Oklahoma Space Alliance NSS Chapter UPDATE for December 2011
A free email newsletter for members & friends of Oklahoma Space Alliance NSS
December 2011 Meeting and Christmas Party:
Oklahoma Space Alliance NSS chapter will meet and celebrate Christmas at
Tom & Heidi Koszoru’s, house, 514 Fenwick Court, Norman, OK on Saturday, December 10 starting around 3:00 pm to socialize. We will eat after 4:00 PM and then have a short meeting to elect officers. If you wish you may arrive after 3:00 p.m. Prospective members are welcome, as are spouses and children. This is a Potluck!
We will be eating sometime between 4:00 and 5:00 p.m. with officer elections afterward. Tom will fry a turkey ready to eat around 4:00 pm with whatever side dishes the rest of us bring. (contact info at end of newsletter) will be helpful but not essential to post your intended side dish on the OSA Facebook page).
To get there yourself, either: (1) Take the Robinson Street west exit off I-35. Proceed west to 36th Street where you will turn left, and go south until you turn left on Rambling Oaks (about half a mile north of Main Street). Fenwick Court is the third street on the left. Tom's house is the last on the left side, or (2) Take the Main Street west exit off I-35, proceed west past the Sooner Fashion Mall, and turn right at 36th Street, and go north until you turn right on Rambling Oaks (about half a mile north of Main Street). Fenwick Court is the third street on the left. Tom's house is the last on the left side.
For more information, call Tom at 366 1797, Syd at 321 4027, or Claire at 329 4326.
Agenda:
1) Introductions (if necessary)
2) Read and approve agenda
3) Read and approve minutes and reports of activities
4) Old Business
a. Closing of Officer Nominations
b. Election of Officers
All other Old Business Tabled to 2012
c) A New OSA Logo
d) Treasurer’s Report
e) Yuri’s Night 2012
f) Moon Day 2012
g) Distribution of Ad Astras
h) What’s Happening in Space
i) OSA Fundraisers
j) Library Displays
k) OSA Speakers
5) Read and discuss mail
6) New Business
7) Create New Agenda
8) Adjorn Meeting
9) Continue the party
Minutes of November Meeting
Oklahoma Space Alliance met Saturday, November 12 at the Denny’s on the I-240 access road east of South Pennsylvania Avenue in Oklahoma City. Attending were Tom Koszoru, Jim Trombly, Claire McMurray, Steve Swift, Tim Scott, Phil Schafer, John Northcutt and Syd Henderson.
Make sure to use Claire’s hotmail address instead of her sbcglobal address.
The Oklahoma Space Alliance Christmas Party will be 3:00 p.m. on December 10, with eating starting between 4:00 and 5:00 p.m. This will be a potluck dinner with Tom providing the turkey. We will also be doing dirty Santa. Presents are limited to a cost of $15.
Syd should forward the animated cartoon on NASA vs. SpaceX to the OSA mailing list. [Finally done—SFH.]
Steve Swift has put together notes on things we can do next year. [See attachment.]
This was the meeting that we nominate officers. Jim put in a bid for Vice-President and wants to be an ambassador at large, and brought a platform. [See attachment.]
Syd and Tim are willing to serve another term as Secretary and Treasurer, respectively. Steve Swift is considering running for presidents. He wants to set goals and objectives for Oklahoma Space Alliance.
Tom nominated Steve Swift for President.
Claire: we need a theme for an essay contest and the first should be private spaceflight. Planetary defense (as against asteroid impacts) and robotics other possible themes.
John presented his idea for a 30-minute radio program on one of the local stations.
Tim has $530 between bank account and cash.
We need a label to put on the Ad Astras we are sending out. These should identify us as the Oklahoma Space Alliance Chapter of National Space Society, contact info for our website and e-mail.
Change Claire’s e-mail on the web site.
Jim Provided the following:
o Jim would like to talk next year on the history of the Delta rocket. Other possible topics are ESA in relation to Mars missions, manned missions to Mars, and string theory. Jim will talk in January on Mars 500.
o NASA will be launching an Orion capsule in December 2013 on a Delta IV.
o The Moore Public Library’s sports complex has large rooms that will hold fifty people and at a charge of $25.
OSA agreed to the following proposed slate of officers. Please note that nominations will continue until the December meeting
President Steve Swift
Vice President Jim Trombly
Secretary Syd Henderson
Treasurer Dr. Tim Scott
--Report from OSA Secretary Syd Henderson
Other Space News
From the BBC News
Large quantities of a green mineral gemstone have been found on Mars. Rocky outcrops of the mineral olivine were spotted by a space craft orbiting the planet.
On Earth, the mineral is known as peridot, an inexpensive gemstone used in jewellery.
Its presence gives clues to the ancient history of Mars, suggesting the planet has been cold and dry for billions of years.
The exposed mineral is weathered away in warm, wet conditions.
If it has been there for billions of years, as geological evidence suggests, then Mars must have been cold and dry for much of that time.
Scientists now need to pin down the precise age of the mineral, found over a 30,000-square-kilometre area in a long, narrow, shallow depression known as Nili Fossae.
Space impact
The region probably formed at least 3.6 billion years ago when an asteroid or comet crashed nearby, carving a crater known as the Isidis basin.
It is probable at that time that the mineral was exposed. An alternative, but less likely scenario, is that it was pushed to the surface much more recently by another geological event.
"If the olivine was exposed shortly after the impact event, the Martian surface may have been dry and cold for more than three billion years", a team of researchers from the US Geological Survey in Denver, Colorado, write in the journal Science, "but if the olivine was recently uncovered at the surface, then it could have been cold and dry for as little as a few thousand years."
The mineral was detected by an instrument on the US space agency's (Nasa) Mars Global Surveyor.
The unmanned probe arrived at the planet in September 1997 and has been making observations ever since.
It has shown good evidence that the cold, inhospitable planet was once warm and wet like the Earth. These conditions could have harboured primitive life.
Current Oklahoma Space Alliance Officers, 2010 (Area Code 405)
Tom Koszoru, President 366-1797 (H)
John Northcutt, Vice-President 390-3476 (H)
Syd Henderson, Secretary & Outreach Editor 321-4027 (H)
Tim Scott, Treasurer 740-7549 (H)
Claire McMurray, Correspondence Secretary/Update Editor
329-4326 (H) 863-6173 (C)
OSA E-mail Addresses and Web Site: (replace “ at “ with “@”)
<cliffclaire at hotmail.com> (Claire McMurray)
<T_Koszoru at att.net> or <InertialVoom at gmail.com> (Heidi and Tom Koszoru)
<john.d.northcutt1 at tds.net> (John Northcutt)
<sydh at ou.edu> (Syd Henderson)
<ctscott at mac.com> (Tim Scott)
<lensman13 at aol.com> (Steve Galpin)
<dmcraig at earthlink.net> (Nancy and David Craig).
E-mail for OSA should be sent to <sydh at ou.edu>. Members who wish their e-mail addresses printed in Outreach, and people wishing space-related materials e-mailed to them should contact Syd. Oklahoma Space Alliance website is osa.nss.org/index.html. Webmaster is Syd Henderson.
Other Information
The National Space Society's Headquarters phone is 202-429-1600. Executive Director is Gary Barnhard, <nsshq at nss.org>. The Chapters Coordinator is Bennett Rutledge 720-529-8024. The address is: National Space Society, 1155 15th Street NW, Suite 500, Washington DC 20005 Web page is space.nss.org. For details on the NSS chapters network, see http://space.nss.org/nss-chapters-directory/.
Oklahoma Space Industrial Development Authority (OSIDA), 401 Sooner Drive/PO Box 689, Burns Flat, OK 73624, 580-562-3500. Web site www.state.ok.us/~okspaceport.
Science Museum Oklahoma (former Omniplex) website is www.sciencemuseumok.org. Main number is 602-6664.
Tulsa Air and Space Museum, 7130 E. Apache, Tulsa, OK 74115. Web Site is www.tulsaairandspacemuseum.com. Phone (918)834-9900.
The Mars Society address is Mars Society, Box 273, Indian Hills CO 80454. Their web address is www.marsociety.org.
The Planetary Society phone 626-793-5100. The address is 65 North Catalina, Avenue, Pasadena, California, 91106-2301 and the website is www.planetary.org. E-mail is [email protected].
NASA Spacelink BBS 205-895-0028. Or try www.nasa.gov. .
Congressional Switchboard, both Senate & House, is 202/224-3121.
Write to any U. S. Senator or Representative at [name]/ Washington DC, 20510 (Senate) or 20515 [House]. To find contact & other information your congressperson, see www.house.gov/. For senators, use www.congress.org/
Contact person for Oklahoma Space Alliance is Claire McMurray
PO Box 1003
Norman, OK 73070
Webmaster is Syd Henderson.
Copyright ©2011 Oklahoma Space Alliance.