From R2-D2 to Curiosity: Good Fiction to Great Science

NASA’s Curiosity rover is scouring the Martian surface at Gale Crater with drills, cameras and even a laser so it can find out more about the Red Planet. Curiosity carries no people, instead taking all of its readings by remote control and radioing them back to eager scientists on Earth.

It’s a biography familiar to “Star Wars” fans, thousands of who gathered in Orlando, Fla., for Celebration VI. For lovers of the galaxy far, far away, the idea of a robotic traveler working diligently far from home is reminiscent of R2-D2′s various journeys to Tatooine, Dagobah and Bespin or the Imperial Probe Droid’s search around the ice planet Hoth.

“From what I’ve seen, people being able to command to steer a robot on Mars from so far away is truly amazing,” said Ben Burtt, the sound designer on the “Star Wars” films who gave R2-D2 a voice mix of electronic sounds with human inflections.

He was also trained as a scientist, having majored in physics.

“I never could have imagined that being the case back 40 years ago when we started on the first Star Wars. At that time, even the R2 on the set could barely move down the hallway.”

While Curiosity represents the technological cutting edge for robots landing on other planets, it still lacks the personality and other high-level attributes of the fictional “Star Wars” machines. No worry, say fans of the film franchise. Reality will catch up soon enough.

“I think good science fiction motivates good science,” said Brian Pauley, an Ohio fan who dressed as young hero Luke Skywalker for the event. “When you see something, you say, ‘I’d like to do that’ and you set about doing it and then you accomplish it.”

If they had the chance to send R2-D2 on a scouting mission to a real planet in the solar system, Mars would still get most of the attention.

“Mars, that’s the best bet,” said Evan Greenwood, portraying Glen Marek, or Starkiller. “It’s probably the only one that will be terraformable at some point. Not nowadays, but it has the best chance. It’s the closest to Earth, it’s a mini-Earth, so it’s the best place for a base. So if an asteroid hits Earth, and if there’s people somewhere else, the human race can survive. Until we do that, we’re in peril.”

A more Hoth-like world also got a vote, though.

“Pluto would probably be the best to send it to because we don’t know anything about Pluto,” said an Imperial Officer-costumed Jasmine Seale. “It’s so far away, it’s so hard to figure anything out. So I’d love to send R2-D2 out there where we can’t reach that well.”

The most important thing, the fans said, was to keep exploring, and pushing the boundaries of knowledge outward.

“I think we’re just scratching the surface,” said Tim Martinez, dressed in the menacing black armor of Darth Vader. “I was a big astronaut buff when I was young and Mars has always intrigued me and I think the more that we explore, the more we’ll learn and the more there is to explore. Maybe we’ll travel there one day.”

Just as astronauts followed robots in real-life, no one expects the machines to be the only planetary voyagers.

So what “Star Wars” character would have the best chance of becoming an astronaut?

“Han Solo,” said Storm Trooper look-alike Christopher Garrison. “He made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs. If anyone can do it, Han Solo can do it.”

Mariana King, a.k.a. Oola, agreed to a point.

“Han Solo has the courage, but he’s kind of reckless,” King said.

Luke Skywalker also was a popular choice.

“The best astronaut would have to be Luke Skywalker because he’s like the pioneer of Star Wars, he’s done everything,” said Marcus Richardson, who donned the flowing blue robes of Lando Calrissian for the “Star Wars” celebration.

At least one fan would pick a legion of astronaut candidates.

“I think the best astronauts would be the stormtroopers because they’re trained so much,” said Annette Cheney, an Australian fan who dressed as a Wookie. “They can do anything, so I think they could pick up NASA space training the fastest and easiest.”

Why not send the stormtroopers’ boss, Darth Vader, said Martinez.

“He’s already equipped to breathe in space, he needs nothing else, he’s ready to go,” Martinez said.

When science fiction shows or books offer a vision of what space travel and other worlds might look and feel like, people become intrigued to find out more about real planets, the “Star Wars” fans said.

“Every time NASA takes another step out, I feel like that was the reason I fell in love with ‘Star Wars,’ said fan Kara Gardner. “Because I wanted to know what was out there. Now we’re finding out what’s on Mars and it’s kind of like, well, that reminds me of this planet in the ‘Star Wars’ universe.”

“Every step we take gets us a little bit closer,” said David Atteberry, wearing a detailed Mandalorian armor costume similar to Boba Fett’s attire, “and that’s one of the things I found about the Curiosity rover, it’s like we’re finally getting out there, back into space and getting closer to that dream of being able to explore our galaxy.”

By Steven Siceloff, www.nasa.gov

NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center

NASA Mars Rover Begins Driving at Bradbury Landing

Dwayne Brown / Steve Cole

Headquarters, Washington

202-358-1726 / 202-358-0918

dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov / stephen.e.cole@nasa.gov

 

Guy Webster / D.C. Agle

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

818-354-5011

guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov / agle@jpl.nasa.gov

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has begun driving from its landing site, which scientists announced today they have named for the late author Ray Bradbury.

Making its first movement on the Martian surface, Curiosity's drive combined forward, turn and reverse segments. This placed the rover roughly 20 feet (6 meters) from the spot where it landed 16 days ago.

NASA has approved the Curiosity science team's choice to name the landing ground for the influential author who was born 92 years ago today and died this year. The location where Curiosity touched down is now called Bradbury Landing.

"This was not a difficult choice for the science team," said Michael Meyer, NASA program scientist for Curiosity. "Many of us and millions of other readers were inspired in our lives by stories Ray Bradbury wrote to dream of the possibility of life on Mars."

Today's drive confirmed the health of Curiosity's mobility system and produced the rover's first wheel tracks on Mars, documented in images taken after the drive. During a news conference today at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., the mission's lead rover driver, Matt Heverly, showed an animation derived from visualization software used for planning the first drive.

"We have a fully functioning mobility system with lots of amazing exploration ahead," Heverly said.

Curiosity will spend several more days of working beside Bradbury Landing, performing instrument checks and studying the surroundings, before embarking toward its first driving destination approximately 1,300 feet (400 meters) to the east-southeast.

"Curiosity is a much more complex vehicle than earlier Mars rovers. The testing and characterization activities during the initial weeks of the mission lay important groundwork for operating our precious national resource with appropriate care," said Curiosity Project Manager Pete Theisinger of JPL. "Sixteen days in, we are making excellent progress."

The science team has begun pointing instruments on the rover's mast for investigating specific targets of interest near and far. The Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument used a laser and spectrometers this week to examine the composition of rocks exposed when the spacecraft's landing engines blew away several inches of overlying material.

The instrument's principal investigator, Roger Weins of Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, reported that measurements made on the rocks in this scoured-out feature called Goulburn suggest a basaltic composition. "These may be pieces of basalt within a sedimentary deposit," Weins said.

Curiosity began a two-year prime mission on Mars when the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft delivered the car-size rover to its landing target inside Gale Crater on Aug. 5 PDT (Aug. 6 EDT). The mission will use 10 science instruments on the rover to assess whether the area has ever offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life.

In a career spanning more than 70 years, Ray Bradbury inspired generations of readers to dream, think and create. A prolific author of hundreds of short stories and nearly to 50 books, as well as numerous poems, essays, operas, plays, teleplays, and screenplays, Bradbury was one of the most celebrated writers of our time.

His groundbreaking works include "Fahrenheit 451," "The Martian Chronicles," "The Illustrated Man," "Dandelion Wine," and "Something Wicked This Way Comes." He wrote the screenplay for John Huston's classic film adaptation of "Moby Dick," and was nominated for an Academy Award. He adapted 65 of his stories for television's "The Ray Bradbury Theater," and won an Emmy for his teleplay of "The Halloween Tree."

JPL manages the Mars Science Laboratory/Curiosity for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The rover was designed, developed and assembled at JPL.

More information about Curiosity is online at http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl.

Follow the mission on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity and on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity.

- end -

Armed With Science Fiction!

Battlespace is a collection of short stories written and produced by veterans.

For many service members the military can open some unexpected doors.  You learn unique and necessary skills, you forge unforgettable friendships and  - on some occasions – you discover a talent or a passion that you didn’t even knew you had.

For Air Force veterans Keith Houin, Jason Tudor, and Michael J. Wistock, it was a passion for science fiction and a desire to help other veterans in need that provided the opportunity for a rather unique collaboration: a science fiction book that helps wounded warriors.

From Air Force veterans to science fiction writers?  Seems like a natural transition to me.  But I guess I’m not normal, so let’s take a look at this unique path for these three veterans.

It all started with a little science fiction podcast.

In many cases, there is a community connection amongst geeky members of society.  Something that says “I get that 8-bit wreath on your door” or “that Yoda quote on your white board makes sense to me.  Let’s be friends” (okay, maybe it’s not quite that black and white, but I have made more than one friend thanks to the TARDIS mug on my desk).

Keith and Jason became friends as a result of this kind of nerd magnetism, even though at first they didn’t even realize it.

“We were friends for eleven years and we had no clue that we were both geeks.  Then at some point Keith and I discovered that we had similar interests, and that was that we were both nerds,” Jason says with a little laugh.  “And I said that I itching to do a podcast.  I love doing radio.”

Jason had experience in radio while doing some work for AFN during his public affairs days.  He said it was this experience that created a passion for entertaining people on the airwaves.  He asked his friend and fellow Air Force veteran Keith to join him in in creating a show about science fiction.  One that ended up being aptly named “The Science Fiction Show”.

Jason invited his friend (and also fellow Air Force veteran) Michael to join the ranks of this burgeoning nerdfest.  Before they knew it, the show went from a concept to a weekly podcast.  The three geek veterans discuss everything science fiction, and according to Jason, The Science Fiction Show has been downloaded more than 12,000 times since May 2011.

And normally this would be the part where I’d say “the rest is history”.  However, in this case, the story of what I’m calling the veteran SciFi triforce was just beginning.

The show is now a hit, and an outlet for the SciFi triforce to share their passion for science fiction in film, television, books and all things that make me want to jump up and down with excitement and unbridled fandom (except, I must say, they desperately need a Whovian on the show – wink, wink). It also has become a way for these three veterans to share their love of science fiction, public relations, and charity.

Charity, specifically, for wounded warriors.

As an Army veteran, things that help the service members and families are causes that strikes near and dear to my heart.  The hosts of The Science Fiction Show are no different.

“We wanted to do something that would help wounded warriors in some way,” says Keith.  So they set their SciFi sights on creativity.  They wanted to produce something that they could do together and would also give back to the troops that were still struggling to recover their lives, or redefine their version of normal.  In short, they wanted to do something that would give back to all he wounded warriors in a new and purposeful way.

And how did they accomplish this mission?  By writing science fiction stories, of course.

The Air Force veteran cohosts have released a compilation of sci-fi stories in a book called “Battlespace” to raise money for the Warrior Cry Music Project charity.

“We know that there are a lot of service members and veterans that like science fiction,” says Jason.  “We also know that there are a lot of them who are hurting.”

Battlespace is a compilation of short science fiction stories, and each one boasts a military theme.  “All the stories have to have a military tie,” Jason explains.  “We wanted to stay in that genre.”

“This has been a lot of fun to create and a lot of fun to read,” adds Michael. “I hope the people that pick up this book will enjoy it as much as we have.”

So, with all the great charities out there, why Warrior Cry?  According to the triforce, it’s the power of creativity that could make a big difference when it comes to recovery.

“We’re creative guys,” Keith says enthusiastically.  “Creative things are fun for us, and we figured what better way to help out wounded warriors than to give them something like music to love and learn?”

“A lot of these small charities get ignored,” Jason adds.  “And this really is a great one.  What Warrior Cry is doing is great.  We’d love to give these guys a thousand bucks and say ‘go for it’, and that’s what we’re hoping Battlespace will achieve.”

This charity, according to Michael, allows veterans and service members to heal with the power of music.  The Warrior Cry Music Project gives musical instruments to wounded warriors and disabled veterans.  It also works with music teachers and therapists to teach them to use these instruments.

According to the website, “Warrior Cry gives wounded soldiers something positive to work toward and helps to get their minds off of their injuries. Music also helps get our wounded soldiers out of their shell and interested in socializing with others.”

Using music to work through the stresses and pain of rehabilitation?  Now that’s what I call therapeutic.

Several different authors contributed to this compilation, and Keith said 100 percent of the profits from the book, which can be ordered online as a paperback or e-book, will be donated to Warrior Cry.

As the book continues to grow in popularity and sales, these three amigos are still “geeking out”, doing their weekly podcast, which garners more attention with each clever Battlestar Galactica reference and funny Star Trek supposition.

Since its inception, the show has grown and matured, but one thing has stayed the same:  The Science Fiction Show is – and always will be – a place where three Air Force veterans get together to talk about what they love.  And each show gets better and better.

Science Fiction, charity, and friendship.  Now those are the kinds of things everyone should get out of their military service, don’t you think?

Kirk out.

————

Jessica L. Tozer is a blogger for DoDLive and Armed With Science.  She is an Army veteran and an avid science fiction fan, both of which contribute to her enthusiasm for technology in the military.

Neutralizing The Threat Of Chemical Warfare, One “Inator” At A Time

In with the good and out with the bad.

Our lungs (and yoga teachers) are masters of this concept.  Filtering the useful things and expelling the bad.  There’s little that can take the place of our lung filtration, but even our highly-functioning biological machines need a little help every now and then  (see: gas mask).

The problem is that even our most effective of ventilation devices aren’t all-powerful (although they do make for wonderfully creepy Doctor Who episodes).  That’s because, frankly, it’s a bit of a challenge to neutralize hazardous things into something that won’t, you know, injure/kill you.

And to this the Naval Research Laboratory is saying “challenge accepted”.

NRL is looking to make our air cleaner, better, and less hostile thanks to the reactive and catalytic air purification materials and catalytic self-decontaminating materials they’ve created  to combat hazardous materials.

Makes sense right?  Okay, well my work here is done…

Oh all right, at first it didn’t make sense to me, either.  So let’s break that down (Ah?  Break it down?  Oh you’ll think that’s funny later)

So, the self-decontaminating and air purification technologies are essentially two approaches to the same idea.  Basically, this technology aims to remove something that is undesirable – whether that be a gas or a liquid – and then convert that undesirable compound into something that would be more desirable.

As in, less toxic.

So let’s say you have a building in which there’s a lot of ammonia generated.  A restroom for example.  Part of the smell you get is ammonia from urine.  For that type of regular environment (as in for gas filtration), this technology would act as a filter that could actually remove ammonia and convert it to something else.  This is unlike a carbon that would just absorb it and hold onto it until maximum capacity was reached (yuck) rendering it useless at that point.

The difference is that this technology that NRL is developing will actually keep working.

So how does that affect the troops?  Well first of all, if you have to ask that you’ve likely never had to clean a latrine.  Or didn’t get in trouble often enough to do that.  Either way, it’s more than just the emotional scar tissue of Simple Green that makes me think this air purifier/decontaminator is a good idea.

I can practically smell it from the picture. *shudder*

And that’s where Dr. Brandy White comes in.

Dr. White is a research chemist for the Center for Bio/Molecular Science & Engineering at the US Naval Research Laboratory.  Among her many specialties, Dr. White is working on making this technology work for the service men and women everywhere, and we’re not talking about a bathroom air freshener.

“In the military, gas mask technology currently is based on carbon,” Dr. White explains.  “So essentially what happens is you absorb [the bad chemicals] into the carbon until all the capacity is used up, and then it stops absorbing.  Also carbon doesn’t absorb everything equally well.”

And because mediocrity and ineffectiveness isn’t really an ideal choice, Dr. White is working toward an alternative to our love affair with carbon.

“So the kind of sorbents that I’m trying to make are intended to incorporate reactivity that would grab targets that you usually wouldn’t catch using carbon.  They’re intended to give you something beyond one-to-one interaction,” she says.

Essentially, this technology can take an element – ammonia let’s say – and process it into something else less offensive.  Or just plain less obnoxious (take my ammonia!  Please!).  The decontaminator would then be then be ready to process more ammonia after it had already neutralized the nasal threat.  Basically, you you could keep using the decontaminator for a much longer period of time

More effective, more longevity, and it sounds like the thing a super villain would use to take over a metropolis (anything with an “inator” at the end = comic book super device).  I’d say that’s pretty cool.  And it makes sense, too.

“The first goal is to see the improvement in the technology that is available for gas masks and respiratory protection,” said Dr. White.  “Then the second thing that we’re really excited for is the potential for incorporation of the photo catalytic sorbents into next generation protective garments.  This is so you can extend exposure of the warfighter to toxic compounds.  Not to replace MOPP gear, but more of the idea of making it less necessary to don MOPP gear under all circumstances, and making situations more survivable without the need for that extreme action.”

The NRL scientists like Dr. White are not just attempting a novel approach to air purification, but also protective fabrics and protective surfaces.  For example, self-decontaminating fabrics or services.    Clothes smart enough to clean themselves?  Oh how cool would that be?

“Whether that be a garment or a tent structure or the hood or a car, [when] the target when it comes in contact it is rapidly sequestered, so a person can’t come in contact with it anymore,” says Dr. White.  “That allows times for the catalytic process to occur.  So while it might not be destroyed immediately on contact, it’s sequestered on contact and broken down into something that’s non-toxic.”

Now, this doesn’t mean you can just scotch guard your weekend wear with this decontaminator and poof!  You’re chemical-agent proof.  This is more of an augmentation, so if you have a garment that’s protective already and you can add this to it, it would enhance that protective capability.

And this kind of enhancement is something the troops could really use.  “Most of the things that are available to the warfighter currently don’t do what we’re talking about.  Most of the protective garments just capture the target and then hold onto it.  And then you need to throw that garment away, or further decontaminated with further processing steps.  And we’re trying to get around that. “

Neutralizing the threat of chemical warfare one “inator” at a time.  That’s just how NRL rolls.

You know, this might be something we can log away for future use when we encounter an alien species.

Hey, don’t laugh!  You don’t know what kind of biological incompatibility they could have with us.  Haven’t you people read War of the Worlds?  I’m just saying, when the Martian plague descends upon humanity you’re going to thank your lucky stars that NRL thought of this stuff ahead of time.

I’ve already preordered my decontamination clothes.  In TARDIS blue, of course.

Want to learn more about this technology?  This and this should shed light on the subject.

———-

Information for this story provided by Dr. Brand White, Research Chemist at the Naval Research Laboratory

Jessica L. Tozer is a blogger for DoDLive and Armed With Science.  She is an Army veteran and an avid science fiction fan, both of which contribute to her enthusiasm for technology in the military.

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