Stafford L Battle

HOUSTON, TX, May 17, 2012 -­‐-­‐ The Dorothy Jemison Foundation for Excellence has been selected by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to receive seed funding to form 100 Year Starship (100YSS), an independent, non-­‐governmental, long-­‐term initiative which will ensure that the capabilities for human interstellar flight exist as soon as possible, and definitely within the next 100 years. The winning 100YSS proposal, “An Inclusive, Audacious Journey Transforms Life Here on Earth and Beyond,” was created by Dorothy Jemison Foundation for Excellence with team members Icarus Interstellar and the Foundation for Enterprise Development.

Former NASA astronaut Dr. Mae Jemison will lead the global multi-­‐partner organization.  Dr. Jemison, the world’s first woman of color to travel in space (1992’s Space Shuttle Endeavour), brings to her leadership role her vast experience as an engineer, physician, professor, former Peace Corps medical officer, and entrepreneur.  Known for achieving the improbable, Dr. Jemison also brings a spirit of audacity, innovation and inclusion to 100YSS.

“Yes, it can be done. Our current technology arc is sufficient,” says Dr. Jemison. “100 Year Starship is about building the tools we need to travel to another star system in the next hundred years.  We’re embarking on a journey across time and space. If my language is dramatic, it is because this project is monumental. This is a global aspiration. And each step of the way, its progress will benefit life on earth. Our team is both invigorated and sobered by the confidence DARPA has in us to start an independent, private initiative to help make interstellar travel a reality.”

100 Year Starship will bring in experts from myriad fields to help achieve its goal – utilizing not only scientists, engineers, doctors, technologists, researchers, sociologists and computer experts, but also architects, writers, artists, entertainers, and leaders in government, business, economics, ethics and public policy.  100YSS will also collaborate with existing space exploration and advocacy efforts from both private enterprise and the government.

In its first year, 100YSS will seek investors, establish membership opportunities, encourage public participation in research projects, and develop the visions for interstellar exploration.  A 100 Year Starship Public Symposium will be held in Houston September 13-­‐16, 2012, inaugurating what will be an annual event open to scientific papers, engineering challenges, philosophical and socio-­‐cultural considerations, economic incentives, application of space technologies to improve life on earth, imaginative exploration of the stumbling blocks and opportunities to the stars, and broad public involvement.

The 100 Year Starship also will include a scientific research institute, The Way whose major emphasis will be speculative, long-­‐term science and technology.

Alongside the Dorothy Jemison Foundation for Excellence, a non-­‐profit organization that promotes science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) awareness and achievement, the principal 100 Year Starship team members are:  Icarus Interstellar, a non-­‐profit research and development organization dedicated to the research that will enable interstellar flight; and the Foundation for Enterprise Development centered on governance, innovation, entrepreneurship,  technology and R&D based organizational planning, management, and strategic planning.  The SETI Institute, a private, non-­‐profit organization dedicated to astronomy, life sciences, education, and public outreach, will hold a permanent seat on the 100YSS Advisory Council.

To sign up for e-­‐mail alerts from 100 Year Starship or learn more about the 100YSS Public Symposium visit:  www.100YSS.org. Follow 100 Year Starship on Twitter (@100YSS).  Contact 100 Year Starship at info@100YSS.org.

DON’T WALK, LEAP INTO THE FUTURE!

Now is the time to take your aspirations to extremes. If you need a job or want a better employment situation or simply have a yearning to be more than what you are, consider a career out of this world. The United States and other governments with the monetary capital and social inspiration, are setting their sights on space — near earth orbit, L5 (Lagrangian points in the Earth–Moon system proposed as locations for the huge rotating space habitats), the moon, asteroids, and Mars. Completely new space career choices are in the making that don’t involves the word “Astronaut” or “Rocket Scientist”.  Space tourism, asteroid mining, lunar settlements, and earthbound spaceports are in the financial planning sheets of international billionaires. In the U.S. the private sector has taken the incentives dangled by NASA and  joined the race for the commercialization of space.

This is NOT science fiction. This is  common sense for small businesses and global corporations. This is what’s happening now. This is one of those rare  moments in history when big gambles pay big.

We stand  when the future Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and others make bold moves and become billionaires; like the college roommates who yell YAHOO!–I got an idea. The dotcom emergence made a lot of people cash secure. This digital revolution was an explosion igniting other innovations that we are still at the center of as it continues to expand beyond the planet.

But where do you latch on? How do you not get sucked down with great swirl of people who were losers? The only “losers” are the people who are too afraid to start a new idea. They all may not become “illionares” but they will be recognized as innovators and reap rewards.

So, take your career out of this world. The industrialization of space is happening now. There are trillions of asteroids to be mined. Millions of humans will pay billions of dollars to see Earth from the luxury of a floating hotel in orbit. Ambitious “49ers” will be eager to stake their claims on the lunar wilderness.

Now is the time to ride the wave.

READY, SET, GO!!!

Forget about the driving a cab or being a auto worker. Those jobs will disappear forever. Cars will drive themselves and robots will do all our manufacturing. So, what will humans do? Humans will do what they do best: innovation, planning, organizing, inspiring, teaching, entertaining, enlightening and improvising.  These are areas that machines are poorly adapted to accomplish. Humans are very much in demand for  thousands of new jobs that are coming into existence now.

9:30 AM — Friday, September 2, 2011, I am in Atlanta, GA, and anxious to get my Dragon*Con experience started. Granted, the con actually started on Thursday but I wanted to spend time with my sister as well as visit a famous local attraction: The High Museum. So on Thursday, we  attended an event promoted by the  Stone Mountain Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and got a fabulous tour of the art collections for free. One of the attractions was: Radcliffe Bailey: Memory as Medicine (June 26 – September 11, 2011). Atlanta-based, internationally known artist Radcliffe Bailey explores American history and memory to encourage healing and transcendence through art. The exhibition features 37 works ranging from heroic to intimate scale, including installations, paintings, sculptures, mixed media, photos on metal, and works on paper. A lot of his artistic work dealt with the Middle Passage. The experience was well worth the slight divergence from Dragon*Con;  in my opinion, that is one of the joys of “conning” — taking in the local flavor. There is so much to see and do in the ATL. The bonus art tour prepared us well for diving into the complexities of Dragon*Con. We have our blue advance registration postcards in hand and hopefully will avoid the hour(s) wait in line to get badges for the Dragon.

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, a Distinguished Speaker at the University at Buffalo, answered a student’s question about federal cutbacks to NASA funding. Tyson is host of the PBS series NOVA scienceNOW and director of New York City’s Hayden Planetarium.  His type of inspiration is needed to get our young folks excited about science and technology.

Before I continue my serial, “The United States of Africa,” I wanted to pause the action and offer my thoughts on Anansi’s Ladder; which is essentially my fictional version of a Space Elevator that could be built in Africa, today.  Is this bad science fiction or outrageous engineering that may occur in a thousand years?

The race for a ladder to space is on. There are scientists, engineers and politicians in Europe, Japan, India and the United States who take the notion of building a carbon nanotube ribbon to the sky very seriously. Certainly, there are many challenges to overcome; along the scale of sending a man to the moon or (yikes) building the first atom bomb. But, even if only payloads of equipment  and not humans could be sent up and down, it would be a tremendous boon to any country that invested in it.

For instance, Africa with its vast resources of raw materials and land, should make a commitment to “leap frog” into the 21st century by building “Anansi’s Ladder.” However, where is Africa’s space elevators? Where are the leaders who will stop their petty thieving and dedicate their lives to building a new  Africa?

Read the story at http://www.sbattle.com and see what might have happened if lived up to its full potential.

Resources:

2011 Space Elevator Conference — http://spaceelevatorconference.org

Space Elevator Blog –  http://spaceelevatorblog.com/

The International Space Elevator Consortium — http://www.isec.info/

The  Spaceward Foundation — http://www.spaceward.org/

EuroSpaceward – http://www.eurospaceward.org/

Obama Administration Announces Plans to Install New Solar Panels on the White House Residence

WASHINGTON – U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Council of Environmental Quality (CEQ) Chair Nancy Sutley recently announced plans to install solar panels and a solar hot water heater on the roof of the White House Residence. These two solar installations will be part of a Department of Energy demonstration project showing that American solar technologies are available, reliable, and ready for installation in homes throughout the country. Secretary Chu and Chair Sutley made the announcement during CEQ’s 2010 GreenGov Symposium, which is bringing together leaders from Federal, state and local governments, nonprofit and academic communities and the private sector to identify opportunities around greening the Federal Government.

“This project reflects President Obama’s strong commitment to U.S. leadership in solar energy and the jobs it will create here at home,” said Secretary Chu.  “Deploying solar energy technologies across the country will help America lead the global economy for years to come.”

“President Obama has said the Federal Government has to lead by example in creating opportunity and jobs in clean energy,” said Nancy Sutley, Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.  “By installing solar panels on arguably the most famous house in the country, his residence, the President is underscoring that commitment to lead and the promise and importance of renewable energy in the United States.”

The PV system will convert sunlight directly to electricity. The solar hot water heater will have a solar collector facing the sun that will heat water for use in the White House Residence.  The Department of Energy will now begin a competitive procurement process to select the company responsible for the installations.

By installing solar panels on their homes, consumers are able to effectively lock in the price of electricity they will pay in the years ahead, acting as an insulator against future rises in electricity prices since the systems installed in homes today are expected to last approximately thirty years. Financial incentives are also available to offset the initial costs of installing solar energy systems, including a 30 percent federal tax credit and additional state, local, and utility incentive programs to encourage the deployment of renewable energy. Visit HERE for additional information about state, local and utility rebates for solar generation throughout the country.

The deployment of solar energy and other renewable energy sources will help expand U.S. clean energy manufacturing and create new jobs for American workers. As a result of investments under the Recovery Act, the solar energy industry is growing and solar resources can now be seen in communities nationwide.  In the coming years, continued investments in innovation and cutting-edge solar technologies will help make solar energy cost-competitive with conventional electricity sources all across the country.

This announcement is made on the one-year anniversary of President Obama’s Executive Order 13514 on Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance, which called on the Federal Government to lead by example towards a clean energy economy and reduce, measure and report direct and indirect greenhouse gas pollution. In support of this goal, the Department of Energy also released “Procuring Solar Energy: A Guide for Federal Facility Decision Makers” to support the use of solar energy throughout the Federal Government.  The full guide is available HERE.

Some of my favorite memories of space exploration revolve around images of seeing the Space Shuttle noisily separate from  its launching pad in a huge cloud of flame and smoke, rapidly pick up speed until finally only a glowing dot was visible in the sky. America’s Space Shuttle was the dominant symbol of the 1980s and 1990s.  Sure, the moon landings were cool but they quickly became memorable footnotes.

Many us remember, when Challenger exploded (I was working at Time-Life Books as an Editorial Assistant at the time) and hoping the terrible incident wouldn’t slow our accent into the heavens via the magnificent monster machines.  The tragedy brought to light how just dangerous space travel  and the extreme courage of the human crews riding flimsy, newly constructed rocket ships.

Today, in President Obama’s  America, where are the astronomical fireworks? What spectacular feats of heroism can be headlined?

There are roughly two camps in the Obama Space Debate:  Moon veterans such as Neil Armstrong oppose  Obama’s plan to cancel NASA’s return-to-the-moon program, called Project Constellation. Buzz Aldrin, the second man to stand on the moon, has endorsed Obama’s plan, which includes investing $6 billion to develop commercial space-taxi services for astronauts traveling to and from the International Space Station and beyond. According to Aldrin the proposal will “allow us to again be pushing the boundaries to achieve new and challenging things beyond Earth.”

Obama is writing a new chapter in NASA’s book of achievements. Essentially, critics and supporters realize that  private enterprise (large corporations as well as small innovative entrepreneurs) will most likely be the rising stars  in earth orbit/lunar industralization.  NASA will turn its big guns on  more distant targets such as landing humans on asteroids or nearby planets (Mars).

In reality, there is no side to choose in America’s Space efforts; more likely, there are many different avenues to pursue to assure  our inevitable  expansion into Space. NASA may not be the next organization to put a person on the moon, but Motel 6 may have its lights on waiting for lunar tourists.

From July 19 – 27, 2010,  the 15th  African Summit was held in Kampala, Uganda, by the African Union. The creation of the African Union (AU) in 1999  has been described as “an event of great magnitude in the institutional evolution of the continent.”  For years, there has been a call within the AU to establish a “United States of Africa”. Most notably, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi  (former president of the AU) recently stated in the international press that  his dream of a United States of Africa was still alive and the African Union summit was another step toward that objective.

Black Americans and the African Diaspora  urgently must closely watch and get intimately involved with  the political and social climate in Africa. There have been rumors of offering all Black Americans an universal passport admitting them to all of the nations of Africa.  New and old leadership on the continent are coming to agreement that Africa must unite, reconcile ancient animosities; or risk becoming totally  irreverent in the 21st Century and succumb to being a “vassal” state to the rest of the modern world — Africa’s wealth controlled by opportunistic foreigners and greedy Black warlords.

Despite having huge deposits of natural resources essential to sustaining a global,  technological society, as well as  possessing a large,  willing workforce,  the majority of Africa is still poor, undereducated, unhealthy and desperate. Despite the progress of South Africa, most of the continent has no modern factories, few thriving urban centers, no major technology development meccas, no critical transportation systems, outdated electrical power system, limited medical and wellness  opportunities, and only a minimal communication capacity. Oil is ruthlessly yanked from the ground, refined in environmentally unsound conditions. Large tracts of land are set aside to grow produce for foreign markets, while local inhabitants starve.

Africans are not stupid and as soon as they can rid themselves of a few remaining thugs and greedy politicians in power, this fertile continent will experience an explosive growth/prosperity,  if, other Africans displaced by time and geography can come together and assist the 53  nations of Africa.

I ponder what would happen if Africa united all of its states for a common prosperity shared amongst Black people on the continent and abroad. I ponder an United States of Africa in the near future venturing into Space and building colonies on Jupiter’s moons. Go to   http://www.sbattle.com for more of my musings in a  new serial fiction called “The United States of African: An Elephant in the Sky.”

After several months of work, I am officially launching my primary website at: http://www.sbattle.com ! There, you will find samples of my African and African American science fiction, horror, sword & soul, and speculative stories. Also, most important, you can download for Free, a copy of my new ebook, “AFRO Sci-Fi“.  I consider myself to be not only a writer but an AFROfuturist. Black people have played a significant role in the past, present, and future of human civilization. Unfortunately, there is not enough popular literature — fiction or nonfiction — available that offers  black characters in fantastic, heroic or even diabolical roles.

The AFRO Sci-fi movement, however, is gaining momentum. At websites like Black Author Showcase, Black Science Fiction Society, Carl Brandon Society, Wagadu, and many other sites we are Expanding Our Horizons. The great popularity of the “urban street” novels is proof that Black people read books. So, expect to see many more  Black faces in spaceships, time-traveling, conquering the world, slaying demons and dragons, chasing ghosts, exploring the galaxy and creating new and exciting futures.

Come visit my new Website! Celebrate! And, get a free copy of my ebook, “AFRO Sci-fi”.

Also, I have published a new story in Expanded Horizons Magazine. Be sure to take a quick peek and tell me what you think.

The publishing world has seen the swelling growth and profitability of Black romance and urban novels. Booksellers and public libraries are stocking their shelves with publications that offer gritty tales of the dark mean streets or outrageous Black gangsters. But there is another wave on the horizon; another genre that may soon rival the expensive cars, dangerous pimps and desperate ex-cons; a rising tide of titles that offer hi-tech space ships, cunning barbarians, and savvy time travelers featuring African Americans characters in Black sci-fi and fantasy.

Black Science Fiction (or Afrofuturism) as well as “Sword-and-Soul” loosely can be defined  as an intellectual and cultural movement that explores the African American relationship with new technology, musings of the future, and heroic fantasies.

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