Eventually, Someone Will Make It

I contributed to this article on Mars colonization for FACTOR magazine (UK, online); "THE FIRST STEPS: HOW THE PIONEERING MARS COLONISTS WILL SURVIVE".

Mars settlement is not assured, but neither was reaching the Moon, or a thousand other big achievements for our species, all of which were called 'crazy dreaming' at the start; flight itself, sequencing genomes, electrical power, radio waves...climbing Everest without supplemental oxygen...certainly all achievements and none started by entirely safe, entirely rational people with entirely safe & rational plans...we must accept some risk if we're ever to step out the front door.

I conclude the article, stating "I think there will be international human-crewed explorations in the next couple of decades. They will be like the first to the Moon or the South Pole – long, risky and expensive, with some catastrophes...But that will not stop anyone, and in fact will only increase the will to succeed. In the end, as with the invention of the aeroplane, someone will make it.” Thanks to interviewer Mark Blaney Stuart!

Historical Visitor!

Recently while working with they system, I had the front door (leading out onto 12th Ave) open, to let in light and air and to let people see inside. Among the people who passed, and saw something interesting, and came in at my invitation, was retired Boeing engineer (44 years with the company!) M. Moseley, who worked on pressure- and space-suit testing during the Gemini program (1961-1966). He had a lot of great stories and very detailed technical information that, once again (I am happy to say) verified things that I'd suspected about these suits and their testing. Since my own suits are roughly at this technological level (Gemini rather the earlier Mercury, yet not as far as the later Apollo), this was great to hear. What a day!

Balloon Flying!

Wrapping up balloon flying school, I've completed my solo flights and am endorsed to take the FAA practical test! Photos: flying 7,420 feet and climbing at 300 feet per minute (we were hunting for an Easterly wind!); looking up at burners; firing a burner; and me with my instructor, Brent, looking out over the endless crops of New Jerusalem, California. Like NASA in the 1950's and 1960's, before long we will be testing my pressure suits at high altitudes, reached by balloon!

TEDx Portland Talk 2015

My research group, Pacific Spaceflight, and I had a great time preparing for and presenting at TEDx Portland earlier this year!

Set Altitude!

Setting altimeter before balloon launch in central California!

Balloon Flight School!

I'm being trained in hot-air balloon piloting by balloonist legend Brent Stockwell, pictured in the photo below. Working hard to get my hours logged for certification this summer, a lot depends on the winds! Also photosof working in the shop on a windy afternoon.

Talks at Second Interstellar Congress and TVIW!

I am honored to be invited recently to talk about the anthropology of space settlement at the Second Interstellar Congress at Drexel University this Fall, and the Tennessee Valley Interstellar Workshop in March 2016.

Icarus Interstellar is an international research team working on giving humanity the option of interstellar flight by the end of this century. I have been involved with them since 2012, recently publishing a paper in Acta Astronautica about the population genetics of multigenerational interstellar voyaging. Acta Astronautica is a top, international journal of space exploration technologies, and I am happy to have my paper there as a foundation paper in the field of biological, population-level issues in interstellar voyaging.

The Tennessee Valley Interstellar Workshop is led by Les Johnson, Deputy Manager of Advanced Concepts at the NASA George C. Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. You might not know it, but the Tennessee Valley is home to much of the most advanced theoretical and practical work on the development of advanced, 'ultra-deep-space' (interstellar) technologies.

I will talk on my topics, outlined here.

As at a handful of conferences in the last few years, I will be excited to talk with people way beyond science-fiction, and building the science-fact regarding humanity's long-term future beyond the Earth. That material is being assembled at present into my next book, 'Principles of Space Anthropology' (Springer 2018).