In May 2009 ESA, the European Space Agency, announced a new class of six astronauts, who later named their group the Shenanigans. They are Samantha Cristoforetti, Alexander Gerst, Andreas Mogensen, Luca Parmitano, Timothy Peake, and Thomas Pesquet. Although two of them, Luca Parmitano and Alexander Gerst, are scheduled to fly to the International Space Station in 2013 and 2014 respectively, none of them has flown into space yet. But they already made history, at least the history of social media.
The Shenanigans are the astronaut class with the most Twitter users. No ESA, NASA or other space agency astronaut group has ever had so many Twitter users. Five out of the six astronauts of the ESA class of 2009 have Twitter accounts, and engage the public telling about their training and experiences. In a few years, they will tell their adventures in space. The first to start tweeting was Luca Parmitano, soon followed by Samantha Cristoforetti. Then came three more of their colleagues. You can find them on Twitter here:
Stephanie L. Schierholz, Social Media Manager Photo Credit: NASA
SpaceTweeps for Schierholz!
Stephanie L. Schierholz (@Schierholz) is the Social Media Manager for NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, where she leads many of the agency’s innovative social media activities. Stephanie manages the agency’s @NASA Twitter account, with its 1.7 million followers, and primary Facebook page, with more than 700,00 fans. She coordinates the efforts of NASA public affairs teams to maintain these accounts. Stephanie ensures NASA remains engaged with its followers, including occasional Q&A sessions with astronauts, project specialists, scientists, and even NASA’s Deputy Administrator (@Lori_Garver).
Stephanie also coordinates with the social media managers and staff at NASA centers across the country. She leads ongoing and long-term planning efforts for NASA social media, supporting the challenging quest for resources to maximize the agency’s reach across multiple services.
Stephanie’s skill with emerging communication technologies has led NASA to establish strategic partnerships with services such as Gowalla, Foursquare, and SlideShare. Through Stephanie’s negotiation of these partnerships, she blazed a pioneer trail for NASA as the first government agency to use these platforms. Of particular note is the partnership with Foursquare, which NASA kicked off when astronaut Doug Wheelock (@Astro_Wheels), more than 220 miles above Earth, checked in to Foursquare aboard the International Space Station, unlocking the NASA Explorer badge that Earthlings now can earn by following NASA and checking in on Foursquare.
Although it cannot advertise, the space agency is legally bound by the 1958 National Aeronautics Space Act to seek the “widest practicable & appropriate dissemination of information concerning its activities and the results thereof.” Social media has proven to be a ideal tool for NASA, helping it meet the Act’s strict communication requirements. According to the L2 Digital IQ® Index: Public Sector, “NASA is the clear leader and is innovating on every platform.” As the agency’s strategic manager for social media initiatives, Stephanie charts the agency’s course and holds routine conference calls with the cadre of individuals responsible for public outreach within the agency.
Astronaut Doug Wheelock discusses his experiences living on the International Space Station during a tweetup at NASA HQ in Washington, D.C. (March 2011). Photo Credit: NASA/Paul E. Alers
Stephanie’s leadership and dedication have been instrumental to the growth and continuing success of NASA’s public outreach endeavors, in particular its @NASATweetup events. In January 2009, NASA began hosting “tweetups” for users of the social media service Twitter to provide them with VIP access to NASA facilities, speakers, and activities. Since 2010, Stephanie has taken the helm of these events at several locations across the agency, including space mission launches. To date, NASA has hosted 31 of these unique and inspiring public outreach events. Registration is open to anyone with a Twitter account, and each NASA Tweetup draws significant interest.
NASA held an incredible 17 NASA Tweetups, an average of more than one per month, in 2011. Stephanie directly supported at least one dozen of these tweetups as the primary liaison, on-site coordinator, and public point of contact. This is no small feat, considering most of the 2011 NASA Tweetup events supported spacecraft launches–logistically complex, multi-day events with a high probability of weather or other scheduling delays. The year also marked NASA’s “longest-ever tweetup” of 115 days–after repeated launch delays, the majority of the tweetup’s participants returned to see the Shuttle launch four months later. While the agency only planned to invite participants for the original launch opportunity, Stephanie advocated for their continual involvement that enabled many to see the launch from the historic press site.
NASA Tweetup participants stand at the launch clock, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2011, prior to the launch of space shuttle Discovery (STS-133) at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Photo Credit: NASA/Paul E. Alers
Invited to Germany in September 2011 by DLR and the European Space Agency (ESA), Stephanie led a presentation with NASA’s Space Operations Outreach Program Manager Beth Beck (@BethBeck); the presentation shares the origin of social media at NASA, where it is going, and some of the challenges:
More than 2,500 people from across the globe have attended a NASA Tweetup and shared the experience in real-time with their co-workers, friends, family members, and other followers. An entire community of NASA Tweetup alumni has formed around these events, establishing Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+ groups and a community-owned and managed wiki for documenting and sharing tips, photos, videos, blog posts, and news media reports about NASA Tweetup activities.
The enthusiasm and dedication Stephanie brings to her communication and outreach activities, coupled with the inspirational nature of NASA Tweetup events, has led many alumni to seek opportunities to be more involved in public outreach, themselves. Alumni routinely hold speaking engagements at local schools to talk about STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) topics, organize or attend aerospace-related conferences (ISDC, SpaceUp, etc.) and workshops, or become more politically active; a few alumni have even changed careers as a result of their involvement with NASA’s incredible social media and outreach activities.
I can personally attest to the level of commitment, professionalism, enthusiasm, and genuine concern Stephanie brings to bear in all her work. She has been instrumental in reaching out and embracing the public through NASA Tweetup events, numerous public speaking engagements (SxSW, L2 Social Graph, Ragan, and more) and other outreach activities. You don’t just have to take my word for it, though — here’s what some of my fellow SpaceTweeps have to say about Stephanie’s work in 2011:
@cygnusx112: Tom attended the MSL NASATweetup in late November for the launch of the Mars Science Laboratory, witnessing the start of the Mars Curiosity rover’s odyssey first-hand. The rover will land on Mars in August 2012.
Stephanie Schierholz deserves this [Best Social Media Manager] award. She does such a wonderful job and has impacted all of us so much….I was part of the Mars Curiosity Tweetup. Stephanie and her team gave up their Thanksgiving Holiday so that we could have the experience of a lifetime. When the launch date slipped a day, she had to reschedule all of the speakers and tour stops, which is no small feat. Even six weeks later I’m still a little overwhelmed at all that we got to see and experience and still processing it. The Tweetup ran smoothly and we were treated like royalty. I can never fully repay NASA and Stephanie and her team, but I can sure try by spreading the word to the world about all of the cool things that NASA is still doing.
@starlingLX: Alex attended the STS-135 Crew at NASA HQ tweetup in Washington D.C. in October.
Stephanie is a very exceptional individual and I owe one of the most exciting days of my life to her! [...] Although it was only a one hour event, it was worth the trip from Germany.
@AllanManangan: Allan joined the NASATweetup family in 2011 and has now attended 3 tweetups, including the Mars Science Laboratory launch from Florida and the NASA NPP launch from California. –
The 2011 JPL Tweetup was my first NASA Tweetup experience. I met Stephanie during one of the tours, but it was just a quick introduction, because I could tell how busy she was—if Stephanie was not on her mobile tweeting, then she was gently keeping us on course as we walked about JPL’s campus. On that day I began to understand her incredible work ethic.
The rest of the year supported and strengthened my respect for Stephanie. [...] NASA’s social media teams have truly taken steps towards making space more accessible for so many of us. They are just as important as NASA’s administrators, astronauts, and scientists. Stephanie Schierholz is one of the best and I support her nomination all the way.
@MTClemente: Mark also joined the NASATweetup family in 2011 and has logged a total of 3 tweetups. You may be sensing a trend here–NASATweetups are so unique and inspiring, they’re habit-forming!
I have attended three NASATweetups. The first one was for Mars Curiosity at JPL [2011 JPL Tweetup] – AWESOME! The second one would never have happened without Stephanie. I was an alternate for the final Shuttle launch – STS-135. On launch day, Stephanie allowed the alternates that made the trip down to Florida to attend. It was my first Shuttle launch and my very last chance to see one. I can never thank her enough for allowing me that opportunity and I will be forever grateful to her for it. My third tweetup was the launch of Mars Science Laboratory and Curiosity. It was a wonderful opportunity (haha) to see the launch of the rover that I was able to visit while still in the clean room. I will never be able to express in words how grateful I am to everyone on the NASATweetup teams that made these opportunities possible for me and so many others. But I’m especially grateful to Stephanie for giving me that once in a life time chance to see the final shuttle launch.
@BigE54: Elliot attended the GRAIL NASATweetup for the launch of the twin lunar-bound spacecraft in September. NASATweetup participants viewed the launch near Kennedy Space Center in Florida. –
I have some mobility issues that really acted up while I was there. Stephanie went well up and beyond in helping me out. She actually drove me back from the first launch attempt in her own car, which turned into quite a memorable ride, as Neil deGrasse Tyson (@NeilTyson) was also a passenger. She also arranged for me to drive to the next launch attempt in my own car, rather than the bus. Her extraordinary efforts on my behalf shows her level of caring on a personal level for the participants of these tweetups, and shows to me just the kind of person she is.
@therealDJflux: Andy’s first NASATweetup was NASA’s longest, but I’ll let him tell the story. He’s also a veteran of the GRAIL and STS-135 Crew at NASA HQ tweetups, both of which were also in 2011.
I am an alumnus of the STS-133 NASA Tweetup- The Never-ending Tweetup. 115 days of pure joy. If any Tweetup shows Stephanie’s commitment, hard work, and dedication as NASA’s Social Media Manager and to making NASA Tweetup a success, I believe it’s 133. Adjusting schedules and guests for us Tweeps for over 6 days for the first launch attempt in November 2010 and then inviting us to return in February 2011 with more speakers and tours and the final launch of [Space Shuttle] Discovery. It was just amazing work. 133 changed my life. I have, what have become, some lifelong friends as a result and I start class this coming Tuesday to complete my Bachelors degree in hopes of becoming an Astronaut Candidate and being selected to the Astronaut Corps someday soonish.
@And_Tonic: “Gin” joined the NASATweetup family in August, attending the launch of the Jupiter-bound Juno spacecraft at the Juno Tweetup.
It is hard to imagine the logistics power it takes for Stephanie and her team to get everything and everyone moving forward, especially for something as flexible as a launch. Also, she keeps us all engaged well after our individual tweet ups. I also think Stephanie is amazing at sharing her best practices with others, whether it be other countries’ space agencies or other U.S. federal agencies looking at improving their social media presence. She is not only a leader in space and science but also in government communication and openness.
@MaryBethHunt: Mary attended the STS-134 NASATweetup for the final launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour. The launch was scheduled for April 29, but was delayed to May 16 due to inclement weather and a subsequent mechanical problem.
We had a tornado siren and many of us were “stuck” in the press room. Stephanie was in there, too, and talked to us about how the Tweet-up worked, etc. I was very impressed with the whole Tweet-up experience, and by supporting Stephanie, I feel like I’m supporting NASA, too. We met so many fabulous people who worked there. It was such a special and memorable experience for me.
Stephanie exemplifies what it means to be the best in social media–she consistently goes above and beyond to serve NASA and the SpaceTweep community in everything she does. It is our honor to nominate Stephanie Schierholz for the Best Social Media Manager Shorty Industry Award.
PostScript (February 5, 2012):
If you still need convincing, just take a look at @Storify of the incredible community response to Stephanie’s announcement on January 30, 2012, that she is seeking a new adventure–leaving @NASA and moving to Boston to work at @Raytheon.
This Sunday 9 October, ESA will host a tweetup at its European Space Research and Technology Center ESTEC in the Netherlands. This facility is ESA’s largest facility. It is the technical heart of ESA, roughly comparable to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Most European space missions are developed and tested here. Facilities include a large diameter centrifuge, the largest space simulator vacuum and solar chamber in Europe, a robotics development department and the European Propulsion Laboratory.
ESA has invited 30 tweeps for this special event, which coincides with a public open day. It is an exciting time to visit ESTEC, as in a few months Dutch astronaut André Kuipers will launch to the International Space Station. In his blog André notes that ESTEC “holds a special meaning for me personally, because my aerospace career essentially began here.” In order for the Dutch space industry to support André during his stay in the ISS, ESTEC is home to the Erasmus User Support and Operations Centre (USOC). From this brand new facility André and other astronauts will be supported during scientific experiments in the European research module Columbus.
Please follow hashtag #SpaceTweetup on Twitter to follow your fellow spacetweeps during this exciting European event.
Cross posted from my usual blog because I thought everyone might like it!
A while ago I helped make a light that lit up when a near Earth asteroid went past our planet. Because I built it at a 24 hour hack day, I only had a little bit of time and there was a lot of ‘crafting’ involved (read: hot glue and plastic cups). Unfortunately I never really worked it into a finished product. This was partly because I noticed how rarely an asteroid actually buzzes the Earth close enough to be interesting. It got me thinking though, what else might I want to know about, and that happens often enough to be interesting?
The Space Station
The Space Station and Space Shuttle Endeavor in May 2011. Credit: NASA
The International Space Station (ISS) is a marvel of current technology and humanity. It’s a continuously inhabited orbital outpost, floating in space just over our heads. But often we forget it’s there. I realized that the light I made for asteroids would work better for the space station.
This time I would make it a more polished project.
I already had the electronics from the old light, all I had to do was put it in a reasonable container. I decided to use a nice black cardboard box I had lying around. Then to have something to light up I went to the fantastic Scrap! in Portland to look for old bits of plexiglass. Armed with a nice piece of frosted plexiglass (a grand total of 10¢) and a box I got to work.
I took apart the old lamp and instead of having a ring of LEDs on a drinking cup, I glued them to the bottom edge of the plexiglass.
In the process of soldering LEDs that have been glued to the edge of a piece of plexiglass
Then I soldered them together in parallel. The microcontroller stayed the same as last time, a Teensy 2.0. I already had a breakout board built with headers for the teensy and with transistors to act as switches. So all I had to do was wire it up and put the box together.
Boxing the finished project up
Python
The hard part was figuring out when the Space station was going to be overhead. No matter what I would need the internet because the orbit of the station changes unpredictably from time to time. Luckily, rather than having to do orbital calculations myself, there is a great website out there called heavens above that has all the predictions of satellite passes already worked out. There was one problem: they don’t have an API! That means a human could go read the website, but a computer doesn’t really know what to make of it — it’s not what we can ‘machine readable’. I wanted this to run automatically so I found some examples on the web that showed how easy it is to scrape data from the heavens above webpage. With that coded I had a python scrip that would grab the next ISS pass for Portland.
But again, wanting this to be automatic I needed something better than a script I would have to run every so often. I settled on a gnome applet that can run in the background on my panel on my desktop. For those of you who don’t run linux, this is like the dock in OSX or the application bar in windows. I found plenty of examples online on how to write an app for the gnome panel, and thankfully it was pretty easy! After a couple of days of working out the details I had an app that sat on my computer and could let me know when the space station was overhead!
The applet running on my computer showing the next pass information
Open Source
There is only one of me, so the usefulness of this lamp as an outreach tool for everyone is limited. So I posted all the code and hardware descriptions you should need to make one yourself! Follow along on github:
I have a circuit diagram, arduino firmware, the python applet and an install script in the repository. Plus, if your running linux and use gnome, you can use the applet even without the lamp! The icon will turn red when the ISS is overhead. Look at the readme and update the code to make it work with your location and your hardware.
And don’t forget the space station isn’t just for fun but is a working laboratory and scientific outpost that streams down terabytes of data about the world we live in, making it a better place for all of us.
Welcome to the all new Space Tweep Society website. On behalf of the web team, we hope you like the new site, functionality and hopefully find it a little easier to use. Over the past few months, @flyingjenny organized a team surrounding the new site launch. This team will give us greater reach to add new features that you request and keep the site operational. So, if you’ve been here before, here are some of the new items on the site.
Single Sign-On
Now, instead of having a separate log-in for the website, we’ve integrated Twitter right into the application. Using Twitter’s OAuth, you can now connect your Twitter account and sign in. Don’t worry! We don’t have access to your password, messages, tweets or DM’s – we just authenticate you in and let you post content. It’s that simple!
Discussion
We’ve decided the swap out our own discussion tool with Disqus, a widely used platform where users can go and comment on postings. This too has Twitter integration meaning you can sign in with your account. Disqus will help us keep the spammers away and provide a much better experience all around.
Space Video
We decided to drop our own internal solution and partner up with SpaceVidCast, which has a much nicer and larger video collection and solution. For more information, check out http://www.spacevidcast.com/
Photos
Now adding photos to the site couldn’t be easier. We’re pulling in images right from our Flickr Group. Join it today and start posting your space related photos. You can check out the current collection at http://www.flickr.com/groups/spacetweepsociety/
We hope you will enjoy the new site as much as we’ve enjoyed building it for you. Should you have any questions / comments / suggestions, head over to the “contact” page and drop us a note. We’ll get back to you as soon as possible (or a little later if there is a launch). Once again, thanks for visiting the Space Tweep Society!
I will be at SpaceUp Houston and I think you should come too. SpaceUp Houston is an “unconference” that makes sessions from the awesome conversations people have in the hallways and informal gatherings at regular conferences. In essence YOU are the conversation.
My personal experience with this event started from a tweet by @txflygirl on Twitter. I met @txflygirl during the STS-132 JSC Mission Tweetup, it was an amazing experience for me and I have stayed in touch with many people from the tweetup. The @txflygirl tweet explored the possibility of a SpaceUp event in Houston and asked for people who would like to help and I thought, “why not”. I had heard about SpaceUp DC but I didn’t find out enough about it before the event to attend and since I still wanted to go to this type of event I thought I could put my programming/computer science skills to good use. In addition, having my interest in space exploration rekindled after attending the NASA Tweetup I thought I would have to be crazy to let this opportunity pass me by. Once the SpaceUp Houston’s team started to form, I helped out @harbingeralpha (Dennis Bonilla) with the website and technical set-up for SpaceUp Houston. I helped find a web host along with setting up a domain and Dennis and I set up the site despite being several states apart. I did a lot of the fighting with the website customization and have learned many things through this process. I’ve now worked with the WordPress blogging environment, and integrated various social media sources such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn into a powerful communications platform. I will be responsible for managing the scheduling software once the event gets under way so that attendees are aware of what events are happening in which room at the Lunar and Planetary Institute during the event. As the event gets closer I am becoming more and more excited about being a part of an event that includes speakers such as Boeing, SpaceX, United Launch Alliance (ULA), Sierra Nevada, and Alliant Techsystems (ATK) which will be part of a commercial space panel, and hear from Astronaut Clay Anderson on Saturday, February 12.
How will you be getting there? I’m personally driving a little over 1,100 miles each way to be at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, TX on February 12-13 (hopefully my professors don’t mind me missing a day or two of class), below you will find links to get more information and to purchase tickets so that you won’t miss out on this opportunity to meet some cool people and engage in productive conversation. I am also looking forward to hearing what many people think is next for NASA and the future of Human Space Flight in general. I hope to see you there!
Grassroots Space Conference Announces Houston Dates: Astronaut and Others to Attend February Event
SpaceUp Houston Opens Registration and Invites the Public to Play With Moon Rocks and Telescopes, and Mingle with Fellow Science and Science Fiction Fans
Houston, TX – January 15, 2010 – SpaceUp Houston has announced availability of tickets for its February 12-13 “unconference” to be held at The Lunar & Planetary Institute (LPI) in Houston, TX. Tickets are available at http://spaceuphou.eventbrite.com. The third conference of its kind, SpaceUp Houston will include spontaneous sessions created by attendees as well as telescope viewing of the night sky, costumed Star Wars characters courtesy of the 501st Legion, and a Saturday evening presentation by Astronaut Clay Anderson. Other sessions at the two-day event will include a commercial spaceflight panel and a space show-and-tell. Lunch will be provided with every ticket to the event.
Attendees have previously arrived from across the country with ages ranging from seven to seventy years old. SpaceUp Houston, as described on the unconference’s website, “will nurture new and radical concepts, will help develop partnerships, and is meant for you to create a future worth living in.” Previous attendees had this to say about SpaceUp events:
“Awesome.”
“Inspiring.”
“SpaceUp was about the people.”
“The conversations people care about by the people who care about them.”
Space unconferences have been held in San Diego, CA as well as Washington, DC to promote discussions on cutting edge technologies, space outreach, and the future of the space industry in the United States. This will be the first SpaceUp event in Houston; it has been planned and promoted by members of the Houston tech industry as well as space enthusiasts from across the country. Major sponsors for SpaceUp Houston include The Boeing Company, United Launch Alliance, and Telestream’s Wirecast software. The event will be livestreamed on February 12-13 at http://spaceuphouston.org.
###
A SpaceUp is a space unconference, also known as a user-generated conference or a BarCamp. Participants will decide the topics, schedule, and structure of the event.
SpaceUp, founded in 2010, has successfully been held in San Diego and Washington D.C. SpaceUp Houston will build upon their success by involving the Houston-Clear Lake community in sharing and discussing the possibilities for space exploration covering NASA programs, hobbyist projects, start-up companies, research, and the arts. SpaceUp strives to include children, university students, and anyone who has a passion for space exploration. There are no spectators at SpaceUp Houston, only participants. All attendees are expected to give a demo, present a talk, or participate in a panel or roundtable. Above all, SpaceUp events are designed as catalysts for future science, technology, engineering, and mathematics development.
SpaceUp Houston has partnered with the Clear Lake Area National Space Society (CLANSS) which has 501(c)(3) status.
The official SpaceUp Houston Twitter stream can be found at http://twitter.com/spaceuphou
For more information visit the SpaceUp Houston website at http://spaceuphouston.org or call Dennis Bonilla at (202) 670-4740 or email SpaceUp Houston at press@spaceuphouston.org
How many folks have asked the question, “What are the best mobile Apps?”
Smartphones, tablets, notebooks of all kinds- so much power, so many choices.
This is your chance to help build a list of the best.
Please comment with the name of the application, platform or device it runs on, a description of what it does and any information you think would help a new user.
This week @ULSF we’ll have a look into open engineering since 1962. That was the year in which Richard Hamming published his book, “Numerical Methods for Scientists and Engineers” complete with the most interesting appendix, “N+1: The Art of Computing for Scientists and Engineers”. Hamming’s premise for “Numerical Methods” is “the purpose of computing is insight, not numbers”, following the standard “garbage in, garbage out” caveat for data processing. In “N+1″ Hamming develops the principle into “The open shop philosophy” via an epistemological “What do we know?”. As in “What is the input?” and therefore what is the computation that describes the output. Hamming wrote, “If we believe that the purpose of computing is insight, not numbers, then it follows that the [person] who is to get the insight must understand the computing”. “If he does not understand what is being done, he is very unlikely to derive much value from the computation”.
These principles extend into the more practical applications of computing that are common and familiar today. What are the choices necessarily made by the programmer, and how were those choices implemented? The open source software movement responds with, here is the code reflecting the choices made and available to inspection as well as alternative design and implementation. For example in the realm of computer operating systems, is this code making the user vulnerable to resource or even identity theft.
Of course NASA has long been a leading member of the openness that has differentiated the US from most of the world throughout our brief history. For example, the NASA Technical Reports Server contains millions of person-years of scientific and engineering knowledge and information (that statistic is simply my own guess at a conservative minimum bound).
This week NASA Nebula pushed forward in the exemplary OpenStack initiative for cloud computing, an application computing infrastructure for NASA on par with that of Google or Amazon.
This week Alex @Csete has taken more steps forward into opening up Gnu Radio, detailing the decoding of the RS0ISS message board.
The wide strong peek at 145.82 MHz is the ISS FM packet radio downlink in AX.25, shown in the neighborhood of VO-52.
I’d like to take this opportunity to admit that not since childhood have I been so close to reaching for an amateur radio operator’s license. Apparently it’s pretty easy. Alex is saturating my head enough that I’m starting to get some framework in mind to comprehend radio waves and their creation and propagation. For me, RF is the weirdest area of Physics that I’m aware of.
Plus, the software defined radio is an FPGA application, like JOP that I’m also interested in for ULSF JFlight. Although electrical engineers should feel free to jump in to help with Sagittarius.
This week @ULSF Alex @Csete submitted a fix to the Gnu Radio user interface, Gnu Radio Companion. Digging into GRC and Gnu Radio will help us to establish a way for anyone to build a ground station and download the RF configuration for anyone’s mission tracking and communications.
I discovered another interesting part of the world in Modelica, an open source electro-mechanical dynamics modeling and simulation tool based on the Modelica Language and intended for graphical user interfaces. It’s quite mature, with a substantial commercial following in Europe including Dassault Systèmes. A model is defined and compiled into a simulation from the graphical user interface.
That code base has already given me some good pointers for my own work on Sagittarius. A post entitled “Atoms and Molecules” describes the work in progress.
We’ve discovered a great way to build new things: Shapeways. Create new LEGO parts, or anything. They have interesting Tutorials and Videos. Takes a while to get the hang of their world, it’s a bit obscure but generally worthwhile. Probably the easiest way to get started building would be using Google SketchUp, but there’s lots of free and commercial software for bending your head around CAD.
Alex Csete reports news from the embedded electronics world of pluggable bricks, the BeagleBoard XM now has a pin head connector for camera input. “Past versions omitted the camera input connector to save space and were thus limited to USB cameras, which is why I went with the Gumstix Overo instead”.
Joshua Tristancho is working on the legal framework for performing rocket launches in Spain, and heading out to conferences. There’s a lot of cool stuff going on in Barcelona.
In case you didn’t know, the first anniversary of The Space Tweep Society is coming up very soon. To celebrate we’re having a “Twelebration” on May 14th, but we know that not everyone can be there. As mentioned in my last post, there are some fun things planned for those who can’t attend the event in person. This contest is for you!
Note: This is for the virtual attendees only. Those who attend the Twelebration event at Fishlips are not eligible.
This is a 10 question, astronomy and spaceflight themed quiz. The questions are such that learning is encouraged in the process. Yes, that is correct, some learning and research may be required. You are allowed to take it only once per twitter username and your results will be recorded at the end. Remember, this is not only a quiz, but also a contest.
After the contest is closed Thursday at noon EDT (16:00 GMT) on May 13, 2010, the tweeps with the highest scores will be selected for prizes. In the event of a tie, tweeps with the highest scores will be entered into a drawing where the winners will be selected at random. Winners will be tweeted from the anniversary event at Fishlips. Look for a tweet from @spacetweeps announcing the winners. Good luck and have fun!
by Space Tweep Society
on Nov 10, 2009• No Comments
After pvaldois posted his blog entry:JPL scientists fight against HSPD-12 I decided I wanted to share my personal HSPD-12 experience. First of all, I am so proud of the JPL employees who filed the lawsuit and are standing up for their rights. I tried to do something similar at JSC but people here were too scared to lose their jobs. I tried to get in touch with a some lawyers and tell my story – but no one was interested. In the end I relented and signed the forms allowing NASA and the government to perform financial and medical background checks on me whenever they wanted. Through my research I discovered that employees at various local companies were dismissed immediately if they refused to sign the forms. My company gave me 2 days to make a decision.
There is a JSC HSPD-12 blog but it’s been very quiet over the years due to fears.
I hope that the JPL scientists are successful and that NASA is required to re-do how they implement HSPD-12 at all of their centers.
June 2007 – Homeland Security
Ugh. Let me repeat that. Ugh.
Homeland
Security issued a directive that all federal employees and contractors
must undergo a security clearance. Ok. But they are not telling the
agencies how deep the background check should go (as far as I know).
NASA
of course is taking it to mean that every single employee (ok no big
deal) should fill out the entire form (7 years of data of where you
lived, and a reference for each place, and a reference for each school
you went to, and 3 people who know you really really really well – oh
and they want to do a consumer credit report on you if they have the
desire.) That’s as far as I got before I refused to sign the form. That
part wasn’t told to me. My job does not need a secret clearance. My job
just requires the basic low-level clearance. I don’t
understand why they would want to do a credit check on me. I don’t even
know what else they wanted to look into. Where are my privacy rights?
Do I have any as a U.S. citizen?
Granted, I’m no expert at this stuff. But I have read enough over the past few months to know this isn’t quite right.
TSA doesn’t require their employees to fill out the entire form. Just the necessary information required for their jobs.
Check out this link
for all of the people standing up at different NASA sites about this
directive. California congressmen and women have gotten involved and
are investigating. This is how I first learned about it and then a
coworker experienced it when she got hired by NASA.
And here’s a Congressman Letter to the Secretary of Commerce asking questions about what certain agencies are doing.
What
I really don’t like is that JSC said I had until this Friday to make up
my mind and sign the paperwork. Well, that’s not enough time for me to
actually pay attention and figure things out for myself. I haven’t
seriously looked into this, just been following along. The Presidential
Directive says we have until Oct 31st and my company has a window until
next week to get us “bulk” processed. So why the Friday deadline? Am I
special or something?
The process is also supposed to be
voluntary. But, if I don’t do it I will get denied my NASA badge. If I
don’t have a NASA badge, I won’t be able to do my work. If I can’t do
my work, I won’t have a job.
I asked my company to declare it
mandatory (which I don’t think they can legally do) or let me have more
time to investigate what is going on.
July 2007 – HSPD-12 at JSC
So, I was reading an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) document which is available on the web (and off of NASA’s website) that says the following:
“Develop,
implement and post in multiple locations (e.g., agency intranet site,
human resource offices, regional offices, provide at contractor
orientation, etc.) your department’s or agency’s identification privacy
act statement/notice, complaint procedures, appeals procedures for
those denied identification or whose identification credentials are
revoked, and sanctions for employees violating agency privacy policies.”
Well,
isn’t that interesting. The agency – NASA is supposed to have all of
these things readily available to all people going through the HSPD-12
badging process. So why then was I screwed and forced to sign when NO
ONE told me the process, or even provided the forms that I was to sign
a head of time. I was just told it was voluntary and if I didn’t sign
it I would lose my NASA badge. That surely isn’t full disclosure!
Where
is the intranet page describing all of this? I should be able to access
it work. Where are the appeals procedures? What about the privacy
policy? None of this has been shared with us.
Why in this document
(same one linked above) does it say it’s mandatory to do this process
to have a badge and work for the government, but yet NASA is telling us
it’s voluntary?
I even asked JSC Security if there was a FAQ page about the process. They said no. Well, NASA (as in HQ) has one.
I just found it today, weeks after going through this ordeal. I find it
interesting on their FAQ page that they say they are having people fill
out two different versions of the form; 85 and 85P. The 85P form
requires the financial and medical releases. So, NASA is saying there
are two different forms for the agency to use, and yet NASA JSC said
everyone (from the guy who mows the lawn to those who send commands to
the space station) have to fill out the same form. Hmmm….why is there
a disconnect?
August 2007 – I’m not the only one up in arms about the Government’s Badging
Requirements. Here are two sites kept up by workers at NASA JPL; wiki and website.
Isn’t it interesting that NASA has 30
days from the time OPM opens your file to deliver the information.
Meanwhile NASA JSC told me if I didn’t sign the paperwork that day they
would take my badge away. So much for being allowed to find answers to
my questions.
Noivember 2007 – HSPD-12 Strikes Again at NASA
Here’s the latest in the HSPD-12 news; an email
sent out to Glenn Research Center managers.
From: Bilinovich, Michael A. (GRC-CX00)
Sent: Monday, November 19, 2007 6:30 PM
If you are receiving this email, you have been identified as a
supervisor of an employee who has failed to comply with a Homeland Security
Presidential Directive 12 requirement and deadline regarding a
background re-investigation. This re-investigation is necessary before
a new HSPD 12 compliant NASA badge can be issued. Without the new NASA
badge, the employee will be unable to gain access to NASA facilities
and Information Systems.
Please direct the below listed employee to complete their background
investigation by providing the required information by Monday, November
26, 2007. Any questions concerning completion of the background
investigation forms can be directed to Jessica Roberts at x3033. If
this is not accomplished by November 26th, please retrieve their
current NASA badge and call Dan Humphrey at x2153 who will arrange for
an officer to take possession of the subject badge. Once the badge is
retrieved, the employee should be directed to the Main Gate Badge
Issuance Office where they will be provided with a five day temporary
badge to use for accessing the Center until completion of their
background investigation application.
