Sessions at SXSW Interactive 2012 about Space

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Saturday 10th March 2012

• Richard Garriott’s Continuing Space Mission

  by Richard Garriott

  Internationally-recognized Austin-based game-developer Richard Garriott talks about many of the concepts explored in his documentary film "Man on a Mission." This solo presentation will cover how the commercial space industry (as led by many in the new media industry) is changing the future. A member of the civilian NASA Advisory Council as well as the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, Garriott will also discuss what NASA and others are doing now, and why we should all be excited to play games from the surface of Mars sooner than you think!

  • Future
  • Game
  • NASA
  • Space

  At 12:30pm to 1:30pm, Saturday 10th March

  In Salon H, Hilton Austin Downtown

  Coverage audio clip

Sunday 11th March 2012

• Out of this World Engagement

  by Isabel Lara

  The nation's space agency and the world's largest museum and research complex have embraced the use of social media to reach out, engage new audiences, engage existing audiences in new ways, and give the public behind-the-scenes access. This conversation with NASA and the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum will explore successes and failures in these new ways of engaging and solicit your input for new opportunities they have yet to try.

  • Museums
  • NASA
  • Space

  At 11:00am to 12:00pm, Sunday 11th March

  In Salon A, AT&T Conference Center

• How to Win Friends and Influence Space Exploration

  by Chris Radcliff, Dennis Bonilla, Michael Doornbos, Ron Garan and Holly Griffith

  Not unlike a zombie horde ready to devour red tape and uninspired project managers, this enthusiastic movement sees brains as valuable assets to take over the world. Learn why these people got so passionately involved in space, how they became good friends over the Internet, and what they’ve created to make measurable change toward a more awesome tomorrow. While established membership organizations struggle to survive, these Internet-enabled groups are flourishing with new members from far outside traditional demographic lines that are creating large-scale activities. If you don’t already know a space tweep, learn why you will.

  • Kickstarter
  • NASA
  • Space
  • Twitter

  At 12:30pm to 1:30pm, Sunday 11th March

  In Capital Ballroom, Omni Downtown

  Coverage audio clip

• NASA’s Mission Possible: Tweeting thru Space

  by Erik Sowa and Stephanie Schierholz

  With 110 twitter accounts, 20 tweeting astronauts, an Image of the day posted to Facebook and more, NASA's social media strategy is all about extending the space "experience". For the last shuttle launch of Atlantis, 150 lucky individuals were invited to attend the official NASA Tweetup to experience the lift-off first-hand, with exclusive behind the scenes access to astronauts, facilities, lectures and more. Hear from Erik Sowa, NASA Tweetup attendee and director of engineering at ExactTarget's Social Media Lab, and Stephanie Schierholz, NASA's head of social media, as they discuss the process behind this groundbreaking event.

  • NASA
  • Social Media
  • Space
  • Twitter

  At 5:00pm to 6:00pm, Sunday 11th March

  In Capital Ballroom, Omni Downtown

Monday 12th March 2012

• 2012: You Bet Your Asteroid the World Won't End

  by Don Yeomans, Phil Plait, Stephanie Smith and Veronica McGregor

  Niburu! Comet Elenin! Asteroid YU55! It's not the end of the world, really. NASA and Discover's "Bad Astronomer" Phil Plait are here to explain why. This panel discussion will take on the Internet factor in the cause and cure of 2012 hysteria. We'll look at how urban legends spread, data gets shared and myths get debunked online. See the Web-based tools the Near-Earth Objects office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory uses to keep an eye on asteroids and comets (and let you know about them), and how the amateur astronomy community is helping in the effort to track low-flying space rocks. The Bad Astronomer himself shares rumor-slaying tales from behind the scenes of his popular blog. The sky isn't falling, but misconceptions are. Join us.

  • Astronomy
  • NASA
  • Space

  At 9:30am to 10:30am, Monday 12th March

  In Citadel, Driskill Hotel

• Spacebits: Awesomeness, Balloons, Space and DIY

  by Celso Martinho, Fernando Afonso and Fernando Afonso

  Slightly over a year ago we had this idea of trying to launch a ballon into the stratosphere (~100,000 feet) with a couple of cameras and get it back down safely.

  Since then we've launched 6 balloons and successfully recovered all of them.

  We learned a lot in the process: how inert gases cannot explode but can instead make other things explode, how to calculate volumes and weights appropriately to attain the desired height before the descent, how dropping the payload in salted water can be harmful for the cameras, how to put more and more sensors in the payload and still have it lift off, and how ideas that sometimes seem brilliant may cover hidden dangers (and extremely ridiculous moments).

  We have also managed to gather dozens and dozens of people around this movement, up to the point of having 12 cars with 5 people each and lots of gear running after 3 balloons simultaneously. And did we tell you running away from wild animals?

  Apart from telling (and showing) you all these things, we will also unveil our ideas for the future and answer your questions if you're planning to launch a HAB.

  • High Altitude
  • High Altitude Ballooning
  • Space

  At 11:00am to 12:00pm, Monday 12th March

  In Citadel, Driskill Hotel

  Coverage audio clip

• SpacePoints: Space Outreach at Ludicrous Speed

  by Jon Verville and Sarah Worthy

  When NASA's budget was drastically cut and the commercial aerospace industry found itself in charge of getting man into space, a group of "space geeks" consisting of web developers, aerospace scientists and engineers, and people who have a dream of living in space started meeting up and designed the rules, developed the application, and are sharing Space Points. They are increasing awareness publicly about space policy, increasing funding to aerospace-related research (commercial and government), and having fun playing to win!

  • NASA
  • Space

  At 12:30pm to 1:30pm, Monday 12th March

  In Room 616AB, Hilton Austin Downtown