Week 9: Space+Art

This week we learn about the space where spectrums of different topics in art and science converges. For example, Nanotechnology, mathematics and biotechnology are widely applied in this area. Back in the middle school, students like us were taught how giant and obsolete the universe. It is quite intuitive for us to understand the large scale--light year uses as a distance measurement in the video "Powers of Ten".

When we talk about astronomy and space, the first pioneer and avant-garde that builds the correct system is Nicolaus Copernicus. He formulates a model of the universe that placed the sun rather than the Earth. Fearing his work might shake the ruing of church, Copernicus published his book: On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres  just before his death. Copernicus's achievements are remarkable. He made observations and calculations needed to start scientific revolution. His successors like Tycho Brahe and Galileo Galilei.

Professor Vesna also talks about government and private company's effort in the exploration of space.
The most interesting case is the drastic competition between Soviet Union and United States during Cold War. It is a famous arms race. On 12 April 1961, Yuri Gagarin took Vostok I spacecraft to enter the outer space. This is quite inspiration not only to the people in Soviet Union at that time but around the world. As a Chinese student myself, I still remember the time when China sent the first astronomer into the space. All the major medias are reporting such great achievement. Liwei, I still remember the first Chinese astronomer's name.

Nowadays, SpaceX is the representative among those private companies that devote to making space travel affordable. I started to pay attention to SpaceX because of its cofounder Elon Mask. He is a CEO with extraordinary charisma: determined and forward-looking. SpaceX has successfully realized the first stage of rocket reuse program using Falcon 9. SpaceX believes a full and rapidly reusable rocket is the "pivotal breakthrough needed to substantially reduce the cost of space access." They have made great strides toward this goal.

Citation:

[1] "Nicolaus Copernicus." Famous Scientists. Web. 29 May 2016.

[2] Friedman, George. "Geopolitical Futures." Geopolitical Futures. Web. 29 May 2016.

[3] Mask, Elon. "Reusability: The Key to Making Human Life Multi-Planetary." SpaceX. Web. 29 May 2016.

[4] Marlow. "An Eames Office Website." Powers of Ten Blog. Web. 29 May 2016.

[5] "SpaceX." SpaceX NASA. Web. 29 May 2016.

[6] "Arms Race." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 29 May 2016.

[7] Uconlineprogram. "Space Pt5." YouTube. YouTube, 2012. Web. 29 May 2016.

[8] Uconlineprogram. "8 Space Pt1 1280x720." YouTube. YouTube, 2013. Web. 29 May 2016.