Public Recruited For New Space Experiment Ideas In South Bay
MENLO PARK (CBS 5) - Citizens in Space, a non-profit group that hopes to use the new wave of private sub-orbital space flight to make scientific breakthroughs, has an informational meeting planned for this Thursday, where "citizen scientists" will be encouraged to develop experiments to be carried into space.
According to the organization, Citizens in Space has booked 10 flight on the Lynx Rocketplane being developed by XCOR Aerospace. The group has said it plans to train 10 "citizen astronauts" to fly aboard the missions, which will carry about 100 science experiments into space.
Edward Wright, project manager for Citizens in Space, will discuss an open call for citizen-science experiments at a Menlo Park routable at the TechShop from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
"Suborbital vehicles like the Lynx will open up spaceflight to private citizens the same way microcomputers opened up computing," Wright said in the press release. "The combination of low-cost spaceflight and modern technology…will enable citizen scientists to perform amazing space-science experiments."
Other speakers will include members of James Cameron's DeepSea Challenge project, and the SETI Institute.
Tickets for the event are still available. Admission is $30 for the general public, $20 for Roundtable members, and $10 for students.
Citizens in space said their flight may begin by the end of 2013.
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