Hartley in October, marking the second comet it will have visited following a flyby and successful deployment of an impactor in 2005 on Comet 9p Tempel.  It’s original target was to be Comet Boethin, but when the comet could not be relocated Comet Hartley was selected.

NASA’s Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity continue to operate 0n the surface of Mars, but wheel failures and being stuck in a sand dune threaten to end Spirit’s mission.  Talk has started that come January there may be an attempt to revive the Phoenix lander at the Martian north pole as winter ends.  The lander has not been heard from since November 2008 and its health status is unknown.  Its electronics hardware was not designed for the frigid temperatures experienced in the Martian winter, an icy -195 degrees Farhenheit (Phoenix was only tested to -67 degrees Farhenheit).  Cassini continues to orbit Saturn and explore its Moons and New Horizons is continuing its uneventful trek towards an encounter with Pluto in 2015.  NASA’s Lunar Reconaissance Orbiter is continuing to explore and photograph the Moon in unprecedented detail in preparation for missions to come.

2010 looks to be an eventful year for space exploration, especially in the area of space tourism.  I feel 2010 will be looked at as a turning point in space exploration, perhaps more pivotal than 1981 or 1969, because for the first time, space will be well on its way to being accessible to all.  When SS2 begins flying for paying customers in 2011, we will have firmly established ourselves in the Space Age.

I applaud your creation of the Augustine Commission to evaluate the future of NASA’s human spaceflight program.

It has come to my attention that Senator Shelby (AL) has raised concerns regarding the possible appointment of lobbyists on the commission.

It is clear to me that Mr. Shelby’s stance against commercial spaceflight lobbyists being placed on the panel is out of his own pro-NASA stance, and I urge you to look past these allegations in making your decision on NASA’s future in the weeks ahead.

Commercial spaceflight represents an opportunity to open up space for all, not just for government activities, and it dramatically reduces the costs of spaceflight as well.  As far as I can see, Mr. Shelby is in favor of the status quo, with NASA staying in bed with big aerospace contractors that while offering the lowest bid, have hardly changed their practices in the last 50 years of spaceflight.

The time to usher in a new era for space exploration is now.  I urge you to still consider having commercial spaceflight play a major role in upcoming NASA endeavors.  Let’s open up space for everyone in a new manifest destiny.

Yours Truly

No, today in what will be the first real post I’ve had in ages and likely the last one until the Christmas holiday season, I’ll be regaling the college culture that embodies not just the all-too stereotypical party life, but also the larger academic realm, both inside and outside the classroom.

College students today are some of the busiest people in the world.  In no other atmosphere that I’ve discovered is the opportunity given to take on a full time job (plus some) per week in academic classes while simultaneously being encouraged to ‘get involved’ and ‘find your passion.’  All the while, there’s the challenge of meeting new people everyday, sometimes from other corners of the globe, and figuring out how to interact with them.  It’s a delicate balancing act that few can maintain without accruing some form of stress.  It’s an unavoidable side affect.

But sometimes, in the midst of the chaos, there are weeks or even entire semesters where something clicks and everything goes right.  What I’m talking about is when a college student enters the flow, and rather than fighting the current and worrying about what’s downstream, they take on life as it hits them, change course when needed, but generally just sit along for the ride.  They take on a simultaneous role as observer and doer, relishing in every moment that comes their way.

When shown the daily schedule of a college student, some people might be shocked that so much can happen in one day and be accomplished, but the college student takes on sometimes two lives and can gain so much experience in a day that the flood of knowledge simultaneously reaches a level of stress and enjoyment that a divine ecstasy is induced, and the essence of life is, albeit for a brief moment, understood in its entirety.

The life and role that I’ve assumed, for example, gets me out of bed around 6 in the morning when I workout to keep my body in peak health, a necessity for the day that is soon to follow.  But in a general case, once hygienic and dietary needs are met for the morning, some homework is inevitable before the first class of the day.  Spread out as they may be, the interlude between classes is filled with a mixture of studying and socializing, in balance some days, off balance on others.  Following the last class in the afternoon and some more homework and socializing, extracurricular activities take dominance.  Fraternity meetings are held, professional societies convene, and other clubs congregrate and celebrate.  Not an evening goes by that at least one activity is underway by one of the groups, competing for attention by the other groups and the all-necessary homework school calls for.

Consistently though, pushing through the stress of such a schedule, is the personal satisfaction of it all.  Each activity and class filling a void that otherwise leaves a sentient being feeling like something is missing.  At the end of the day, all satisfaction is reached and the fast paced world of the college student pauses, as praise to God is lifted upward for the glory of all that has been presented in their life.

The weekend comes, and the student blows off steam, has fun with friends, and relishes in the week’s accomplishments.  A deserved break indeed!  The college party becomes a release valve critical to maintaining sanity in such a hectic life.  And as that weekend closes, and the trash produced by the parties is cleaned up, the student has some time to reflect before hitting replay.  The conclusion that is ultimately reached?

“I love college.”

Also I’m working on a way to get some of my artwork posted here.  I might be tentatively entering the business of selling my artwork for what it’s worth to help pay the bills.  I’m hoping it to be a profitable venture, but I need to make some stuff worthy of sale first, so blogging is going to rapidly come second to that in terms of spare time activities if it becomes profitable enough.

Cheers!