Oklahoma Space Alliance

OKLAHOMA SPACE ALLIANCE

A Chapter of the National Space Society

Who We Are:

        Oklahoma Space Alliance is the central Oklahoma Chapter of the National Space Society, one of the largest space advocacy groups in the country, and has existed for more than 20 years. Our purposes include promoting the exploration and development of space, educating the public to current events in space and the usefulness of an active space program, all with the intent of promoting a space-faring civilization.
        Oklahoma Space Alliance hosted the 23^rd Annual International Space Development Conference on May 27-31, 2004. We previously hosted three Regional Space Development Conferences, assisted with earlier ISDCs, put displays in malls, hosted lectures, sponsored television interviews, hosted viewing nights, worked with other space-oriented groups and maintained local contact with the Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority.
        Oklahoma Space Alliance helped out with the 2007 International Space Development Conference which was hosted by the National Space Society of North Texas in Dallas Texas from May 24 - 28, 2007, and put together a commemorative exhibit for the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11. This exhibit ran through July of 2009. (See below for details.)
        We do a bimonthly newsletter called Outreach and a monthly e-mail newsletterUpdate to keep our members informed of current developments in space and upcoming events they might be interested in. Editor of Outreach is Syd Henderson and editor of Update is David Sheely. David also does an Update most months when Outreach is published.

Oklahoma Space Alliance is now on Facebook at Oklahoma Space Alliance

November 2024 Outreach (pdf format)

October 2024 Update (pdf format)

Space Priorities (pdf format)

Outreach & Update

Outreach and Update are the newsletters of Oklahoma Space Alliance. Outreach is published in odd-numbered months and is sent both by post and by e-mail.Update is published in even-number months and is sent by e-mail. The December Update is often replaced by a meeting announcement election ballot, in which case the November minutes will be published in the January Outreach. You must be a member of Oklahoma Space Alliance to receive Outreach by post unless you are on our courtesy list. To receive newsletters by e-mail, contact Syd Henderson at the address at the bottom of the page. The newsletters listed below are slightly edited to turn them into web pages.
Outreach is edited by Syd Henderson, and Update by Clifford McMurray (except the June 2024 was by Adam Hemphill)

November Meeting

        Oklahoma Space Alliance will meet at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 9, at the location next to Norman Computers on West Main in Norman. Prospective members are welcome.
         The meeting room is in the Cyber Hall and Gaming Lounge next to Norman Computers. Please enter through the Cyber Hall door. The Cyber Hall is at 914 W Main St, opposite Norman High School. The phone number is (405) 292-9501. To get to the meeting space from points north, take the Highway 77 exit off I-35, and continue south until you reach Main Street. Norman Computers is about a block and a half west of this on the south (left) side of a small mall.
         This is the meeting at which we nominate officers. If you wish to serve as an officer of Oklahoma Space Alliance, please let us know at the meeting or contact Syd by e-mail at [email protected]. Syd will be sending out election ballots around the beginning of December by both e‑mail and snail mail. If you wish to be an officer, please contact him by December 1. Note that officers must be members of the National Space Society, though you can join at the Christmas party. Elections will be held at the Christmas Party, tentatively December 14 at the McMurrays’

Saturday, November 9, 2:00 p.m. (tentative)

Introductions and review of Space events this past month
What’s Happening in Space, News, Pictures, and Videos approximately one hour. See http://osa.nss.org before the meeting for items to be discussed.
Break
Oklahoma Space Alliance Chapter Business Discussion

Review OSA treasurer’s report.
Minutes of September and October meetings
Posters
Membership Business

Video (to be announced)
Chat

Minutes of October 12 Oklahoma Space Alliance Meeting

Oklahoma Space Alliance met October 12, 2024, at the Cyber Hall and Gaming Lounge at Norman Computers in Norman, Oklahoma. Attending were Clifford and Claire McMurray, Dave Sheely and Syd Henderson. OSA President Adam Hemphill couldn’t be at the meeting so OSA Vice-President Clifford McMurray presided over the meeting, He presented an update containing links to material covered in the meeting and this is online at https://osa.nss.org/Update2410.pdf so I’ll cover the details that aren’t covered there.

         Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS will be visible in the evening the next few days.
         The astronauts returning from the International Space Station are the seventh and eighth to spend a continuous year on the ISS. (Since they went up and came back together, they are tied.) Eleven people are currently on the ISS but three are coming back.
         We watched a video on the Chinese lunar space suits. The Feitian (“flying in the sky) space suits are named after a Buddhist goddess (?).
         We watched a video of the launch of the United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur test, showing the flare from a launch anomaly. Note that the flight was successful, carrying an inert payload in place of Dream Chaser, which will be launched next year. However, this flight was for achieving certification, and enough went wrong that that might be delayed.
         The FCC does not really have the authority to establish deorbiting guidelines for spacecraft. They claim that space debris can affect radio transmissions meaning that they have this authority under the Federal Communications Act of 1934 [which, of course, was drafted well before spacecraft even existed. I wonder, though, whether they could do this for communications satellites, but even there, the FAA would have more say in it.--Syd]
         Syd is going to look up Sanyuan Aerospace for information on their first launch, as in, can they actually do it this year as Space News speculated? [Apparently not: in a search through next June, I could find no mention of an upcoming launch.]
         How many functioning orbiters are currently orbiting Mars? We came up with eight.
         Syd suggested renaming the Janus probe if they are actually sending to Apophis. Since OSIRIS-APEX (formerly OSIRIS-REx) is going there, he thinks we should rename the Janus probe to something from ancient Egyptian mythology. Isis or Horus. [Actually naming it Isis might make people think it’s sponsored by terrorists, so Horus. According to Wikipedia, Janus was cancelled, so this must have been a revival. The ESA is also sending a mission to Apophis and naming it Ramses. Thank you, ESA.]
         ESA’s 3D printer uses a 2200-degree Fahrenheit (1200° C) laser to melt the metal for printing.
         The leak on the Russian module is currently losing between 2.4 and 2.7 pounds of air per day.

The amount of money in the checking account and cash box are unchanged.

--Minutes By OSA Secretary Syd Henderson

November 2024 Outreach (pdf format)

October 2024 Update (pdf format)

Minutes of January 2024 Meeting
Minutes of February 2024 Meeting
Minutes of March 2024 Meeting
Minutes of April 2024 Meeting
Minutes of May 2024 Meeting
Minutes of June 2024 Meeting
Minutes of July 2024 Meeting
Minutes of August 2024 Meeting
Minutes of September 2024 Meeting
Minutes of October 2024 Meeting

Minutes of previous meetings

Contact person for Oklahoma Space Alliance is Claire McMurray
PO Box 1003
Norman, OK 73070
Webmaster is Syd Henderson.
Copyright 2024 Oklahoma Space Alliance.