First things first:
The 1st goal of this trip is to give those in the exploration community a chance to further develop skill sets around submersible operations and exploration.
The 2nd goal is to either tag and track six gill sharks or do one of the largest deep sea marine surveys off the coast of Roatan, Honduras.
The research project aspect will be determined by how many people join the trip and our financial resources for items such as shark tags.
As of now, no grants have been submitted for the project, we are applying for multiple grants and publication sources.
I believe it is worth stressing that this trip will be a balance of submarine operations and education, scientific diving, and peer networking.
That being said the 3rd goal of the project is to laser scan coral reefs to identify microplastic pollution levels and to potentially laser scan six-gill sharks.
As there is only room for 3 persons in the submarine at a time we will have to schedule our dives and objectives.
As we cycle through the deep sea submersible, the remaining group members have the daily opportunity to do scientific scuba dives and/or recreational scuba dives at their leisure.
Overview:
7 day trip to Honduras for submarines and scientific diving.
The costs include airfare, housing, importation fees for the laser scanner, access to the submarine, and scientific data processing
Trip dates:
July 11th to 17th 2021 (I will personally be staying longer until the 20th)
Location:
Roatan, Honduras
Accommodation:
We believe it would be the most advantageous to have everyone stay at the same or nearby locations so we can debrief our submarine dives as well as scuba dive together. We are deeply considering two locations. One is in the West End called Cocolobo, the other is in the West Bay called Paradise Beach Hotel.
Submarine:
As mentioned before, if you are planning on attending the trip I will be coordinating the submarine training and dives with Karl Stanley, our pilot. The submarine is capable of depths around 2000ft below the surface (610m). 3 people in the submarine at a time including the pilot.
Dives in the submarine cost approximately $800 per person. We will most likely be cycling through 4 people per day in the submarine to do deep sea surveys. 2 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon.
Science and education:
I'm working with Karl on the dive locations to solidify the area for us to survey and potentially tag six gill sharks.
He has worked with Dean Grubbs from Florida State University's Marine Science Lab.
I am continuing on this endeavor to secure funding and resources.
Museum Renovation:
Anthony's Key Resort has the only museum on the Island and Karl has also offered us the opportunity to renovate a deep sea section that he has ownership of. We will share our findings through this platform.
CONFERS Statement on New U.S. National Space Policy
Washington, D.C. -- Members of the Consortium for the Execution of Rendezvous and Servicing (CONFERS) welcome the 2020 United States National Space Policy that, when implemented, will strengthen our space economy, promote security and international collaboration, and ensure space sustainability.
3D Printing for Planetary Science
April 4, 2020
Since the early days of astronomy in Africa, Eurasia, Australia, and the Americas our ancestors used to share information about the night sky and our place within the Universe by word of mouth. Fast forward to now, after centuries of scientific and technological leaps and hurdles our satellites, rovers, and telescopes are putting the Heavens in our hands with 3D printed planets, asteroids, moons, satellites, rocket ships, and so on. Using these new gifts of science from the Space Age will not only help in planning future space missions, but they also provide means to build upon the scope and reach of scientific access of information to previously underserved communities.
One overlooked area of the benefits of the Space Age is the capacity to take the story-telling and image sharing capacities of our societies fascination with space and put it into our own hands. The Space Age has provided microwaves, Velcro, freeze dried ice cream, pictures of Earth, GPS, and numerous other benefits to our everyday lives. By making these subjects tangible, differently abled students can now participate in scientific research and discussion on astronomy and astrogeology. Instead of having a long-winded discussion on the surface features of the Moon, Mars, or Earth, students can hold them in their hands and being to feel out the cracks, scars, and bumps that make up our Solar system.
By making astronomy and astrogeology fit in the palm of our hands, we can expand these sciences and the state-of-the-art related to them to more communities how had less access in the past. The capacities provided to us by 3D printing planets means that scientists can make observations on planetary geology with a fresh set of eyes, younger students can make observations easily, and underserved populations can begin to interact with subjects that used to be out of reach. This accessibility avenue can be readily developed and included in my curricula for students of any age. By democratizing space sciences, more innovating is an inevitable outcome.
One of our goals moving through the 2000s should be to aim towards improving and expanding access for students of all ages that have been underrepresented to improve the aerospace community. 3D printing is proliferating within numerous sectors, education certainly needs to focus on the products it can leverage from it. By the end of this century, we could have the Solar System in the hand of the next generation of scientists, technologists, engineers, artists, and mathematicians so they can all be enabled to add to the narrative of space exploration.