NSS Seattle Meetings
Our meetings are held at 7:00 p.m. on the second Sunday of each month at the Museum of Flight at Boeing field (Seattle). Meetings are held in the Red Barn classroom (basement level). For information on finding the Museum of Flight, visit their site at http://www.museumofflight.org/Display.asp?Page=VisGetHere.
The National Space Society Seattle Chapter's meetings are free and open to the general public. We will have finger foods and soft drinks and other nonalcoholic beverages.
Next Meeting Sunday, June 8th, 7:00 p.m.
Past Meetings
May 2008
Monty Reed of They Shall Walk(TM) discussed his LIFESUIT(TM) Exoskeleton. The LIFESUIT Exoskeleton is a Powered Gait Orthosis (robotic brace) that will give parapelgics and the elderly the ability to walk. The LIFESUIT has several applications for future human space exploration, such as helping astronauts to walk in difficult non-Earth environments. For more information, visit their Web site at http://www.theyshallwalk.org.
February 11, 2008
Curtis Snow gave a presentation on solar power satellites. The talk included an explanation of the financial motivation behind solar power satellites, and continued on to discuss orbital elements and other technical details. Curtis is a member of the Seattle Lunar Group Studies (SLuGS).
January 13, 2008
Angie Lepley, president of Tangerine Travel Ltd., gave a presentation on Virgin Galactic suborbital tourism. Tangerine Travel is the only travel agency in Washington State accredited to sell suborbital flights on Virgin Galactic. Angie brought a wide variety of Virgin Galactic promotional materials, including a DVD of the Virgin Galactic promotional movie (also viewable at http://www.virgingalactic.com/flash.html; requires Macromedia Flash Player 8.0).
October 14, 2007
We showed a video lecture from a space conference. There was also an updated demonstration of the negative pressure glove box that included testing some newly constructed gloves.
September 9, 2007
Tom Nugent of LaserMotive gave a presentation on beam power. LaserMotive competed in the 2007 NASA Sponsored Beam Power competition, part of the Space Elevator Games (see http://www.spaceward.org/ for details). For info visit LaserMotive's Web site at: http://www.lasermotive.com.
August 12, 2007
We showed another video from the NSS 2007 International Space Development Conference (ISDC).
July 8, 2007
We played a video from the NSS 2007 International Space Development Conference (ISDC). There was also a demonstration of a negative pressure glove box used for testing gloves in connection with the 2008 NASA Astronaut Glove Contest next year. Vice-President Chris Vancil is working on developing a glove design.
June 10, 2007
Our speaker for the June NSS Seattle meeting was Lewis Fraas, former Boeing engineer, graduate of Cal Tech and president and CEO of JX Crystals (http://www.jxcrystals.com) in Issaquah. Lew gave a presentation titled "Solar Cells: Down from Space to Earth" based on his years of experience in solar electric power.
Lew is the author of Path to Affordable Solar Electric Power & The 35% Efficient Solar Cell (available from Amazon.com at http://www.amazon.com/Affordable-Solar-Electric-Power-Efficient/dp/0974853003).
May 13, 2007
Professor Thomas R. Quinn, from the University of Washington Department of Astronomy, discussed the discovery of Exoplanets since 1993. Prof. Quinn provided us with a historical perspective of theories of planetary formation. From the planetesimal formation theory of formation from our own solar system, to a new theory explaining the formation of the many "gas giants" discovered around other stars, he presented fascinating animations and slides to illustrate the formation theories. Visit the University of Washington N-Body Shop Web site at http://www-hpcc.astro.washington.edu/ for more information.
March 11, 2007
Divemaster Marshal Winter and his wife spoke about the nearby alien world of the Puget Sound, and more importantly diving. Some of the challenges faced in diving are similar to problems in using space suits. Ascent in either air or water can cause Decompression sickness (DCS).
February 11, 2007
We discussed the role that NSS Seattle and space advocates have in what some have called "New Space," or as others call it, the coming age of space tourism. Some videos clips from talks were also shown.
January 14, 2007
Robert C. Mathis, Captain of the Boeing Fire Department Training Division, spoke about the SCBA fire fighting equipment used by the Boeing Fire Department. The SCBA equipment shares common components that are related to space suits. Rob brought several components of the SCBA firefighting suit, and discussed each component. Attendees were able to put on different pieces of the suit.
December 12, 2006
Our annual holiday party was held during our December 12, 2006 meeting. Officer elections were held. Our new officers are:
- David Stuart, President
- Chris Vancil, Vice-President
- David Stuart, Treasurer
- Susan Kaltenbach, Officer
- Randy Rumley, Officer
June 10, 2007
Our speaker for the June NSS Seattle meeting was Lewis Fraas, former Boeing engineer, graduate of Cal Tech and president and CEO of JX Crystals (http://www.jxcrystals.com) in Issaquah. Lew gave a presentation titled "Solar Cells: Down from Space to Earth" based on his years of experience in solar electric power.
May 13, 2007
Professor Thomas R. Quinn, from the University of Washington Department of Astronomy, discussed the discovery of Exoplanets since 1993. Prof. Quinn provided us with a historical perspective of theories of planetary formation. From the planetesimal formation theory of formation from our own solar system, to a new theory explaining the formation of the many "gas giants" discovered around other stars, he presented fascinating animations and slides to illustrate the formation theories. See Professor Quinn's Web site at htttp://hpss.astro.washington.edu\faculty\quinn for more information.
January 14, 2007
Robert C. Mathis, Captain of the Boeing Fire Department Training Division, spoke about the SCBA fire fighting equipment used by the Boeing Fire Department. The SCBA equipment shares common components that are related to space suits. Rob brought several components of the SCBA firefighting suit, and discussed each component. Attendees were able to put on different pieces of the suit.
December 12, 2006
Our annual holiday party was held during our December 12, 2006 meeting. Officer elections were held. Our new officers are:
- David Stuart, President
- Chris Vancil, Vice-President
- David Stuart, Treasurer
- Susan Kaltenbach, Officer
- Randy Rumley, Officer
November 12, 2006
Susan Kaltenbach made a presentation explaining the NSS Web site redesign strategy, including suggested content, site structure, and design options.
October 8, 2006
Dr. Eckart W. Schmidt, a retired rocket propulsion scientist who worked on the Viking and Voyager propulsion subsystems, provided an excellent summary of impact craters on Earth and discussed planetary defense measures against potentially hazardous asteroids and comets.
September 10, 2006
Chris Vancil gave a presentation for the Second Advanced Spacesuit Symposium held in August at the Mars Society Conference in Washington DC.
August 13, 2006
Dr. Howard McCurdy spoke on the Vision for Space Exploration and space policy. Dr. McCurdy is the author of six books on the U.S. space program, the most recent being Faster, Better, Cheaper.
July 9, 2006
The group discussed future outreach projects for NSS Seattle. In addition to our usual methods (tables at space-oriented events), other ideas included providing educational material to teacheres and home schoolers.
June 11, 2006
Carlton Rhoades made a presentation about asteroids, the danger they pose to Earth, and possible methods to mitigate or potentially prevent possible collision events.
May 14, 2006
The group discussed the August 2006 Mars Society Conference and the Spacesuit Symposium that Chapter President Chris Vancil was preparing for the conference.
April 9, 2006
The group worked on plans for volunteer staffing for Yuri’s night and the Norwescon convention. A video was also shown.
March 2006
We talked about Norwescon 29 and ISDC.
February 2006
We watched "O2 Freedom" from one DVD of the Mars Society Convention last August where Dewey Anderson talked about a MEMS concept in which CO2 could be converted to oxygen thereby allowing unlimited EVAs.
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