The Drake Deviation

The highlight of SETIcon II this past weekend was meeting Frank Drake, another one of those scientists whose resume makes me think, "What the heck have I been doing with my time? Slacker!"

Frank Drake, Rock Star

Cornell and Harvard graduate, Astronomer, Astrophysicist, Professor, Author of The Drake Equation and the Arecibo Message, NRAO and JPL scientist, co-founder of SETI, Trustee of the SETI Institute, Radio Astronomy pioneer, Frank Drake, along with Carl Sagan, famously co-developed the Pioneer plaque AND the Gold Records on Voyager I and II, now the furthest pieces of human hardware from Earth, and poised to leave our solar system!

By the way, he also cultivates orchids in his spare time. Whenever that could possibly be.

After his SETIcon panel on alien communication (available soon on the SETI Institute YouTube channel), Frank hung around with us riff-raff for autographs, photographs and general banter. I grinned as Jaime ascended the dais to show Dr. Drake her tattoo. So hey, would Sir Frank be weirded out... or tickled?


Oh, he was totally tickled! Thanks to a NYC tattoo artist who has at least one space geek chromosome, Jaime's lower calf sports a pulsar map, very similar to the one on Drake's Golden Record! The map on the Voyager records defines the location of our Sun utilizing 14 pulsars of known directions *from* said Sun. The binary code (kinda hard to see the nodes in these tiny pictures, but they're there!) defines the frequency of the electromagnetic pulses... very useful timekeepers of the cosmos!


In an unprecedented moment of whimsy that belied his advancing years, Drake whipped out his smartphone and asked Jamie if he could photograph her calf tattoo. She laughed and obliged.

He fiddled with a few buttons, then took 3 snapshots at varying distances while we laughed. One of the camera operators working the conference rushed over to capture the moment, to a crowd of amused onlookers. Three or four other people in the growing line photographed Frank photographing Jaime, who only found out later that she had been captured in the moment.

Hands down, funniest moment at SETIcon

I had planned to write a post about Drake and his work, but this happy oddity proved a much better opportunity to showcase what sort of scientist he is, how his personality has shaped the way he thinks, and how his work changed the way WE all think about our universe and its possibilities.

His sense of curiosity and creativity has inspired a generation, and it was fun to watch him witness how his work will live on, continuing to inspire generations after!

SETIcon

My first trip to SETIcon was similar to my first Star Trek convention: one part predictable, two parts not what I expected at all, and about 12 parts way beyond expectations... overall, a pretty wild ride!

The first thing that surprised me was the sheer size of the crowd. SETIcon II (the second convention they have held) was well-attended, easily up in the thousands, and may need to explore larger venues in the future. The Santa Clara Convention Center was packed with space geeks, many from the native Silicon Valley, but some from as far away as New York. And a dedicated lot we are.

Sweet Irony: Not a Trek Con, but the first celebrity I stumbled
over was Robert Picardo of Star Trek Voyager

In the wake of funding losses, it's good to see the Search For Extra Terrestrial Intelligence Institute's events so delightfully peopled in every age range. There was much to discuss, much to debate, and much to celebrate -- not cheaply, but the idea here is to raise money for the ongoing efforts in the greatest question for humankind: Are we alone in the cosmos?

It seems unlikely, and eminent scientists of all fields gathered to conduct lunches, brunches, slideshow panels, Q&A sessions and intimate interviews called "Fireside Chats", all to ponder the grander issues of our species. Where are the other populated planets? How do we find their signals? What are the signs of habitation? When life does arrive, is it inherently random in its development, or is intelligence always the end game? Just how unique are we?

NASA Astronaut Tom Jones, 4-time Space Shuttle Veteran

Some of the many sessions I chose to attend included:

"Will You Survive Your Trip To Mars" with NASA astronaut Tom Jones and Mars Institute founder Pascal Lee, among other ethicists and researchers.

"All Aboard the 100 Year Starship!" A new Earth effort by NASA Astronaut Mae Jemison, who was joined by Bill Nye The Science Guy!

"Did the Big Bang Require a Divine Spark?" with Nobel Prize Winner Alex Filippenko and other assorted Godless Heathens.

"Imagineering Science" with Chris Ford from PIXAR, and other film & visual arts folks who bring the universe to us colorfully and visually...

Fireside Chat with "Packing For Mars" author Mary Roach, who is just as funny in person as she is in writing!

SETI founder Frank Drake at far left

Oh, and there was an exhibit hall with vendors, local artists specializing in space art, NASA Ames displays from the nearby agency center, the "Ask a Scientist" information table, a large silent auction of memorabilia and collectibles, time capsules compiled by famous scientists and in the evening, a BYOT ("Bring Your Own Telescope") Star Party where we noted an ISS pass... what luck!

The entire program of events can be found at the SETIcon II website, so definitely check it out and lament your absence if you didn't attend! It will definitely make you want to attend SETIcon III!

Nick, Karen, me, Erik & Jaime ... happy space geeks!

SETI had a vendor film each session, and they promised to make all the talks and events avaialble on their SETI Institute YouTube Channel, so look for those to be uploaded soon... in the meantime, my photos are in my Pillownaut Picasa Gallery, or click any of the above photos to see the high-resolution originals of the event.

Voyagers

Sheer coincidence that I've been enjoying the news of Voyager I and also researching as many scale model solar systems as I can find! The varying hikes are useful in learning about the size of our solar system, and I happened to complete this project while the first human-made craft escapes it! It's a bit chilling, actually.

To think, scientists in 1977 launched a craft that is now 120 Astronomical Units (AU) away from Earth, at the heliosphere (the vast reach of our Sun's magnetic field). On the other side is interstellar space, a new frontier for human hardware!

Arecibo Trail in Puerto Rico

In light of this accomplishment, I hope some folks put the map of Solar System Hikes to good use this summer. Go forth, find ye a solar system scale model to traverse, and get in thy brain the size of our humble home!

After I published the international hikes, putting the number of solar system models well over 200, I was so gratified to have an inbox full of people telling me which ones they walked already, or shown their children! One person was actually on vacation at the time and thanked me for posting it while he was near one he could find! Good show!

Even more fun were the people who took time to send photographs, or tell me about models I had missed, because some models do not have web pages or space agency sponsors. Many, like the one in Arecibo, are accidentally secret. Until now...

Arecibo Sun

Newly added to the list, thanks to Abel Méndez, is the solar system hike near Puerto Rico's dish... yes, THE dish. This one has signage in both English and Spanish, and could contend for most beautiful scenery (although driving the world record holder through Sweden in the summer is probably also pretty cool!)

Two others emailed pictures of planets from their local walks, and I added these to my Picasa Gallery of Solar System Hikes, so that folks can see many clever ways the planets are created and distributed. Some are done as playgrounds, many as metal or painted orbs, and others as stansions or plaques with scaled artwork.

One sun blocking another in München!

My longtime friend and reader, Manuel in Munich, made it a point to walk the Solar System scale model in the München Zoo, just so he could take some pictures for me. Whatta guy! I was particularly interested in seeing some in Germany, since that company has more than any other: 107. If the map count is correct, over half the solar system scale models in the world are in Germany!

Yet another person who actually initiated and designed a solar system walk in his hometown in central Sweden, and sent me links to a wonderful set of photographs detailing one I had not yet found! I've got quite a collection now, for only having walked ONE of these things. all are welcome, and I hope more people continue to contact me, so we can make the map as comprehensive as possible.

Jupiter at the Munich Zoo

Very special thanks to Professor Abel Méndez of the Planetary Habitability Laboratory (University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo), also to IT Consultant Manuel Dornbusch of Brainforce, and to Chairman Kjell Olauson of the Örebro Astronomi cal Association for their wonderful photographs and information.

Shenzou-9 of China

On this day in history, June 18, 1983, Sally Ride was the first American woman to travel into space. See the recent post about Valentina Tereshkova, first woman in space, for her milestone mission on June 16, 1963.

劉洋 Liú Yáng - Wuhan Flight Unit

Since China chose June 16 for their first launch of a lady taikonaut this past weekend, all these grand feminine firsts have happened between June 16-18 over the past 49 years! Of course, we've since had the first French, British, Canadian, Indian and Korean women in space... and in no way would I detract from the accomplishments of those nations -- however, the size and scope of the space agency in China now are on par to compete with NASA and Roskosmos in a way that no other nation has. They are only the third nation to put a woman in orbit using their own hardware.

If all goes as planned with the mission over the next few days, China will be the third nation in human history to dock two space craft together in orbit, when the Shenzou-9 capsule connects to the Tiangong-1 space laboratory module; the mastery of such technology is crucial to testing China's ability to build their own full space station.

Chinese Long March 2F rocket launches Shenzhou-9

Is anyone in America watching? Because from what I can see of press conferences and media, the Chinese are riveted, hoping to be the next owners of an orbiting station, and the next to reach the surface of Earth's moon.

The mission has been widely reported, unsurprisingly, by CNTV and Xinhuanet, plus many Russian Channels, India and Al-Jazeera; however, in an odd, glaring lack of video or hosted-spoken coverage, the mission was only briefly referred to, and mostly in print, by CNN, FOX and MSBNC.

Liu Wang, Jing Haipeng & Liu Yang, moments after rocket separation

Once the BBC picked up the story, it spread to more news outlets, but the better places to get more than passing details are in the smaller, more dense space publications who specialize in the details craved by nerds. Over the larger media chains, I recommend:

- Spaceflight 101 : Shenzou-9 Mission Updates (best detail here)

- Space Daily : Mission News including selections and preparations

- SPACE.com : Cool mission infographic

- SpaceRef : Diagram of intended future Chinese Space Station

Try to keep up, Earthlings! We have a new and serious player among the space-faring nations!