Well, it would appear that the executive director of the Cleveland Air Show didn't think the rocket races were a good idea, or they couldn't be done for airspace restrictions, or he is doing it anyway and cut me out of the loop.  Whatever the reason I havn't heard from them in a week so oh well, that dream is over.

 

Maybe I'll be lucky anough for some other city near hear to get a race for next year so I can go see one at least.  Or maybe I'll just move before then.

Well, My earlier prediction was wrong apparently.

 

Dan was a great survivor but unfortunatly things worked against him and he is no longer among the Survivors.  Over at collectSpace there is a good article summing up what happened.

 

Well, Terry is still on there and he's very Astronaut-like I suppose.  He's the fighter pilot for those that don't watch a lot.  He also stands a very good chance in making it a long way due to his combination of strength, likeability, intelligence and leadership ability.  So from now on I'll be backing Terry.

 

If he gets voted out, I think I'll just stop watching.  Oh well.

There is so much going on in the space industry at the moment it's getting hard to keep up with it all.  Both public and private industry have things happening.  Dan over at Space Pragmatism does a good job of providing a hit list of the most interesting articles, so I won't even try to duplicate that effort.

 

On the local front, it appears that the early movement on bringing a rocket race to Cleveland fizzeled out.  Nothing has happened on it since Sunday, I'm expecting it to be DoA.

 

So now a question, is all of this coverage of the public and private endeavors leading to a public that is more informed and motivated about space related issues?  I know that for me and others that follow all of this that it seems like a lot more coverage lately but is that actually the case?  I'm hoping that at the very least this attention is acting as a primer to get the general public ready to accept a new space race and get motivated behind one.  As I've said before, without the public getting excited about going back to the Moon and then on to Mars, it will never happen, no matter what the President wants.

 

Help!

So once again I pose a question to all, how do we get people motivated.  I don't think we can expect NASA or the government to do it.  Most of the private industry players are too focused on making their craft and becoming profitible to worry about building appeal among the mass public, and I don't blame them for it.  What I think we need is to have some other group (like maybe a bunch of blogging space geeks - like us), to take the inititive and get some kind of public awareness campaign started.

 

So here goes, lets do it.  I'm willing to do much of the work but I need ideas people, lets get a discussion going on how to do this ourselves.  With the abundance of social networking and blogging sites out there I think we can get a public awareness campaign going that costs nothing but time to start and then it can evolve from there.  So I'm asking everyone out there (not that anyone is reading this) to help me come up with a name and a logo for us to use in our campaign.

 

Just Do It!

Ok, if anyone is actually reading the dribble that I post here they are aware that last week I said that I had a big space industry related project I was trying to bring to Northeast Ohio.  Well, it took a big step closer to reality this weekend!

 

I'll make this brief, since I'm supposed to be working...

 

The Rocket Racing League is looking for 4 venues to host races in 2007 beyone the Reno and Las Cruces events already announced.  I wrote up a proposal that I sent to the Cleveland National Air Show that they throw their hat in ring to be one of those venues.  I thought that ok, I did my part and will never hear back from them, I mean, who am I?  Well, apparently I wrote a good letter since I heard back from their events director this weekend who seemed very interested and had a few technical questions.  He had me send my answers directly to the Executive Director!  Theya re supposed to talk about it today and hopefully I'll hear something from them soon.  The deadline for requesting the RFP is March 15th, so there is little time to spare.

 

Now, I still am trying to not get my hopes up about this but talk about a major step forward.  My heart is racing just thinking that I could be part of bringing a major event like this to Cleveland.

 

Now I really need that luck which Zhi was nice enough to wish me.

 

 

Also, if anyone would like to lend me a hand if this gets the green light from the air show just let me know.

I don't think I've already written much on this topic so here's a bit on this...

 

The newly formed Rocket Racing League has been getting a lot of attention these days.  There have been articles in major publications highlighting them, they were even mentionend on CNN and Fox News when they announced their formation.  It is hoped by the involved parties that this will become something of a "Nascar of the Skies". 

 

I have mixed feeling on this.

 

On one hand, I personally love the idea of going and watching one of these events, and I'm not a racing fan.  The thought of watching daring pilots zoom through the sky in tiny manuverable craft is very exciting to me, even though I would only be a spectator.  It would certinaly be something that is better to watch in person, hearing the roar of the rockets, seeing the yellow jets of flame and seeing the planes appearing nearly ready to touch.  It is all very exciting and I am already trying to make plans to see at least one of these events in person.

 

The other side of me though, is wondering why the same people that are touting the new private space industry are in the same breath talking about the Rocket Racing League, myself included.  Other than the aircraft being rocket powered, is there really that big of a difference from the air races that started in Cleveland in 1929 and still exist today each year in Reno?  That is an event that currently does not have much of an auidence, relativly speaking.  In what way will these races help to advance the private space industry?  I am woried that they may end up doing more harm than good, all it will take is one nationally televised crash into a grandstand full of people to destroy any gains they may have made and possibly hurt the whole industry.  I see much greater potential for harm than for good.

 

So are they good or not?

 

Overall I think yes, theya re a good thing and I wish them all of the success possible, I will most likely be an avid fan.  What I hope for the private space industry though is that in the touting of these races, there is not a tight connection drawn between the rocket races and the space industry.  That way, if an accident does happen, and let us hope one never does, it will only be detrimental to the sport, not the greater industry.