BlueSciCon Episode 43: Stars without wars – Institutionalization of space research and its role in the international security environment

Guest: Haritina Mogosanu
Questions to consider:
What factors allow an institution like NASA to enable both space research and international security?
What is meant by the institutionalization of space research?
What historical factors from the space race are still lingering today?
How should nations balance the sharing of space resources with security concerns?

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Outreach in India: Talk About Space

BMSIS ​Young Scientist ​Anuti Joshi engaged a group of ​fifteen​ ​engineering teachers at Saraswati College of Engineering in Mumbai, India​. ​ Anuti’s engagement was part of h​er​ Communications requirements for the BMSIS Young Scientist Program. BMSIS is continuously committed to engaging the public in the wonders of Space Exploration and the Earth System. Our ​Young Scientist Program continues this tradition by engaging local communities around the world. Read ​Anuti’s impressions below: I had the wonderful opportunity to spend time with […]

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Body, Spirit, and the Emptiness of Space

Mohit Nalavadi shares his ethics & society case study, which he completed as part of our Young Scientist Program. Characterized by the belief that we can plan and create a better world through action, the 1960s approach to human progress may soon meet us again in 15 years. NASA, the ESA, SpaceX and others agree that the 2030s is the realistic decade in which we send humans to Mars. Inevitably, this in consequence will reinvigorate our primal instinct of exploration […]

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Popular Science: Should We Liberate Mars?

Should Mars be designated as independent of Earth, prior to the arrival of any human colonists? A new article by Popular Science discusses Dr. Jacob Haqq-Misra’s proposal of “liberating Mars” to allow for the development of a second instance of civilization. Rather than a conventional colony as has been seen through history, an independent and liberated Mars could provide a testbed for new and radical ideas in civilization. This idea was initially featured by Popular Science and generated subsequent coverage […]

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BlueSciCon Episode 39: Sustained Exploration of the Inner Solar System

Live from AbSciCon 2015 Beverages: Various Listen: [mp3 download] Questions to consider: How can human civilization develop a successful strategy for the sustained exploration of the inner solar system for the next 200 years? What planets and astronomical bodies should we target? Can space exploration be profitable? Is space colonization desirable? [ca_audio url=”http://beerwith.bmsis.org/BlueSciCon_39_JUN2015.mp3″ width=”500″ height=”27″ css_class=”codeart-google-mp3-player”]

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Podcast: Complementary Currency

Our “BlueSciCon” podcast for May features a conversation with our 2014 essay contest winner Kamir Hiam titled “Redesigning Human Motivation and Aiming for the Stars“. Space exploration requires costly investment, and the lack of an immediate return on this capital provides little economic incentive for a long-term exploratory program. Likewise, optimal solutions to environmental challenges sometimes compete against marketplace forces, which can create difficulties in motivating new behaviors. In his winning essay, Kamir Haim proposes that “complementary currency” could provide […]

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BlueSciCon Episode 38: Redesigning Human Motivation and Aiming for the Stars

Kamir Hiam Listen: [mp3 download] Questions to consider: How does the modern global market economy inhibit innovative solutions to civilization’s environmental challenges? What is complementary currency, and how do new forms of complementary currency emerge? How can complementary currencies help to direct human behavior? Could too many forms of complementary currency lead to an economic “bubble”, followed by a market collapse? How can innovative economic ideas foster the human exploration of space? [ca_audio url=”http://beerwith.bmsis.org/BlueSciCon_38_MAY2015.mp3″ width=”500″ height=”27″ css_class=”codeart-google-mp3-player”]

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A Chat with Astronaut Ron Garan

Retired NASA astronaut Ron Garan appears in an interview on HuffPost Live where he discusses his perspectives on space exploration and his ideas for shaping the future. Our own Dr. Sara Walker is featured in the conversation (at 11:20 from the start), asking Garan his thoughts about our prospects of becoming an interstellar civilization. [Watch the conversation at HuffPost Live]

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Podcast: Why Explore Space?

Our “Beer with BMSIS” podcast for May features a discussion between Dr. Sanjoy Som and Dr. Jacob Haqq-Misra about the philosophical question “Why explore space?“. One of the questions raised by skeptics of space exploration is the particular value that this enterprise adds to human civilization. The auxiliary discoveries of space exploration often are cited as the reasons for public investment, such as technologies that resulted from investment in space exploration but now benefit everyday consumers. Other reasons for valuing […]

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BlueSciCon Episode 29: Why explore space?

Dr. Sanjoy Som and Dr. Jacob Haqq-Misra Beverage: Irish Death (United States – Washington) Listen: [mp3 download] [ca_audio url=”http://beerwith.bmsis.org/BwBMSIS_29_MAY2014.mp3″ width=”500″ height=”27″ css_class=”codeart-google-mp3-player”]

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