62 Mile Club

I am helping a  friend and colleague of mine organize a lunch in L.A.  next Friday, August 6th  to talk about his new citizen science oriented business. We’re looking to invite individuals who go on adventures or even vacations in the neighborhood of $5k- $20k and could be interested in citizen science oriented project.

Attached is a pdf (California Undersea Voyage 2010 )that generally describes what this group will be  doing with a sub in Catalina this Sep-Oct.

Interested individuals or groups can contact 62MileClub for more details.

• Retro space tourism posters.
• Sir Richard Branson on Elon Musk (Space X), advice for British Petroleum, and Virgin’s interest in alternative fuels.
• “If you could integrate any resource, gadget, or convenience on your Virgin America airplanes, what would it be, regardless of whether it’s been invented or not?”  A contest question to submitted to Sir Richard Branson by Marvin Arias. See  Sir Richard’s answer below.

Recently 62MileClub partnered with Frontier Associates, Inc to create a monthly forum titled the Aerospace Defense Forum. We invite you to consider attending this regular series.

You are invited to the July meeting of The Aerospace & Defense Forum,
a monthly informal group of senior professionals to share news, information, and analysis concerning the commercial and defense aerospace industries.

Friday, July 16, 2010

7:30 am – 9:00 am

Jeffer, Mangels, Butler & Marmaro, 1900 Avenue of the Stars, 7^th Floor

Los Angeles, California

Space is limited and Security-controlled.  An RSVP is required to irosenberg AT frontier-assoc.com or 818-505-9915.

“The LA AFB Space and Missile Systems Center”

Guest Speaker: Edward Salem

Chancellor, SMC University & Director, Change Management

Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, California

Ed will give an overview briefing on the programs the SMC manages, their economic impact, the POM and PPBE process and the future outlook, as well as the infrastructure issues for the base.  Specifically he will address the following questions:

- What takes place at Los Angeles Air Force Base?  What are SMC’s responsibilities?

- What are the major SMC programmatic directions and what local companies are involved?

- What are some of the technologies that SMC is interested in for the near-term and long-term future, i.e., on what might investor and entrepreneurs focus?

Ed Salem is the Chancellor, SMC University and Director, Change Management, Special Assistant to the Director, Program Management Integration Directorate, Space and Missile Systems Center (Air Force Space Command), Los Angeles Air Force Base.

Ed has been in the federal service since 1972, serving with the Small Business Administration and with the U.S. Army Recruiting Command.  Arriving at Space and Missile Systems Center in 1985, he has been Chief of Community Relations, Deputy Director: Commander’s Action Group, Director of Strategic Planning, Deputy Director of Staff, and Director, Plans and Programs.  He has been awarded the Exceptional Civilian Service Medal, the Meritorious Civilian Service Medal and the Distinguished Civil Service Career Medal.  Among the many projects he has managed are the Center’s Base Realignment and Closure Commission efforts, the Quality Air Force Assessment, the base renovation and revitalization program, the deployment of a knowledge management instance, and managing change in the organization through business process engineering and reengineering.

The purpose of The Aerospace & Defense Forum is to provide a venue to share news, information and analysis, and discuss events relevant to the aerospace, commercial space and defense industries, with an emphasis on California-based activities.

Members are senior business service providers and other professionals, investors, government agencies, established businesses and entrepreneurs active in and with a strong interest in the aerospace and defense industries.

Each meeting includes a speaker and equal time for group discussion on current events.  Discussion and presentation topics include:

• The established and emerging entrepreneurial space industry, e.g., New Space, SpaceX, Bigelow Aerospace, space tourism, satellites, space stations, microgravity research
• Civil space activities, e.g., NASA’s new strategy of purchasing services instead of vehicles
• Commercial and defense aeronautics, e.g., UAV’s, commercial and defense aircraft.
• Defense space activities, e.g., the Air Force’s robotic X-37B space plane for a possible
  on-orbit of up to 270 days
• Related topics, such as cybersecurity, space enabled applications in health care, IT, materials research, manufacturing, and biotech

If it lifts off the ground, it is an appropriate topic for the Forum.

What is the need for such a group?  Why now?

Southern California has a rich aerospace history that started decades ago but a new chapter is currently being written.  For example, space’s equivalent of Silicon Valley is developing 90 minutes north of the San Fernando Valley at the Mojave Spaceport where flight research and manufacturing activities supporting private sector and government-funded projects are currently underway. This activity does not occur in isolation of the established aerospace community dotting the Southland.

Who are the potential buyers of services?  How are related emerging space enabled businesses being financed?  How can the U.S benefit from a robust commercial space industry?  How does public policy affect this burgeoning industry?

Although New Space has not yet experienced the initial public offerings, acquisitions, and venture capital commitment that permeated the dot com world, it has the potential to change the world in the same way that the Internet did for accessibility to information and communication.   Super Angels, the President of the United States, and some investment groups are now taking serious consideration at how fledgling commercial space enterprise can develop from the tadpole stage it’s currently at and help it evolve to a robust industry.

One of the purposes of The Aerospace & Defense Forum is to provide a venue for those interested in this transition to share information and analysis.

Schedule for the rest of 2010 are:

• July 16: Ed Salem on the AF Space & Missiles Systems Center
• August 20: Gen. Gene Tattini, Deputy Director, JPL on NASA
• September 17: Stan Stahl on cybersecurity
• October 15: Rick Citron on commercialization of space
• November 19: Andrea Seastrand, ED of California Space Authority
• December 17: No meeting

Previous Speakers included:

• Rick Tumlinson
• Dr. James Wertz, Microcosm

Thank you to our host, Jeffer, Mangels, Butler & Marmaro, LLP

We’re diving into the world of podcasting and for our first one, we’re posting a conversation with author, Howard Bloom. Enjoy!

Link to Audio

Howard Bloom in his Park Slope neighborhood

Elisabeth Kennick and Howard Bloom

Link to Audio

Visions of Tomorrow, Yesterday, and Today from author Howard Bloom. We’ll be posting a conversation with Howard in the next few weeks.

Source: Red Bull Stratos

TUESDAY 29TH JUNE 2010:  As Red Bull Stratos grows increasingly near to realisation, the mission’s aeronautics experts today announce encouraging results from the latest high-altitude test jumps and step-off procedure tests. Mission pilot Felix Baumgartner himself acknowledges feelings of both satisfaction and apprehension while the team prepares to move into a new phase of testing.

During the last week in May 2010, the Red Bull Stratos team conducted three important tests:

Capsule step-off: At Sage Cheshire Aerospace in Lancaster, California, the capsule dangled from a 40,000-tonne crane to simulate its suspension from the balloon flight train, with Baumgartner practicing his movements inside, exiting and stepping off. The purpose was to determine how the vessel reacts to Baumgartner’s motion, and whether those reactions could compromise his descent. Even a relatively gentle tumble created by imprecise step-off could not only hinder Baumgartner’s ability to break the sound barrier but also suddenly devolve into a dangerously rapid “flat spin” once he encounters a level of increased air density.

Step-off technique bungee jumps: Next, the scene turned surreal as a group of pre-eminent aerospace experts and test pilots – including Joe Kittinger, who holds the records Baumgartner will try to break – gathered in a deserted Palmdale fairground to witness something they’d never seen during all their combined years of experience: a bungee jump in a pressurised space suit and helmet. After multiple jumps from a crane basket suspended 200 feet above the ground, Baumgartner’s exit technique had evolved into something that one team member described as “perfect.”

High altitude skydives: The finale to the week of testing was a series of skydives over the desert in Perris, California, reaching approximately 26,000 feet. This test, conducted on May 27, 2010, was the first in a fully pressurised suit and was a follow-up to a similar day of flights in early spring.  Baumgartner had been frustrated by the awkwardness of his equipment, especially by the way his chest pack – a vital technology hub for the descent – jammed his helmet and inhibited movement on descent and blocked his vision while landing. Objectives were to get a clean step-off from the rear-exit airplane; assess controllability and various body positions in the fully pressurised suit; experience suit deflation upon descent; and test a new chest pack system that allows one side to move out of Baumgartner’s line of sight so he can spot his landing. Baumgartner’s technique and the improved equipment worked so harmoniously that the team was able to accomplish all objectives.

Riding the Wave, New Space Defined
Guest Speaker: Rick Tumlinson

Rick Tumlinson, our guest speaker, is the co-Founder of the Space Frontier Foundation and Orbital Outfitters and a prominent space activist. He has testified on space-related topics before the U.S. Congress six times since 1995. In 2004, Space News magazine listed Tumlinson as one of the 100 most influential people in the space industry, stating: “Part agitator, part operator, Tumlinson has spent the past two decades advocating human exploration and settlement of the solar system and has been a strong advocate of creating commercial opportunities at the Russian Mir space station and at the international space station.”
We’ll also be commemorating the 41st anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. We’ll be going for dinner after the Meet Up at a nearby restaurant ( location: TBD).

Time
6:30 – 7:45 pm.

Go to our Meet Up page for more details.

I’m back after spending several weeks on the road in various parts of the country. Check out this video made by a group of individuals in the bay area. Although their balloon did not reach space, the images are beautiful. Congrats!

http://vimeo.com/12488149

I’m going to be taking a few weeks off from my regular postings as I travel to Chicago for Space Investment Summit 8 and other parts of the U.S.