Category Archives: Space Travel

CORPUS CHRISTI -

A professor at Texas A&M University- Corpus Christi and her graduate students will watch as their research is launched into space Monday morning.

The penicillin-based fungus will live aboard the International Space Station for one month before returning to Earth in September. Scientists will then study the effect the universe has on the fungus.

This fungus has been studied for seven years at the university.

"We're very excited. In just a little bit, the work we've put in for seven years is about to launch," Dr. Brandi Kiel Reese, assistant professor at the Island University said. "We're really excited and can't see what happens."

The project is one of only 20 chosen across the country to travel to space.

The launch will take place at 11:30 a.m. from Florida's Kennedy Space Center. The public is invited to join the scientists at a watch party in the Engineering Building on the TAMUCC campus, room 107.

The KRISTV.COM application is available now on the App Store and Android App Store.

Apple, the Apple logo, iPod, and iTunes are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. iPhone is a trademark of Apple Inc.

See original here:

Local scientists set to watch research travel to space - KRIS Corpus Christi News

Alia Al Mansoori, the Genes in Space winner 2017, is eagerly anticipating her idea taking off from the Kennedy Space Centre. Pawan Singh / The National

She wants to be the first Emirati in space and to plant the UAE flag on the surface of Mars.

And on Monday, 15-year-old Alia Al Mansoori will get her first taste of what that involves when a Falcon 9 rockets blasts off from the world-famous Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.

Alia will not be on boardbut her work will be. The Dragon capsule on the SpaceX ship carries her winning experiment from The Nationals Genes in Space competition.

Alia and her family will be watching the lift-off at the Nasa complex as guests of Boeing, sponsors of the nationwide contest.

The capsule will carry her experiment to the International Space Station, where it will be tested by one of the astronauts on board.

Last week, Alia was at Harvard University to help prepare her experiment for its voyage into orbit.

Her winning entry uses ribonucleic acid (RNA), a molecule that, like DNA, is key part of all living things.

Samples of RNA will be tested on board the ISS in a specially adapted version of a machine called a miniPCR DNA Discovery System.

She hopes to see if the samples, taken from Nemitode worms, behave differently in space than on Earth, something that could prove vital for long-distance space travel, which Alia hopes to experience.

The samples, packed into several dozen small vials, have been deep frozen and packed in dry ice before being sent to the space centre.

Alias terrestrial journey has been an amazing one since winning the competition.

She has meet Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, is training to be an ambassador for Expo 2020 and has visited Canada to explore further education options in her chose fields of molecular biology and medicine.

The Genes in Space contest attracted more than 100 entries and aims to promote interest in science in UAE schools.

_________________

Read more:

Emirati girl wins Genes in Space competition in pictures

Young Emirati is reaching for the stars as she aims to become UAE's first astronaut

UAE Genes in Space winner busy fine-tuning her experiment for blast-off

_________________

Alia, a pupil at Al Mawakeb school, says: Ive always wanted to be an astronaut. When I go to Mars, hopefully I will be taking the UAE flag with me.

The launch on Monday is a resupply mission for the ISS and takes place in the same complex where Apollo 11 left for the Moon in 1969 and was later used for Space Shuttle missions.

It will use a commercial rocket built by SpaceX, the company created by billionaire Elon Musk, who is also behind Tesla electric cars.

The Falcon 9 is one of the most sophisticated rockets ever built and is able to land the first stage under its own power for reuse, rather than falling into the sea, like other rockets.

Mondays launch has been delayed several timesbut was finally cleared by Nasa on Thursday after a successful test of the nine Merlin main engines.

Ten minutes after lift-off, the first stage of the rocket will land back at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

The Dragon capsule will continue into orbit for a rendezvous with the ISS early on Wednesday morning. Astronauts will use a robotic arm to capture the capsule, which will remain docked with the space station until its return to Earth in September.

This will be the 12th mission conducted by SpaceX for its contract with Nasa and will carry dozens of scientific experiments alongside Alias, as well as supplies and equipment.

Other experiments include growing vegetables in space and medical research. Alias experiment will eventually be returned to Earth for evaluation, although no date has been set yet.

Here is the original post:

Genes in Space winner in Florida to witness her idea take off - The National

With the recent mass discovery of such entities, made by physicists from the University of California, Irvine, the matter raises even more intense discussions.

By accurately inspecting the data detected by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO), the scientists discovered that when big stars die out they create black holes with similar gravitational waves the observatory tracked.

Moreover, through the tracing of ripples in space-time, the researchers concluded that there may be more than 100 million more black holes out-there in the Milky Way, much more than previously calculated.

James Bullock, professor of physics and astronomy and co-author of the recent study explained: "We were able to work out how many big black holes should exist, and it ended up being in the millions many more than I anticipated. Fundamentally, the detection of gravitational waves was a huge deal. But then we looked closer at the astrophysics of the actual result, a merger of two 30-solar-mass black holes. That was simply astounding and had us asking, 'How common are black holes of this size, and how often do they merge?'".

The recent discovery is expected to significantly interfere with future generations eager to conquer space. The study was published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society journal.

Source: express.co.uk

See the article here:

Milky Way's black holes will affect future space travel - Travel Wires

August 11, 2017 Technicians lower ISS-CREAM into a chamber that simulates the space environment during system-level testing at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in summer 2015. Credit: University of Maryland Cosmic Ray Physics Laboratory

On August 14, 2017, a groundbreaking University of Maryland-designed cosmic ray detector will travel to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the SpaceX-12 Commercial Resupply Service mission. The instrument, named ISS Cosmic Ray Energetics and Mass (ISS-CREAM), is roughly the size of a refrigerator and will remain installed on the ISS's Japanese Experiment Module for at least three years. The massive amounts of data ISS-CREAM will collect could reveal new details about the origin and diversity of cosmic rays.

Cosmic rays are not rays at all, but highly energetic particles that zoom through space at nearly the speed of light. The particles range in size, from subatomic protons to the atomic nuclei of elements such as carbon and boron. Scientists suspect that the particles are bits of subatomic shrapnel produced by supernovae, but could also be signatures of other cataclysmic phenomena.

Regardless of their origin, "cosmic rays are direct samples of matter from outside our solar systempossibly from the most distant reaches of the universe," said Eun-Suk Seo, a professor of physics at UMD and lead investigator for ISS-CREAM. Seo leads UMD's Cosmic Ray Physics Group and has a joint appointment in the UMD Institute for Physical Science and Technology.

ISS-CREAM builds on more than a decade of work by Seo's research group, which includes seven Long-Duration Balloon (LDB) missions in Antarctica dedicated to studying the nature of cosmic rays. Each of these LDB missions was facilitated by NASA with additional support from the National Science Foundation.

The first, known as Cosmic Ray Energetics and Mass I (CREAM I), launched in December 2004. CREAM I carried instruments to measure the energy, charge, mass and direction of incoming cosmic ray particles. The following five missions, also named CREAM and numbered II-VI, carried the same basic suite of instruments. The seventh and most recent mission took on a different name: Boron and Carbon Cosmic rays in the Upper Stratosphere (BACCUS). The flight set a record for the earliest seasonal launch in the history of NASA's LDB program on November 28, 2016, and concluded 30 days later.

ISS-CREAM will carry a suite of instruments very similar to its balloon-borne cousins. But unlike the balloon experiments, ISS-CREAM's detectors will have direct, unimpeded access to incoming cosmic rayswith no atmospheric interference. Back on Earth, Seo's team will monitor operations around the clock, taking shifts to ensure the instruments are properly calibrated and collecting the maximum amount of data.

When a cosmic ray particle reaches Earth's atmosphere, it soon collides with another particlemost likely an atom of nitrogen or oxygen. This sets off a cascade of secondary particles that carry less energy than the original particle. The atmosphere serves as a protective filter, slowing down dangerous cosmic rays before they have a chance to damage life and property here on Earth's surface.

This also means that Earth-bound cosmic ray detectors can only see secondary particles. By orbiting above the atmosphere, ISS-CREAM addresses this challenge and offers several other benefits compared with balloon experiments.

"To see primary particles we have to fly an instrument in space. This removes atmospheric background," Seo explained. "Prior experiments were also limited to lower energies because of the payload size and flight duration. ISS-CREAM will extend our measurements to the highest energies possible and will allow us to increase our exposure by an order of magnitude."

ISS-CREAM also has to withstand harsh conditions far beyond those experienced during a balloon mission.

"ISS-CREAM has to survive a violent rocket launch. A balloon launch is very gentle by comparison," Seo said. "ISS-CREAM also has to continue working without repairs for years, while a balloon instrument only needs to last a month or two. And any space-based experiment has to be shielded from radiation, which makes everything more expensive and the design processes more exacting."

Cosmic ray particles could help solve one of today's most elusive scientific puzzles: determining the nature of dark matter. According to Seo, theory suggests that dark matter particles might collide and annihilate one another, resulting in energetic particles of conventional matter that we recognize as cosmic rays. If this theory is correct, studying cosmic rays could result in promising leads in the search for dark matter.

"The mysterious nature of cosmic rays serves as a reminder of just how little we know about our universe. The discovery of cosmic rays gave birth to the field of particle physics in the early 20th century. But no human-made particle accelerator can reach the energy levels we see in cosmic rays," Seo added. "Our team has been anxiously awaiting this launch for years. This is a very exciting time for us as well as others in the field of high-energy particle astrophysics."

Explore further: New mission going to the space station to explore mysteries of 'cosmic rain'

A new experiment set for an Aug. 14 launch to the International Space Station will provide an unprecedented look at a rain of particles from deep space, called cosmic rays, that constantly showers our planet. The Cosmic Ray ...

The SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft is targeted for launch August 14 from Kennedy Space Center for its twelfth commercial resupply (CRS-12) mission to the International Space Station.

For decades, NASA has released enormous scientific balloons into Earth's atmosphere, miles above the altitude of commercial flights. The Balloon Program is currently preparing new missions bearing sensitive instruments, including ...

Working in the harsh conditions of Antarctica, Maryland researchers are creating new ways of detecting cosmic rays, high energy particles that bombard the Earth from beyond our solar system.

(Phys.org)Two teams working independently have conducted studies with similar results suggesting the possibility that some of the cosmic rays striking the Earth arise from dark matter particles colliding with one another. ...

On May 19, 2011, astronauts used a remote-controlled robotic arm to attach a nearly 17,000-pound payload to the side of the International Space Station. That payload was the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, or AMS-02, an international ...

(Phys.org)For the first time, physicists have demonstrated that clients who possess only classical computersand no quantum devicescan outsource computing tasks to quantum servers that perform blind quantum computing. ...

Investigators at the University of Colorado, Boulder and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a new sensor array-based instrument that offers ultra-low noise detection of small amounts ...

In quantum mechanics particles can behave as waves and take many paths through an experiment. It requires only combinations of pairs of paths, rather than three or more, to determine the probability for a particle to arrive ...

Boating through choppy waters can be an exciting but physically exhausting experience. Now researchers at Utah State University's Splash Lab are taking steps toward the design of an inflatable speedboat that absorbs wave ...

(Phys.org)Two Chinese teams working with quantum encryption and entanglement have achieved two more goals toward building a quantum space-based communication network. In the first experiment, one team succeeded in sending ...

Today almost all information stored on hard disc drives or cloud servers is recorded in magnetic media, because it is non-volatile (i.e. it retains the information when power is switched off) and cheap. For portable devices ...

Please sign in to add a comment. Registration is free, and takes less than a minute. Read more

Read the original here:

Space-based experiment will tackle the mysteries of cosmic rays - Phys.Org

Everything! Its Everything I do in my life! chirped one effusive pre-teen. Its the future and it will do almost everything that humans will do and more, gushed another. Without it, I would spiral into depression. It keeps me entertained, compounded a third.

Above is a selection of quotes culled from new research conducted by our friends at Dell Boomi, which sheds fascinating new insight into the ubiquity of technology among younger generations. The study surveyed 1,000 12-15 year olds a core subset of the post-millennial peer group known as Generation Z to decipher what technology meant to them, and where it could take us in the future.

Youngsters, the study shows, are optimistic even downright visionary when it comes to predicting the future of technology. When asked what technologies they thought theyd be using in the workplace (10-15 years down the road), 66% answered driverless cars, with 47% holding out hope for robot assistants at work. Other technological ameliorations foreseen by Gen Z included artificial intelligence (41%), virtual offices (38%) and robot housekeepers (34%). Whether or not theyll be in said workplace with the various AIs is, of course, a matter of debate.

At least we can decamp to another planet or so they think, with the news that over a quarter (26%) of the Gen Z pool believe commercial space travel will be a thing by 2032, a meagre 15 years away. Rather appropriately, given such a tall order, over half of those studied (52%) believe that, when they do eventually join the workforce in 10-15 years, theyll be using technology that hasnt even been invented yet.

Whats underlying all of this futuristically minded enthusiasm? Technology facilitates a better way of doing things was the pithy summary proffered by one pre-teen, which pretty much encapsulates Gen Zs high estimation of the subject. There were responses aplenty about technology making lives easier, making life better, not to mention the role it plays in assisting people and entertaining humans. Ill say. One participant in the study went so far as to deem it a way of escaping reality and having fun with my friends on social media or texting, hinting at the phenomenon of social isolation at the hands of ostensibly social media.

Ian Currie, EMEA director at Dell Boomi, commented on the findings, saying: Its clear that technology now plays a central role in every childs life and their expectations on how they will use innovative technology when they enter the workplace are extremely high.

He went on: To meet these demands, businesses need to prepare for the next generation of technology and the many more data points they bring [...] A trusted integration solution, built in the cloud, to quickly connect any combination of cloud and on-premise applications, provides a robust platform to support this. Only with it in place can businesses embrace new innovations and easily transfer data, in real-time, between applications which proves invaluable in remaining competitive.

So there you have it Gen Z areatechnologically minded bunch, heralding a new age of connectivity, growth and innovation. Now if only we could wean them off Snapchat.

Here is the original post:

Robot housekeepers and commercial space travel: Gen Z predict the future - Alphr

In Brief NASA has signed an $18.8 million deal with BWXT Nuclear Energy, Inc. to develop nuclear thermal propulsion systems to help future space missions reach deeper into space than ever before. These propulsion systesm could cut the time needed to get to Mars by two months, as well as allow for a higher cargo capacity. Nuclear Thrust

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has just signedBWXT Nuclear Energy, Inc. of Lynchburg, Virginia, to a three-year contract worth $18.8 million, and itcould completely revolutionize the way we travel to other worlds.

The goal of the contractis to help the space agency develop nuclear thermal propulsion systems for future spacecraft. The Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) project is a part of NASAs Space Technology Mission Directorates (STMD) Game Changing Developments (GCD) initiative, a programdesigned to advance space technologies that may lead to entirely new approaches for the Agencys future space missions and provide solutions to significant national needs.

According to NASA, the potential of this project to revolutionize space travel lies in the ability to accelerate a large amount of propellant out of the back of a rocket at very high speeds, resulting in a highly efficient, high-thrust engine. Nuclear thermal rockets have double the propulsion efficiency of even the Space Shuttles main engine, and the new engines would also weigh less, allowing for a higher cargo capacity.

NASAhas been working on nuclear thermal propulsion as far back as 1955, but the surgeof recent interest in traveling to Mars from both the public sector and private organizations such asSpaceX is at least partially responsible for the agencysrenewed interest indeveloping this technology.

Sonny Mitchell, Nuclear Thermal Propulsion project manager at NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, said in a NASA press release, As we push out into the solar system, nuclear propulsion may offer the only truly viable technology option to extend human reach to the surface of Mars and to worlds beyond.

Not only would nuclear propulsion make this exploration possible, it would also significantly lessen the travel time required to reach our destinations. For example, a journey tothe Red Planet using current technology would take six months, but with NTP technology, that sametrip would be shortened by two months.

This certainly is an exciting time for space exploration as we are rapidly developing the technology needed to push humanity farther out into the final frontier than ever before.

Read more here:

NASA's New Contract Could Change the Way We Approach Space Travel - Futurism

This lightweight tote incorporates materials that can withstand the rigorous requirements of space travel

What might seem to be an unlikely partnership at first turned out to be a versatile and unique fashion line. Nike and Tom Sachs presentedNIKECraft, a collection inspired by space and astronauts that includes a noteworthylightweight tote(which has already sold out).

Nike and Sachs turned to Marco Murillo of The Good Flock to come up with a design that will go hand-in-hand with the previously launched Mars Yard 2.0 sneakers. Just like the footwear, the vision for the bag was to createsomething that could withstand the atmosphere in space.

After consulting with NASA scientists, Nike, Sachs and Murillo used the fabric dyneema for the tote, which is said to have five times more tensile strength compared to steel. Plus, the material can float in water. The bag is also made up of materials used in boat mainsails, car air bags and space suits.

Thelightweight tote is just as versatile as it is unique. It can be worn three ways: as a tote bag, backpack or waist pack. The bag also comes with a paracord, storage containers and a periodic table of elements.

NIKECraft

See the original post:

Nike And Tom Sachs Designed A Tote Bag Inspired By Space Travel - PSFK (subscription)

GETTY

Future space farers will have a hard time navigating the mysterious entities so that they are not sucked in by their intense gravitational pull and lost forever.

The mass discovery of black holes was calculated by scientists from the University of California at Irvine.

Physicists closely inspected the gravitational waves detected by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO), the scientific group leading the search for the newly discovered phenomenon, in 2015.

When stars collapse on themselves, if they are big enough they form black holes, and when these black holes merge with one another they produce gravitational waves which were detected by LIGO.

GETTY

The team traced the source of the ripples in spacetime which led them to the conclusion that there could be 100 million more black holes in our galaxy alone than previously predicted.

James Bullock, a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of California, Irvine, and co-author of the study published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, said: "We were able to work out how many big black holes should exist, and it ended up being in the millions many more than I anticipated.

GETTY

Professor Bullock says that the inspiration behind the search for more black holes was born because of the weirdness of gravitational waves ripples in spacetime.

He said: Fundamentally, the detection of gravitational waves was a huge deal.

Caters News Agency

1 of 45

The Milky Way above Ijen Volcano, Malaysia

"But then we looked closer at the astrophysics of the actual result, a merger of two 30-solar-mass black holes.

That was simply astounding and had us asking, 'How common are black holes of this size, and how often do they merge?'".

The rest is here:

100 MILLION black holes discovered in Milky Way to cause problems for future space travel - Express.co.uk

Even in moderate-sized dwellings, sharp edges plus clumsy hip movements equals a recipe for injury. At least, in this authors experience.

Apparently, the architects at March Studio were familiar with this same margin of error. So when the call came to renovate a teeny, tiny Falls Creek studio with barely enough room for a hip-rolling swagger, curves came to seem like the best course of action.

Clearly, being curvy paid off. Bobhuski, as the project came to be known as, recently won the top accolade in the Houses Awards 2017 Apartment or Unit category. Delightfully described as a 1970s Japanese space capsule, the lean 27-square-metre space is a nod to the Metabolism movement within Japanese architecture; a movement which gave rise to a typology that highlights how little the house and apartment typology has changed, according to the Houses Awards jury.

Specifically, March Studio looked to Ekuan Kenjis 1962 Capsule House and Kurokawa Kishos socially optimistic 1972 Nakagin Capsule Tower as inspiration for Bobhuski.

But to dismiss this project as simply nostalgic would be a mistake, warned the jury. The projects use of past practices to address problems of space are more relevant now than ever.

To misinterpret the historic architectural quotations in this project as scenographic or nostalgic would be a mistake, reads a statement from the jury. It is timely for architects to engage with history and ideas that might provide a springboard for future thinking.

From the space capsule architecture of Japan, March Studio took their form-fits-function approach to the project. The curved surfaces of Bobhuski are one example of this; the reorientation of the entrance was another. By moving the front door from the balcony to a more central access thoroughfare, the architects were able to conceive of a more amenable orientation for the rest of the home. The 3.5-metre by 10.2-metre floorplan was divided into two separate zones: open-plan living and dining at the front, sleeping and bathing quarters towards the back.

Despite this separation of zones, their relative functions arent rigid. Knowing full well that flexibility is key to any small space, March Studio incorporated a zone whose purpose could be reimagined with the simple tug of a lever, or turn of a key. Here, a fold-down Queen-sized bed turns common room to bedroom in moments, and a series of secret storage solutions such under-seat storage and a hidden lockable cupboard behind the fridge make a habit out of tromp loeil.

But what good are tricks of the eye if you cant see anything at all? The final challenge faced by the architects was how to coax light into this slender space. To this effect, several pill-shaped, light-bringing openings were incorporated throughout the design: a large, double-glazed window above the L-shaped couch in the living room, and a similarly-shaped skylight of LEDs that stretches through the apartment. The brightness of this latter lightbox can be controlled, so while it feels like natural sunlighting, its ambience can be called upon around the clock.

The rest is here:

Bobhuski: space travel for city dwellers - Architecture and Design

You may not know what a Quindar tone is, but you have definitely heard one.

Quindar tones are the beeps heard in the background of famous space communications, like Neil Armstrongs the Eagle has landed message to Mission Control when the lunar module first reached the moon.

The tones, named after the company that made the equipment, were generated by ground control to turn on and off the radio transmitters used to talk to astronauts. Recently two musicians, Mikael Jorgensen and James Merle Thomas, have taken inspiration from these tones and other sounds from NASAs audio archives to create a new musical album, called Hip Mobility.

Jorgensen, when hes not exploring the bleeps and pings of NASA, is keyboardist for the band Wilco. Thomas is a musician and art historian based in Philadelphia.

Thomas describes the genesis of their projectthis way: [W]hen I was finishing my doctorate [in 2011, 2012], I was working as a fellow at the National Air and Space Museum, and I was looking at how artists and architects were collaborating with engineers at NASA to design for space. In other words, what it meant to build something like the interior of Skylab, as a kind of house that would be different from a regular spacecraft.

When I was researching that material, he continues, I started encountering a lot of archival stuff old industrial films, archival audio. Its not the stuff of the heroic missions that we always think of. It wasnt the countdowns. It wasnt the triumphant sound clips. It was really the mundane stuff of every day. It was tape hiss. It was microphones that were left on. It was people talking about what it felt like to live in space for a long time. It felt almost like a deep portrait of what it meant to live at that given moment in a very unique place. I thought that would make an excellent starting point for telling a story or making some compositions using those sounds.

Jorgensen says that when he and Thomas began to collaborate, they would text each other in-between writing sessions. He recalls asking Thomas, What are those sounds? What are those beeps called? When Thomas told them they were called Quindar tones, Jorgensen knew immediately that would be the name of the project.

Then we further discovered what a Quindar tone was, Jorgensen says. It is a handshake between telemetry systems that keep Mission Control and spacecraft communications open. Its sort of like, Are you there? And then the spacecraft answers, Yeah, Im here. Are you still there? And back and forth.

He says it reminded him of how he and Thomas communicated musically.

Thomas says that the first part of making the Quindar record was sitting around listening to hours and hours of archival audio. But one the things he noticed right away was a small difference between the two Quindar tones. They sound at two different frequencies. Theyre not a musical interval apart, Jorgensen explains, but they are something like 100 Hertz different from each other.

We were struck by the fact that this is basically a synthesizer that NASA is playing, Thomas says. It is a kind of a complex note structure thats being beamed out into the ether. So, we immediately started thinking, What if we push and pull with this fixed industrial standard and think about it less like a precise measure of communication and think about it more like an expressive instrument?

It was a really short path from that way of thinking to thinking about what was happening with synthesizers at this same moment, he continues. What were composers like Stockhausen or John Cage doing when they were using similar devices to create sounds?

The advances that were made due to space agency funding directly inspired and made technologies available for commercial synthesizer apparatus, the Quindar module being a prime example, Jorgensen adds. So, for him, as a lifelong space lover and the son of a recording engineer, the intersection of NASA and electronic music was a logical extension of all of those interests.

Another good parallel to their work would be an artist like Robert Rauschenberg, Thomas says. Rauschenberg was invited by NASA in July of 1969 to travel to Cape Kennedy and witness the launch of Apollo 11.

Rauschenberg was an official guest of the agency and, along with a number of other artists, he was asked to provide some kind of interpretation of the experience.

Rauschenberg didnt set up an easel and paint like everyone else, Thomas says. He immediately started rooting around in the engineers trash cans and found schematics and blueprints and tourist maps from Cocoa Beach. He really upended the narrative that NASA was trying to create, and made a wild, kaleidoscopic set of collages, called Stoned Moon.

I think theres something in the spirit of rewriting a narrative, of maybe thinking differently about the way a countdown works, or the way that were told a story, and to reshuffle the order in which its told, Thomas says. I think theres something in that way of thinking that really informed the way that we were thinking about composition on this album.

This article is based on an interview that aired on PRIs Science Friday with Ira Flatow.

See original here:

A pair of musicians uses Quindar tones to create a musical tribute to space travel. - PRI