The Apollo Program was the pinnacle of western scientific accomplishment and the result of a collective will to act on a grand scale.

In order to achieve these amazing results both public support and public funding were required.

What will it take for the US to return to a past of bold ideas and bold actions?  Can China fill this need in the future or must the US awaken from acquiescence and again prosecute bold projects?

When space colonization is mentioned many things come to mind: Mars, the Moon, the future, terraforming, and even occasionally asteroids. One thing that rarely comes to mind, however, is Venus. And why should it? After all, Venus is Earth’s sister planet from hell, registering a spicy 450 degrees C average on the surface or, in other words, hotter than Mercury. As if the temperature wasn’t enough incentive to destroy any thoughts of visiting Earth’s closest planetary neighbor, reaching the surface is practically impossible to do safely. Atmospheric pressure reaches 90 times that of ours on the surface or equivalent to being under 1 km of water. Venus also has a relatively slow rotation, completing one rotation every 243 earth days. Thus nights would last a very long time–not that you could see the sun during the day anyway. So, if Venus seems so obviously irrelevant to the idea of space colonization why make an article connecting the two? Well, it is Venus’ hellish properties that ironically make it so appealing. The common misconception about space colonization is that colonies are built on the surface. The key to a Venusian colony is it’s incredibly dense atmosphere. Remember, “…or equivalent to being under 1 km of water?” Well, things float on water; don’t they…?

Temperature and pressure on Venus:



Notice the temperature in the atmosphere and pressure at an altitude of 50km.   Remember 273K is zero degrees C or the melting point of water.  Venus also has about 1 earth gravity.

Read about the idea  HERE

These guys…

Diaspora Guys

…just raised 200K to start up an open-source project.  That has to be some sort of record!

The signs that the project is progressing in the direction of increasing transparency are evident.  The milestones for the project have been updated for public viewing while all feedback on the team’s plans is being processed through the public forum of twitter.  The twitter feedback concept allows everyone in the diaspora community to respond in real time to ideas or worries hopefully staring the project in a more productive direction.

Some ideas to further the chances that Diaspora is successful:

• Provide visibility into financial statements for the people that put money up in support of the project
• Allow backers to review milestone completion on a weekly basis
• hold a weekly web-cast on tinychat.com to go through things.

learn more about the project on their PAGE HERE

The following are a few interesting images from a demonstration video created by Discovery News regarding a new aircraft designed for single person flight.  This new vehicle is unique among single person vehicles in that the basic architecture has already been proven as a VTOL craft such as the “Martin Jet-pack” below while the principle of head first vertical flight has been demonstrated by wing-suits and jet powered wing stunts.  Demonstrating that these technologies can be simplified so that they are practice for non-adrenaline junkies will be the primary challenge faced by the Puffin team.  For the original article take a look here at the Discovery Article.

Some prior projects that leading to this design are as follows:

Wing suits are another way that people have proven personal flight:

Update:

A really amazing new development in personal transit.  Check out this “smallest personal helicopter”…  it may also be the cheapest.

Update 2:

Drop technology featured in James Bond film. “SwitchBlade” from Kinetic Aerospace: Website

New Zealand project with full flight controls.

Skyboard Website

I first learned about  synthetic biology about a year and a half ago when I uncovered the following video talk given by Andrew Endy at the MIT Museum.  I was very impressed by how essential his arguments were regarding the nature of professional biotechnology vs. other engineering disciplines.

Ever since that first exposure I have been on the lookout for evidence that this seemingly very important trend away from IP constrained and very expensive biotechnology to a new sort that would look more like software development.  In light of this general insight I have been on the lookout for signs that the results of synthetic biology are being felt.

Aside from the professional labs at MIT, Harvard and other top universities that are working to crack difficult problems associated with developing standardized biological parts and the systems to manage them there are two other interesting institutions in Boston that I have been aware of and watching.  The first institution is the iGEM  Contest (to be held iGEM 2009 Jamboree October 30 – November 2, 2009 at MIT, Cambridge, MA).  This event has been growing steadily in number of participants and utility of project results ever since it’s first Jamboree in the summer of 2004 following the first iGEM meeting in 2003.  One of the most impressive results of last year’s iGEM meeting is a Caltech project to create pro-biotic bacterial communities that produce vitamins and other chemicals for the body.  This is a technology approach that could result in yet unknown health advantages when taken in the context of other systems of determinant continuous adaptive drug delivery such as the portable insulin pump which eliminates the long-term side-effects of type one diabetes.  Moreover, what health benefits could be attained through bacterial production of the range of vitamins proscribed by Ray Kurzweil and sold via his online store.  iGEM is demonstrating the importance of Synthetic biology not just as an interesting facet to the present tsunami of biotechnology innovations but as a disruptive and fundamental new paradigm.

The other important movement forward for synthetic biology is the DIYBio movement which aims to create a “hacker community” focused on developing cheap alternatives to professional lab equipment, collect biological data and conduct low cost genetic engineering.  Previously the DIY Bio movement didn’t have a home in Boston and it’s constituents were encouraged to work out of their homes.  It did however have a vibrant online community of some 600 individuals and over 5 clubs throughout the US.

Long story short…  There is a lab for DIY Biotech among other things in Union Square just outside of Boston and it’s called Willoughby and Baltic for “art industry and technology”.  The lab will operate under the umbrella of a 501c3 nonprofit corporation which suggests that it will continue in the service of the community.  An uncommon element with this lab is that despite being a nonprofit they have incorporated a revenue model from the onset which should help them sustain and grow the lab.  The fee structure is as follows: $100/month, 3 month minimum Pre-pay discounts: 3 months for $275 6 months for $550 Entire Year for $1000 24 x 7.  A little pricey for students but it would be worth it if you are working on a product of any sort.

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