NASA: NASA, University of Texas at Dallas Reveal Apollo 11 Behind-the-Scenes Audio. “NASA’s Johnson Space Center has the only functional remaining tape recorder capable of playing those approximately 170 remaining tapes. But the time and effort of converting them to current digital formats was daunting, and required the tape deck to be modified from being able to handle two-channels at a time to handle the 30 channels on the historic tapes. But through a collaborative effort with The University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas), the conversion finally has been completed, and the unique perspective of those at the core of supporting humankind’s ‘giant leap’ is available to download and listen to all 19,000 hours of audio recordings.” This is an incredible achievement. I posted in December about what it took behind the scenes to get this digitizing done.
aerospace
Emory University: Preserving the Apollo 15 Flight Data Logs
Emory University: Preserving the Apollo 15 Flight Data Logs. “In 2017, Emory University took the unique opportunity to create a digital learning hub centering around the Apollo Space Program. Emory Library and Information Technology Services borrowed materials from the 1971 Apollo 15 mission (NASA’s fourth manned mission to the moon) to use in creating an interactive website featuring the digital archives from the mission.”
SPACE: ‘Spacing Out with the Everyday Astronaut’ Launches on Facebook Watch with a ‘Marswalk’
SPACE: ‘Spacing Out with the Everyday Astronaut’ Launches on Facebook Watch with a ‘Marswalk’. “The Everyday Astronaut will take you on a simulated trip to Mars today (May 4), just a few hours before NASA launches its latest mission toward the Red Planet. Photographer Tim Dodd created the Everyday Astronaut persona after buying a used Russian spacesuit in an online auction in 2013. What started as a lark has become a long-running, elaborate art-and-education project that takes Dodd around the world — and now, onto your computer screen, in the new Facebook Watch series ‘Spacing Out with the Everyday Astronaut.'”
Linux Insider: SpaceChain, Arch Aim to Archive Human Knowledge in Space
Linux Insider: SpaceChain, Arch Aim to Archive Human Knowledge in Space. “SpaceChain on Monday announced that it has entered a partnership with the Arch Mission Foundation to use open source technology to launch an ambitious project involving the storage of large data sets in spacecraft and on other planets. Arch Mission will load large quantities of data onto SpaceChain’s satellite vehicles with the eventual aim of storing data on other planets.” This is from a couple of weeks ago but I had not seen it before.
Engadget: Google’s $20 million Lunar Xprize will end without a winner
Engadget: Google’s $20 million Lunar Xprize will end without a winner. “The Lunar Xprize is about to come to an anticlimactic end after more than a decade. Google has confirmed to CNBC that it doesn’t plan to extend the $20 million competition past its March 31st deadline — itself an extension well beyond the original 2014 end date. Given that all the finalists either don’t have the funds to continue or don’t expect to launch that quickly (the fastest, SpaceIL, might not launch before the end of 2018), the competition is effectively over with no winners. Not that Google minds, however.”
Smithsonian: Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum Launches New Podcast
Smithsonian: Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum Launches New Podcast. “Today the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum launched its first podcast, ‘AirSpace.’ The museum contains the largest and most significant collection of air- and spacecraft in the world, and this new series aims to tell the human stories of achievement, failure and perseverance behind those famous machines. Each episode will demystify the world’s most popular museum, and explore why people are so fascinated with stories of exploration, innovation and discovery.”
Smithsonian: National Air and Space Museum Releases “VR Hangar” App
Smithsonian: National Air and Space Museum Releases “VR Hangar” App. “People across the country and around the world can now use their mobile phones to see moments that made air and space history with the new VR Hangar from the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. The VR Hangar brings some of the museum’s most important milestone artifacts to life using real 3-D-scan data in immersive virtual-reality vignettes. The app is optimized for use with Google Cardboard and similar devices, and is available free of charge in the iOS and Android app stores.”
