+ About OpenSpace
My name is Gabriel Monge-Franco, and I'm your typical Joe. Last night, I was bored and had nothing to do except for watching videos on the Internet. And after watching a few superman shows and videos from NASA, it hit me — how come only these big agencies have access to space? If I want satellite pictures of Mars, why can I only get whatever they want me to see? Why couln't I — just your typical, broke college student — launch my own satellites and take pictures with a cheap digital camera?
Why couldn't I. And for that matter — why couldn't just anyone do this?
There is absolutely no reason why the average Joe can't explore space. Even children from under-develop nations should have the opportunity to explore space. In fact, I think every school in world, maybe even every home in the world, should be able to launch their own mini-rockets from a parking lot with digital cameras, telescopes, communication links and anything else they want attached. And there is no reason to do it with plutonium or carbon-based fuels — why couldn't they do it with hydrogen fuel-cells, solar arrays, magnetic fields, even really big sling shots or whatever will work? :)
After talking to my friend Kristin tonight, we decided to start a cool project…. a long-term hobby that we decided to call OpenSpace. You know, "Open" like in Open Source, but also "Open" as in opening space exploration to everyone around the globe. And a few minutes later, we started this wiki.
Our first goal is to create one small space vehicle and launch it to orbit. We plan in documenting all of our research, all of our pictures, conversations, videos, experiences — every detail up to and including how many slices of pizza we ate — so that others may follow. :)
The point of this site is to get our ideas out to the world in the hope that others will start sharing their ideas too.
So join the wiki and start posting: Forum.
Kristin & Gabriel.
Here are some Cool Links too.
Visit the authors:
