Jun

2022

The Space Renaissance News from Planet Earth — issue #02 2022

Space News from Planet Earth #02 – 20 June 2022

A bi-monthly newscast edited by Cole Armagost

Our selection of news relevant for Civilian Space Development

China’s moon sample-return mission finds water evidence twice over, by Andrew Jones space.com – June 14 2022
SpaceX’s Starship will be ready for 1st orbital flight in July, Elon Musk says, by Mike Wall space.com – June 14 2022
First tower segment for SpaceX’s Starship launch site moves to pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center, by Stephen Clark spaceflightnow.com — June 16, 2022
Sierra Space to start astronaut training program, by Jeff Foust spacenews.com — June 14, 2022
D-Orbit charts ambitious course for space logistics business, by Debra Werner spacenews.com — June 15, 2022
SLS test launch— June 20, 2022

Space Renaissance & Partners, Events and Activities

The Space Renaissance Art & Science Festival will be held in Berlin, from 7 to 9 of July 2022. The 3 days conference will host several artists and experts of space matters and programs from Europe, US and other Countries. And, of course, a large representation of the German space community.
The Space Renaissance Academy has kicked-off the SRI Ambassadors High Level Training Course. The Calendar of the lectures in 2022 is now published on the SR Academy website https://academy.spacerenaissance.space , where it is also possible to register to attend the lectures. Registration is free for SRI members, while we ask for a free donation by non members. The first lecture, to be given June 26^th, is “Utopian thinkers and Space Philosophy”.
SRI has kicked-off its internship programme. Already 3 conventions were signed with universities, to allow our interns to get credits by this activity. They are already helping in the frame of the SR Academy, to build our lectures, and to search world wide literature for adding references to our works (papers, presentations, projects). The Statement of Work for the available internship roles is published on the SRI website spacerenaissance.space, where it is also possible to apply for the open positions.
SRI and ACES World Wide are working to organize a special workshop at UN session of September 2022, on the theme of space safety and space science & exploration sustainability. More info to come.

Read the whole newscast here (pdf format).

Jun

2022

Space Renaissance News: Aldo Spadoni’s lecture on Space Art

“Art moves you before you understand why.”

-Donald Anderson.

As members or supporters of SRI, you will recall the history seeded in the name of our organization. This namesake, the original Renaissance, is often described as a period of explosive cultural growth that spread throughout Europe over the course of several centuries. Collaboration between artists, thinkers, builders, and generous benefactors during the Renaissance left humanity with gifts of indescribable value. And many of the most oft-cited of these gifts come in the form of art. Art defined the old Renaissance, so we imagine you may want to know: How exactly does art play a role in the Space Renaissance?

Our guest speaker this last Monday June 6, sought to provide help in answering this very question, by his beautiful lecture “Exploring the Boundaries of Art, Design, Aerospace Engineering & Popular Culture”. See it on the Space Renaissance Youtube channel.

Aldo Spadoni, an aerospace engineer and self-taught artist, honored the Space Renaissance community by giving a talk on the role of art in advancing space exploration. Spadoni has decades of professional experience working as both a NASA engineer and as an artistic/technical consultant for the entertainment industry. The list of cinema projects alone to which he has contributed as an advisor include Iron man I (and II), Apollo 13, Supernova, and Stealth.

Mr. Spadoni spoke about the origins and roles of the International Association of Astronomical Artists (the IAAA). The association, of which he is currently the President and Chairman of the Board of Trustees, was founded in 1982 by a small group of artists with experience and interest in both space-related STEM fields and art. Now numbering nearly 200 members, the group seeks to provide a collaborative platform and incubator of sorts to the artists of today who render images of space and the human exploration of it. They organize workshops, exhibits and projects to promote space art because, as is written on their website, “the mind of the human artist can go where a camera cannot (yet!).”

How do these efforts drive the space exploration movement forward?

Space art, claims Spadoni, helps us to “envision the unseen.” By this he means two things: the first is that art can literally help us to envision the possibilities of space travel. The second is that it can be a useful way to communicate things that resist understanding (unseen..in a. When well crafted, art can lead its audience to develop a better handle on complex ideas that might otherwise be closed to them. Art can tell stories. Art can ask its own questions and provide its own answers. Art often gives a clear form to things which struggle to be understood without it. In this way, as Spadoni shows, the hugely complex engineering projects required by space exploration can find a communicative voice through men and women of artistic talent.

Scientific efforts can be notoriously difficult to explain to the layperson, but as Spadoni showed us, even something with a mission as abstract as the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) can be artistically presented in a coherent, compelling way. It seems that the role of art for advancing space exploration then, is in part to bridge the gaps between scientific experts and the layman in a field that can sometimes have trouble “selling itself.” Space Artists like Spadoni are, in this way, agents of synergy between engineers pioneering new technology and the rest of the world.

For those who seek to advocate for more widely pursued global space expansion, it may be helpful not just to see space exploration as a mission, but as a movement. When we make this analytical shift, the role of art becomes clearer. Human social movements do not happen without an inspirational and sustaining source, without some catalyst which sets the roots of the movement in the minds of those who interact with it. Art has continually proven itself as a useful and maybe necessary element of this catalytic force. Thus for the space exploration movement, Spadoni shows us, humankind may need art just as much as it needs astronautics.

Thank you all for your time and investment in SRI!

See you next time,

Cole Armagost, SRI Editorial Staff

Want to comment this letter?

Join the Space Renaissance Open Forum: https://groups.google.com/g/sri-open-forum

Participate to the Space Renaissance Art & Science Festival

at Archenold Observatory, in Berlin 7-9 July 2022

https://spacerenaissance.space/space-renaissance-art-science-festival-berlin-7-9-july-2022/

Want to work with us, for peace and civilian space development?

Join the SRI Crew, come on leading the Space Renaissance!

https://spacerenaissance.space/membership/international-membership-registration/

Want to be a Space Renaissance Ambassador?

Subscribe to the Space Renaissance Ambassadors Training Course

https://academy.spacerenaissance.space/space-renaissance-ambassadors-education-programme/

https://spacerenaissance.space/subscription-to-space-renaissance-ambassadors-course/

Also download a pdf copy of this article

Jun

2022

Space Renaissance News: Starship 24 ready to fly to orbit!

Space News from Planet Earth

The Space X Starship 24 prototype is going through the preliminary test campaign, in view of the first launch to orbit, that should take place within the month of June. FAA recently gave 13 June as the date to release its clearance to the launch of the first fully reusable space vehicle from the Boca Chica Starbase. Rumors say this could be the right time, after so many delays, since 2021, when Elon Musk said Starship was ready to fly to orbit. However, even if the launch from Boca Chica would be cleared, as we hope, Space X is moving to develop a launch site at Cape Canaveral, where the environmental issues are not that critical. We have to care about environmental impact, however the consolidation of the first 100% reusable orbital vehicle is paramount important for overall costs reduction and for the kicking off of Civilian Space Development. Therefore we very much hope that this first crucial test will be possible from the Starbase, where it is ready to go. Crossing fingers!

The 4 of June, Blue Origin successfully completed its fifth human spaceflight and the 21st flight for the New Shepard program. The astronaut crew included: Evan Dick, Katya Echazarreta, Hamish Harding, Victor Correa Hespanha, Jaison Robinson, and Victor Vescovo. Blue Origin is walking briskly on the road of space tourism. Carrying civilians to space is a key challenge. The Bezos’s company already demonstrated to be able to transport elder people to suborbital altitude without damages to their health. It means that acceleration is smooth enough, and the ergonomic conditions onboard are suitable for people who didn’t go through a hard astronautic training. We’re eager to see the next steps, also by the other dealers, Virgin Galactic and Space X.
May 31, Sierra Space announced a strategic partnership with aerospace manufacturer Spirit AeroSystems for production of cargo modules for its Dream Chaser vehicles. The companies said they signed a letter of intent under which Spirit will assist in the development and production of Shooting Star, the cargo module attached to the aft end of the Dream Chaser lifting body vehicle. That module will support future cargo missions to the International Space Station under Sierra Space’s contract with NASA, and for other applications. Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser spaceplane is a multi-mission space utility vehicle designed to transport crew and cargo to low Earth orbit (LEO) destinations such as the International Space Station. Dream Chaser was selected by NASA to provide cargo delivery, return and disposal service for the space station under the Commercial Resupply Service 2 (CRS-2) contract. The Dream Chaser Tenacity™ spaceplane will be the first vehicle in our Dream Chaser fleet of orbital vehicles. Dream Chaser will provide a minimum of six cargo missions to and from the space station carrying critical supplies like food, water, and science experiments, returning to Earth with a gentle runway landing.
About one week ago, Stratolaunch revealed its first hypersonic design for high-altitude flights. The Talon-A test vehicle will eventually drop from the biggest airplane ever built, known as the Roc, that already has made 5 flights. The Mojave, California-based company announced that it has structurally completed the Talon-A test vehicle, known as TA-0. A future flight of Roc will release TA-0, which is unpowered, to assess Roc’s systems. “After completing TA-0 separation testing, the company will transition to flying its first hypersonic test vehicle, TA-1,” Stratolaunch stated. “The team has also started fabrication of a third vehicle, TA-2, the first fully reusable hypersonic test vehicle,” Stratolaunch representatives added.
NASA selects Axiom Space and Collins Aerospace to build next-generation spacesuits for Artemis moon program and other ISS mission. The next-generation spacesuits these spacesuits will be also worn by crew members on the ISS. Notably, Axiom Space had also organized commercial flights to the ISS. NASA’s Artemis 1 moon mission will be the agency’s first big step toward returning astronauts to the lunar surface. Formerly known as Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1), Artemis 1 will be the first test flight of the agency’s new Space Launch System megarocket and the Orion crew capsule. The SLS rocket will launch the uncrewed Orion spacecraft on an approximately 26-day mission, during which it will spend six days orbiting the moon before returning to Earth. After some reparations to SLS required by the first tests, Artemis 1 is now scheduled to launch in August 2022.

Space Renaissance & Partners, Events and Activities

The Space Renaissance Art & Science Festival will be held in Berlin, from 7 to 9 of July 2022. The 3 days conference will host several artists and experts of space matters and programs from Europe, US and other Countries. And, of course, a large representation of the German space community. The program includes both English language and German language Panels. Some speakers will be physically present, while others will present virtually. The location is the historic Archenhold Observatory of Berlin, generously offering the rooms and the systems for the development of the Festival. On the SRI website it is possible to see the whole programme and to register for free.
The Space Renaissance Academy has kicked-off the SRI Ambassadors High Level Training Course. The Calendar of the lectures in 2022 is now published on the SR Academy website spacerenaissance.space, where it is also possible to register to attend the lectures. Registration is free for SRI members, while we ask for a free donation by non members. The first lecture, to be given June 26^th, is “Utopian thinkers and Space Philosophy”.
SRI has kicked-off its internship programme. Already 3 conventions were signed with universities, to allow our interns to get credits by this activity. They are already helping in the frame of the SR Academy, to build our lectures, and to search world-wide literature for adding references to our works (papers, presentations, projects). The Statement of Work for the available internship roles is published on the SRI website, where it is also possible to apply for the open positions.
Nancy Wolfson gave a speech to ISDC 2022, May 28^th, representing our President Prof. Bernard Foing, who was invited by Michell Hanlon, the actual President of NSS.
SRI and ACES World Wide are working to organize a special workshop at UN session of September 2022, on the theme of space safety and space science & exploration sustainability. More info to come.
SRI president B. Foing attended IAF GLEC conference on space emerging countries in Quito Ecuador 1–20 May, as panelist about Exploration ecosystem, and as moderator of panel on Latino american culture in space. Prof. Foing organised and co-chaired sessions at EGU European Geoscience Union Vienna four sessions co-sponsored by EMM/ILEWG on 25-27 May: Analogue research, open session on planetary instrumentation, Lunar science and exploration, open session on Earth Atmosphere, land and ocean.
Foing also reports about EuroMoonMars, holding a EuroMoonMars Results Open Virtual Workshop on Monday 6 June 15-18h CEST
SRI president B Foing attended a SGAC Space Generation event at ISU Strasbourg on 4 June with 200 attendees, where he discussed collaborative opportunities with SRI and EuroMoonMars.
SRI president B Foing is also attending a top level event “Objectif Lune” organised by CNES:ANRT at Paris Musée d’Histoire Naturelle on 7 June evening

06 June 2022

Bernard Foing, SRI, President

Adriano V. Autino, SRI Founder, SRI Ambassador

Want to comment this letter?

Join the Space Renaissance Open Forum: https://groups.google.com/g/sri-open-forum

Want to work with us, for peace and civilian space development?

Join the SRI Crew, come on leading the Space Renaissance!

https://spacerenaissance.space/membership/international-membership-registration/

Want to be a Space Renaissance Ambassador?

Subscribe to the Space Renaissance Ambassadors Training Course

https://academy.spacerenaissance.space/space-renaissance-ambassadors-education-programme/

https://spacerenaissance.space/subscription-to-space-renaissance-ambassadors-course/

Also download this article in pdf format

May

2022

Space Renaissance International & Partners are happy and proud to announce the Space Renaissance Art & Science Festival of Berlin

The Festival will take place, from 7 to 9 July 2022, at the Archenhold Observatory in Berlin (Germany).

You are welcome to join the Festival in presence, sizing an excellent opportunity to visit the historic Archenhold Observatory and the beautiful city of Berlin. However, the Festival will be an hybrid conference, therefore virtual attendees are welcome as well.

Register here for free

A detailed programme, and all the information – including logistics and hotels accommodations – are available on this page.

The agenda, in brief:

The first day, 7 of July, focuses on “Space Philosophy & Policy”, with a Panel on Civilian Space Development – How to accelerate it? How to support new space industry to achieve the goal of kicking off civilian space development within 2030? What should space agencies do, and what should the space activist organizations do?
The 8 of July, “Astronauts and Civilians, Science & Tech Day”, will see two panels: on Space Habitats and Analog Training; Space Night, after dinner: Night Observation at the giant telescope
The 9 of July, the “Space Art Day”, with two art panels, in German and English language

The programme includes several keynote speakers, e.g. Seth Shostak (SETI), Giuseppe Reibaldi and John Mankins (Moon Village Association), Michelle Hanlon (NSS President), Bob Zubrin (Mars Society Founder), Jan Wörner (former ESA Director General), Bernard Foing (SRI President, chair of ITACCUS and EuroMoonMars). Many experts will tell us what’s going on on the edge of space settlement, science, art and exploration.

Several space artists will present their artworks, including: Priscilla Thomas, Mary Kuiper, Barbara King, and many members of the MoonMars art group.

The Festival will host the GALIX Congress 2022.

The Partners contributing to organize the Berlin Festival:

Space Renaissance International
Space Renaissance Germany
ITACCUS – IAF Committee for the Cultural Utilisation of Space (ITACCUS)
The Mars Society
Support Association of the Archenhold-Observatory and the Zeiss Gross Planetarium Berlin e. V.
Society for Culture and Space e. V. (Gesellschaft für Kultur- und Raumfahrt e. V.)
LUNEX EuroMoonMars
Stiftung Planetarium Berlin (Berlin Planetarium Foundation)
SZ-Rechtsanwälte Steinhäußer & Zieschang
GALIX – Global Alliance for International Collaboration in Space

Registration is open, for free

The participation is free, however all attendees are kindly requested to register, to help the organization of the conference: https://spacerenaissance.space/register-to-the-space-renaissance-festival-berlin-2022/

May

2022

“A greater world is possible!”, the book, presented by the author, Adriano V. Autino

Monday 16 May 2022 Adriano Autino held a lecture, in the frame of the Space Renaissance Academy Webinar Series, conducted by the unparalleled Sabine Heinz.
The topic was his last book, a philosophical essay titled “A greater world is possible!”. Already in the subtitle we can understand what this book discusses: “The expansion of civilization beyond the limits of our home planet is the moral issue of our time”.

DISCLAIMER BY THE AUTHOR This book contains many highly infectious ideas. So read it at your own risk: you might come out with a completely changed perspective and view of the world, i.e. a hopeful one, and a fresh will to do semething in the good direction.
So, if you feel comfortable watching the desctruction of the civilization in tv, then don’t read this book, nor watch the lecture.During his presentation, Autino proposes a deep look into several concepts, as they are described in the book, connecting them to the nowadays situation. In a random way:

the long promised utopian future still not realized, and the gloomy future already foreseen during last 40 years by dystopian sci-fi already awfuly present.
the controversial relationship between humankind and the rest of nature, and the deep awareness that we are part of nature, and we cannot resign from our responsibilities, as the most intelligent and aware species
recrudescence of resource wars and anthropology devolution in the closed world
morals: humanist scheme of values vs. nihilist sov
Prometheus today: giving 100% reusable transportation vehicles to humans, to faciitate the imminent evolutionary step
to kick-off civilian space development before 2030, in order not to loose the “Launch window” (a comversation with Gregg Maryniak)
all of the 17 UN SDGs depend from the 8th: “Decent work and economic growth”, and that is possible only expanding into outer space
the indivisible knot among energy, pressure and evolution (Kardashev and more)
the metaphysical warming on planet Earth, and its byproducts
value of human life and patrimony, vs. de-growthist doctrines
Earth is part of a cosmic ecology, and not a separate special object
demography and human fertility decline
ideologies, utopias and other dangerours yet necessary tools
the hope: evolutionary factors and how to sustain them

The lecture can be vieved on the Space Renaissance Youtube Channel https://youtu.be/1HNyjLkfyAI
(don’t forget to subscribe to the channel: it is free, but very important, to raise our audience!)

The book can be purchased on Amazon, in ebook or paperback format

Follow the Space Renaissance Academy Webinar Series

Last, but not least: do you like what we do? Want to help?
Then join the SRI Crew, for a very modest yearly fee, and come on leading the Space Renaissance!

May

2022

The SRI webinar with former ESA Director General Jan Wörner

Dr. Johann Dietrich “Jan” Wörner gave a beautiful lecture a few days ago – in the frame of the Space Renaissance Academy Webinar Series, coordinated by Sabine Heinz –, illustrating his favorite concept “Not going back, but going forward to the Moon”. Btw, that was also the subject of a brief speech he gave, as one of the keynote speakers, at the SRI 3^rd World Congress, end of June 2021.Dr. Wörner was the Director General of the European Space Agency since 2015 to 2021.His mandate was somehow revolutionary: while the ESA’s strategy was still focused on Telecommunication, Science and Earth Observation, he dared to put on the table the concept of a Moon Village, a permanent human outpost on the Moon, dedicated to experiment life, to explore and conduct scientific research on the Moon.

The Moon Village is one of the main topics illustrated during the lecture: the Moon is the next interesting part of the Solar System. The Moon Village is proposed as a multi-partner open project, to develop many operations on the Moon surface, human and robotic, public and private, exploration, outreach, cosmology/astronomy, transportation, communication, logistics, resources management.

Continue reading →

Apr

2022

A dialogue with Pope Francis on Peace and Sustainable Development

Pope Francis re-proposed a few days ago what He already had proposed in His Encyclical Letter “All Brothers”[1] of 2020:“With the money spent on weapons and other military expenditures, let us establish a global fund that can finally put an end to hunger and favour development in the most impoverished countries, so that their citizens will not resort to violent or illusory solutions, or have to leave their countries in order to seek a more dignified life.”How could we disagree on such a proposition of the Holy Father?

In the quoted Encyclical Letter, He also talks about the dramatic lack of big projects, widely shared world-wide, to inspire and motivate people to work for the development of the whole humankind. He also talks about the philosophy of expendability, according to which certain parts of humanity are seen as expendable, when they are not productive, such as the elderly, and the lack of children, which causes an aging population, and a culturally decaying society.

Considering all of these negative conditions together, the current age, characterized by a multiple global crisis, could appear hopeless. Namely, the complain about lack of children sounds as a desperate call, when the widely shared sentiment is that there are “too many humans on planet Earth”.

Yet, we think that Francis’s calls are right and fully worth of support, though they are not properly sustained by concrete programs and strategies. The real question should be: how to assure proper sustainability to human growth, in the 21^st Century?

Continue reading →

Mar

2022

Why civilian space development is key today, for us humans, to overcome the global crisis

The crisis of Cuba in 1962 – mentioned in the Lord Rees’s book “Our Final Hour” (2003) — was the event that brought us closest to a nuclear war. According to the historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr., one of Kennedy’s counselors, at that time: “This was not only the most dangerous moment of the Cold War. It was the most dangerous moment in human history. Never before had two contending powers possessed between them the technical capacity to blow up the world. Fortunately, Kennedy and Khrushchev were leaders of restraint and sobriety; otherwise, we probably wouldn’t be here today.”

I believe this is the main argument to respond to the nowadays under-estimators of the current war in Ukraine, and its effects on global economy, space policy and destiny of civilization at large. In addition to the Schlesinger Jr.’s statement, nowadays we have several leaders which are all but restraint and sober. First of all the new Zar, grown up in the paranoid environment of KGB. Yet we have other recent cases, in the western world too. Moving beyond the obvious condemn of the absurd invasion of Ukraine, suffocating any possibility for people to decide whether they want to be Ukrainian or Russian, the danger for civilization is extremely high, indeed. The availability of thousands of nuclear warheads in the hand of psychopathic leaders makes a WWIII extremely much more dangerous than the previous world wars, the very likely trigger of a global civilization implosion.

Relying on wars to solve conflicts and to relaunch economy through destruction was always a wrong way, yet nowadays is a total nonsense. It is not superfluous to restate this, since we perfectly know that, among Earthers, many secretely plauded to Covid19 pandemic as a “natural” agent to reduce population – the thought runs back to Nicolò Machiavelli, who plauded the pest, as a “purge” of society. The absurdity of such concept should be clear: a pandemic kills both bad and good people, useless and useful, including many which could offer solutions to thousands of shared small and big problems. And now such fellows of Armageddon, publicly sad for thousands deaths and million refugees, secretely plaud to the war, as another knight of Apocalypse, to “moderate” human growth.

Continue reading →