Congratulations to Christina Lucas (@LucasMomOtt) for tracking down my whereabouts last week. After studying the clues provided in my April 6 blog entry, Christina determined where I was (in London, England) and why I was there (to participate in the Space Innovation Congress).
The Space Innovation Congress was an engaging event – a first of its kind in the UK. It was different than most other space conferences that I have attended in that many of the attendees were from incubators, start-up companies and SMEs. British and European entrepreneurs are developing a variety of innovative applications and commercial ventures. Novel stuff. I felt a wonderful air of youth, creativity and optimism at the two-day Congress. The bright entrepreneurs beamed with pride as they showcased their work and explained to me how they were engaging with the latest space technologies.
It was fitting that such a creatively-oriented event coincided with the successful launch of SpaceX`s Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral on Friday. After sending the Dragon cargo vehicle on its way to the International Space Station, the first-stage of the Falcon rocket re-ignited, maneuvered itself over a barge pre-positioned off the coast of Florida and successfully landed vertically-upright. Mind-blowing! Instead of being dumped as trash into the Atlantic Ocean after doing its job, as is typically done with conventional rockets, this SpaceX rocket stage will be refurbished and subsequently re-used to launch another payload to space. Well done, Elon Musk et al. This approach will bring down the high cost of launching payloads to space.
The first-stage of the Falcon 9 rocket sticking the landing
One of the payloads aboard the Dragon vehicle was the Bigelow Aerospace ‘Bigelow Expandable Activity Module’. BEAM is an inflatable, soft-sided (again, how innovative!) module that will be attached to the ISS and evaluated over the next months. Robert Bigelow, a hotel entrepreneur, is challenging the notion that all spacecraft must have rigid metal hulls. If he is successful, he will be building future habitats (who knows … perhaps even space hotels) out of similar materials.
Oh, by the way, our friend Astronac graced us with his presence. He beamed down during the Congress’ evening dinner cruise on the Thames River. We took advantage of his unexpected visit and asked him to share his sage wisdom with our space community by answering pertinent questions that preoccupy our minds. Astronac again impressed us with his powers by answering the questions even before I unsealed the envelope and read the question. Here are a few of the enlightening answers that he provided:
The esteemed Astronac shares his sagacious wisdom with the Space Innovation Congress delegates
Astronac: Rocket
Question: How do you get a baby astronaut to sleep?
Astronac: It has less calories
Question: How does a light year differ from a regular year?
Astronac: Because they taste funny
Question: Why don’t aliens eat clowns?
Astronac: Because they are weightless
Question: Why don’t Roman Catholics have mass in space?
Astronac: E-clipse-it
Question: How does the man-in-the-moon cut his hair?
Astronac: Trump…Trump…Trump…
Question: What noise does the ISS make, when it takes a hard right turn?
Astronac: David Cameron, if he loses the Brexit referendum
Question: Who will be the first Mars One colonist?
It was a good week in London … fun and innovative.
