http://lunarez.net/index.php/site/index/ en giulio.prisco@lunarez.com Copyright 2008 2008-03-19T07:09:00+00:00 http://lunarez.net/index.php/site/thank_you_sir_arthur/ http://lunarez.net/index.php/site/thank_you_sir_arthur/#When:07:09:00Z New York Times - Arthur C. Clarke, 90, Science Fiction Writer, Dies: “Arthur C. Clarke, a writer whose seamless blend of scientific expertise and poetic imagination helped usher in the space age, died early Wednesday in Colombo, Sri Lanka, where he had lived since 1956. He was 90… Mr. Clarke’s reputation as a prophet of the space age rests on more than a few accurate predictions. His visions helped bring about the future he longed to see”. The image above is taken from Sir Arthur’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, the movie that made so many of us interested in our future in space. News 2008-03-19T07:09:00+00:00 http://lunarez.net/index.php/site/yesterdays_meeting_first_in_qwaq_forums/ http://lunarez.net/index.php/site/yesterdays_meeting_first_in_qwaq_forums/#When:07:23:00Z Yesterday’s meeting (Melanie, Tish, David O., Giulio and Philippe) was the first held in a Qwaq Forum workspace. See the recent reviews of Qwaq Forums by Tish and Giulio. The image below shows the team editing an Excel spreadsheet in-world -one of the most interesting features of this business oriented VR environment. Besides discussing some veeeery secret things, we welcomed Philippe and David announced the creation of a Lunarez social network based on the Ning platform.It was decided to give a final polish to this website and start spreading the good news that we are moving to space for real. News 2008-01-19T07:23:00+00:00 http://lunarez.net/index.php/site/welcome_philippe/ http://lunarez.net/index.php/site/welcome_philippe/#When:07:17:00Z Philippe Van Nedervelde, CEO, E-spaces Philippe Van Nedervelde, a polymath expert in many technology domains including nanotechnology, VR and telepresence, has joined the team. Of course he does have a Second Life avatar (Philippe Golding) but he prefers other next generation VR meeting environments such as Qwaq Forums and has created a Lunarez QF meeting space. News 2008-01-19T07:17:00+00:00 http://lunarez.net/index.php/site/nasa_dreams_of_an_interplanetary_second_life_for_mars_crew/ http://lunarez.net/index.php/site/nasa_dreams_of_an_interplanetary_second_life_for_mars_crew/#When:08:21:00Z Wired - NASA Dreams of an Interplanetary ‘Second Life’ for Mars Crew: NASA thinks it has an answer to the psychological challenge of interplanetary isolation. While aerospace engineers are designing the Ares rockets to be deployed in the Mars missions, a more starry-eyed contingent at NASA is testing networking and virtual reality technologies that they think will connect the first wave of Mars pioneers with their families, friends and colleagues back on Earth, in a 3-D virtual world cut from the mold of Second Life or World of Warcraft. Especially relevant: If NASA’s virtual world gambit seems like a pipe dream, there’s no doubt that astronauts traveling to Mars, or returning to the Moon, will enjoy a wealth of tech communications options that the Apollo crews couldn’t have imagined. Chris McKay, a planetary scientist at NASA Ames Research Center, says that with high-resolution videocameras, podcasts and web forums, the first Mars invaders could stage the ultimate reality show, with some becoming super-icons back on Earth. Just knowing that their every move is being watched by a rapt audience at home could help the Mars voyagers find the strength to solider on in the face of “long-term conditions of isolation, privation and psychological stress,” says Robert Zubrin, author of The Case for Mars and founder of The Mars Society. “The psychological boost enjoyed by Mars-bound astronauts of knowing that they are ‘golden people,’ celebrated as heroes by millions on Earth, cannot be overstated,” says Zubrin. News 2008-01-05T08:21:00+00:00 http://lunarez.net/index.php/site/welcome_ben/ http://lunarez.net/index.php/site/welcome_ben/#When:17:51:00Z Ben Goertzel (Zarathustrapocalypse Zeta in SL), CEO, Novamente Ben is a world class expert in artificial general intelligence (AGI) technology, and his company Novamente is researching the next breakthroughs. Don’t miss his talk on AGI Meets the Metaverse. We are all very happy to have him on board - he has indicated that he may be able to contribute to the cost-effectiveness of the project by developing a smarter-than-human AI on a second hand Iphone. Probably joking, but with Ben you never know. By the way, happy 2008 to everyone. News 2008-01-02T17:51:00+00:00 http://lunarez.net/index.php/site/welcome_tish/ http://lunarez.net/index.php/site/welcome_tish/#When:14:56:00Z Tish Shute (Tara5 Oh in SL), Editor, UgoTrade Tish does not need an introduction: her blog UgoTrade is very well known as one of the best references on the technology and culture of the new participatory internet and the 3D VR metaverse. We are honored and happy to have her on board. About 2007-12-30T14:56:00+00:00 http://lunarez.net/index.php/site/first_core_team_meeting/ http://lunarez.net/index.php/site/first_core_team_meeting/#When:18:36:00Z Attended: Melanie, Pablo, Giulio, the 3 Davids and Soph for a few minutes. Giulio gave a PPT presentation with ideas and question marks and there was a lively brainstorming on project definition and fine-tuning, technologies, organizational structure, community, PR and of course fundraising. Some conclusions: The two parts of the project: the actual lunar mission and the associated edutainment and advocacy activities, should be integrated but must be considered as two separate and parallel tracks. Using collaboration oriented, participatory 2.0 technologies not only for VR meetings and software development but also for the actual design and rapid prototyping of mission hardware concepts (Mindstorms and fabbing) is a defining feature of this project that can make it very attractive to 2.0-oriented potential collaborators and supporters. Much and perhaps even all mission hardware, software and strategies should be open-sourced. The project is, of course, going to cost a lot of money, so fundraising at all levels (members, sponsors, public funding for educational activities, investors) is of paramount importance. For investors, it will be necessary to develop a clear business model and plan. An important questions was raised: what credibility can a group of “avatars who want to go to the moon” have. I think there are two possible and different answers. One is that many team members are _also_ avatars, but mainly technology and business professionals with (too) many years of relevant and applicable experience. Another is, “so what? Why the hell shouldn’t avatars go to the Moon”? I can remember the early press about Linux, Apache, Mozilla, Open Office, Blender, Open Croquet… where they talked of “those geeks who want to compete with Microsoft”, and of course the geeks created much better products than Microsoft with much less money. I am sure open source, participatory hardware and system development “by the people”, enabled by suitable technologies can be very successful. Next meetings will be on Jan 11 and 15 at the same time (10am PST, 1pm EST, 6pm UK, 7pm EU). News 2007-12-29T18:36:00+00:00 http://lunarez.net/index.php/site/welcome_pablo/ http://lunarez.net/index.php/site/welcome_pablo/#When:07:14:00Z Pablo Mancini (Pablo Potvin in SL), Founding Partner, Argentonia Pablo Mancini is a Founding Partner of Argentonia, one of the largest and most creative Spanish speaking communities in Second Life, and a journalist and blogger interested in everything 2.0 from participatory media to fabbing. He will be a Lunarez spokesman in Argentina and South America, and coordinate the worldwide Lunarez fabbing network. About 2007-12-28T07:14:00+00:00 http://lunarez.net/index.php/site/carnegie_mellon_university_is_pursuing_the_google_lunar_x_prize/ http://lunarez.net/index.php/site/carnegie_mellon_university_is_pursuing_the_google_lunar_x_prize/#When:11:22:00Z Carnegie Mellon University is pursuing the $20 million Google Lunar X Prize for landing the first independent off-planet exploration machine on the moon. The prize is offered by the X Prize Foundation with funding from Google. The team is seeking experienced allies in launching, landing and the full range of engineering challenges posed by lunar exploration. Red Whittaker is leading the team. From the CMU Moon Prize website: The formative consortium will exploit RI’s deep experience fielding complete systems and building and field-testing prototype exploration robots. Other key parts of the team will be: Launch Vehicle provider – the largest single cost is the booster that sends the Moon rover on its four-day journey. The team seeks a launch provider able to work in the spirit of the Google Lunar X Prize competition: quickly and at low cost. Landing System provider – the project requires the development of a new landing system that works perfectly on its first and only chance to land safely on the Moon. Communications system – the rover will need to phone home, using either communications satellites in lunar orbit or a direct beam back to receiving stations on Earth. Imaging and computing systems – the Moon’s high radiation levels can destroy components in camera sensors, giving images a speckled appearance. The radiation can also cause computer glitches. News 2007-12-26T11:22:00+00:00 http://lunarez.net/index.php/site/first_core_team_meeting_281207/ http://lunarez.net/index.php/site/first_core_team_meeting_281207/#When:08:45:00Z First core team project meeting, December 28, 2007 Time: 10am PST/SLT, 1pm EST, 6pm UK, 7pm Europe Location: DotNetNuke island (DotNetNuke 120, 145, 23) Agenda: further definition and fine-tuning of the project, organizational structure, initial press contacts, fundraising… About 2007-12-24T08:45:00+00:00