Home › Forums › Special Operations Divisions › TSOSD › T.S.O.S.D. – Toy Soldier Orbital Sciences Directorate
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Geoff Nicholson.
T.S.O.S.D. – Toy Soldier Orbital Sciences Directorate
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Sgt. Dutch
ParticipantToy Soldier Orbital Sciences Directorate envisions to spread the ideals of a Utopian Playland farther than our small blue marble by bringing the Army of Toy Soldiers into space. Envision a world orbited by giant robots, satellite platforms for shenanigans and a terraformed moon that looks like our friendly soldier face logo! In this quest the OSD will utilize any technologies available to get there, using reverse-engineered technology from crashed UFOs — along with more mundane high-altitude balloons, rockets, and spaceplanes. With this, we will bring happiness and creativity to the stars, and build a Utopian Space Station!
Division page: http://www.toysoldiersunite.com/groups/t-s-o-s-d
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Orbital Sciences Director Gonzo, YJ
ParticipantAwesome :D
Welcome all to the Toy Soldier Orbital Sciences Directorate! We will make sure to spread fun and shenanigans into space!
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Geoff Nicholson
ParticipantSo now that we’ve got patches, let’s work on suits!
NASA is has built a retrospective for their suits here:
http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/nasa_spacesuit/And are looking for both advice on their new suit here:
http://jscfeatures.jsc.nasa.gov/z2/ -
Orbital Sciences Director Gonzo, YJ
Participantnice find Geoff! It would be cool to make a TS uniform astronaut suit.
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Scouter715
ParticipantI love going to space in minecraft :P
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Geoff Nicholson
ParticipantApparently, it’s DIY Space week on Makezine’s blog. So they’ve got a host of articles about space, including a Pre Launch Checklist for homebrew satellites.
So. Any Takers?
http://makezine.com/diy-space-week/ -
Orbital Sciences Director Gonzo, YJ
ParticipantWow these articles contain a lot of cool info :D Awesome.
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Geoff Nicholson
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Cadeon
ParticipantWhat.
This exists now?
Why wasn’t I consulted?
Also:
Where’s the flag for Kerbal Space Program?
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Geoff Nicholson
ParticipantWe don’t have a flag yet, but the triangular patch would make an OK flag.
And speaking of KSP:
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Geoff Nicholson
ParticipantAnd while I’m at finding interesting links about Citizen Space (or the inspiration to do the same):
Firstly, there’s Mach30 the first open-source space non-profit I was aware of. They join the likes of Copenhagen Suborbitals in the “go to space by ourselves” department. I can now add the OpenLuna folks as another OSHW Space group.
And for inspiration, there’s the Sagan Series, putting Sagan’s Audiobook Pale Blue Dot to the scenes from the original COSMOS
http://youtu.be/oY59wZdCDo0Brilliant!
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Geoff Nicholson
ParticipantAnd with more links:
https://b612foundation.org/our-story/
An organization dedicated to building some form of advanced-warning sattelite looking for NEOs, Near Earth Objects. Chelyabinsk and Tunguska were both large impacts in a relatively sparsely-populate area. Since the Terran surface is mostly wasteland and water, a lot of impacts hit in empty places. What happens when the next rock comes screaming in from the wrong direction, and no one sees it coming? We’re developing redirection technologies… but we can’t redirect what we don’t know is coming.And as Neil DeGrasse Tyson says “The dinosaurs didn’t have a space program”. But the Toy Soldiers do…
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Orbital Sciences Director Gonzo, YJ
ParticipantSince 2000 at least 26 asteroids crashed into earth. Most too small, or in unpopulated area’s but the danger is definitely real.
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Cadeon
Participant@Rev. Geoff Nicholson said:
We don’t have a flag yet, but the triangular patch would make an OK flag.And speaking of KSP:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tw-0hDox6aAHow… how was that made.
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Geoff Nicholson
Participant@Cadeon said:
How… how was that made.I assume a bajillion graphics enhancement mods, and lots of practice. Nassault (the creator) has a ton of really well-made KSP movies.
And if you’ve not see Scott Manley’s channel, check that out too (less Going to Space, more Let’s Play). -
Geoff Nicholson
Participanthttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1j6KLP492E
Chris Hadfield Explains Dust Motes -
Orbital Sciences Director Gonzo, YJ
ParticipantLiterally fell off my chair laughing XD
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Orbital Sciences Director Gonzo, YJ
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Geoff Nicholson
ParticipantTrundled across this link today in my travels through spacetime:
Historicalspacecraft.com/space_graphics.htmlI picked Pioneer because it’s cool, but they’ve got stuff for almost all of the historical missions for USA, USSR, and, China.
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Orbital Sciences Director Gonzo, YJ
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Geoff Nicholson
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The Sky Marshal, YJ
ParticipantHow did I not know this division existed before? Beam me up!
I live near AF Plant 42 and Edwards AFB; I am an Orbiteer and designer of several Orbiter add-ons, and I had a Saturn V toy when I was a kid (the one that stood about 3 feet tall). ACES originally incorporated model rocketry, so our two divisions share a common vision. -
The Sky Marshal, YJ
ParticipantSo is it the Orbital Space Directorate or the Orbital Sciences Directorate?
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Orbital Sciences Director Gonzo, YJ
Participant@The Sky Marshal, YJ said:
How did I not know this division existed before? Beam me up!
I live near AF Plant 42 and Edwards AFB; I am an Orbiteer and designer of several Orbiter add-ons, and I had a Saturn V toy when I was a kid (the one that stood about 3 feet tall). ACES originally incorporated model rocketry, so our two divisions share a common vision.Awesome! *beams The Sky Marshal, YJ up to the orbital platform for training*
@The Sky Marshal, YJ said:
So is it the Orbital Space Directorate or the Orbital Sciences Directorate?It’s Orbital Sciences Directorate. I’ve only just noticed that it’s spelled wrong in the topic title.
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The DoctorDoth'Rah
SpectatorI love Space. But more in the sense that Space is insanely beautiful and mysterious and a ‘We are so not alone in the universe’ way than a science-y way
An old article but shows just how beautiful Space can be :)
http://www.cracked.com/blog/11-deep-space-photos-you-wont-believe-arent-photoshopped/
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Orbital Sciences Director Gonzo, YJ
Participant@Engineer Mike Jaeger said:
An old article but shows just how beautiful Space can be :)
http://www.cracked.com/blog/11-deep-space-photos-you-wont-believe-arent-photoshopped/
Actually those pictures are “photoshopped” as the colours in most space pictures are false to show different gasses and wavelengths :P
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The DoctorDoth'Rah
SpectatorOK, A very poorly titled article, but my point is still the same, SPACE IS PRETTY!
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Orbital Sciences Director Gonzo, YJ
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Tactical Sgt. Iceroyale
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Orbital Sciences Director Gonzo, YJ
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Geoff Nicholson
ParticipantI am very much looking forward to getting my pocket rocket! This is gonna be soo coool!
And in the meantime, I found a book for us!
DIY Instruments for Amateur Space, a how-to guide on making sensors for spacecraft. w00t! -
Geoff Nicholson
ParticipantA while ago, Tom Scott went to America, and shot a couple of videos at the Kennedy Space Centre, One about how you need to be going fast, not high to get to orbit, and another about how your GPS Balloon might think it’s a weapon and malfunction.
Speaking of rockets… let’s get building!
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Orbital Sciences Director Gonzo, YJ
ParticipantAwesome finds, Geoff.
Did you hear that the Galileo satellites (Europe’s GPS system) were launched in the wrong orbit?
Oops o.O expensive mistake…
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Orbital Sciences Director Gonzo, YJ
ParticipantIt’s quite silly, but here you can sign up to have your name launched into space on a microchip, on Orion’s test flight and eventually to mars.
http://mars.nasa.gov/participate/send-your-name/orion-first-flight/index.cfm
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Geoff Nicholson
ParticipantOn this day long ago, a child was born who, by age 30, would transform the world. Happy Birthday Isaac Newton b. Dec 25, 1642
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) December 25, 2014 -
Lieutenant Nurse Cat
ParticipantCool thing for the end of the year:
http://www.universetoday.com/117587/universe-todays-top-10-space-stories-of-2014/
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Geoff Nicholson
ParticipantBBC has a shiny story on how the first spacewalk nearly ended poorly for everyone involved… multiple times.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/2014/newsspec_9035/index.htmlIt’s a promo for their Space Race series
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLp-sq3loaBSxi0qevIFPSFmIvoJ7skiO0The whole thing is good; great afternoon watch.
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Geoff Nicholson
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Geoff Nicholson
ParticipantLoath as I am to point people to HuffPo, they do seem to have some interesting images!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/16/vintage-nasa-photographs_n_6673854.html
And even though the headline is “unseen”.. I’ve seen most of these before. -
Geoff Nicholson
ParticipantOn Epic Pi Day (3.14.15), OSD Deputy Director Geoff, accompanied the crew of Quelab (the local hackerspace) to Pie Town. Conveniently, the Very Large Array is on the way, so we stopped and had some adventures!
Salute!https://flic.kr/p/rzQffL
I’m a Radio Dish!https://flic.kr/p/rC7TgK
One of the displays enabled us to determine that if you have a mobile phone in aeroplane mode, you still leak over 3V of radio frequency noise when walking around, which is enough to mess with radio astronomy… so turn your phones off when visiting the radio array!
Despite the VLA being located in an area which is purposefully High, Dry, and In the Middle of Nowhere, it’s still going strong doing Radio Astronomy Science thirty five years after it’s construction (having recently undergone a renovation of all 28 of their 25m dishes). A further investigation of the site revealed no Skynet facilities, so we are still safe from robot annihilation… or at least from the kind we aren’t in control of.
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Geoff Nicholson
Participant12 April 1961- Yuri Gagarin is the first human to enter orbit around Earth
12 April 1981 – STS-1 Launches Colombia into orbit, the first flight of the Space Shuttle programme
12 April 2001 – The “World Space Party” is set to annually occur, and is labelled “Yuris’ Night”12 April 2015 – Yuri’s Night festivities are held at Quelab in coordination with OSD.
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Geoff Nicholson
ParticipantSpacenauts… We’re falling behind.
Unless these guys are super-undercover Toy Soldiers, we have been beaten to the stratosphere by a Donut.
http://www.popsci.com/swedish-brothers-launch-doughnut-space -
Tea-Admiral W. Strom
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Geoff Nicholson
ParticipantWell, here’s a nice article detailing how we can one-up them, and redirect Venus into a habitable orbit in a mere 30 years… assuming we can pipe some of the mass of the sun into the orbit of Venus, and by increasing the angular momentum kick it up into a higher orbit.
http://www.orionsarm.com/fm_store/MoveAPlanet.pdf
But first, enjoy a sunset on Mars:
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Orbital Sciences Director Gonzo, YJ
ParticipantTake an interactive photo-tour of the ISS!
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Geoff Nicholson
ParticipantSCIENCE IN Not Space… but planetary science is still awesome.
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Orbital Sciences Director Gonzo, YJ
ParticipantGood morning Philae, the probe that landed on comet 67P back in November last year is waking up for a few more months of comet science while the comet gets closer to and passes the sun.
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Geoff Nicholson
ParticipantThe wonderful folks over at Copenhagen Suborbitals carried out some test-firings on their new rocket engine.
Everything went well for their little 5kN engines which are going to be going suborbital next year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-aFfLxNk_cThat may be boring and technical (it’s three hours long, a recording of a live broadcast they did). So here they are assembling the rocket a couple of weeks ago.
https://youtu.be/SyNtOSBj_jMA thousand-kilo Kit Rocket! w00t!
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Geoff Nicholson
ParticipantIf you’re interested in being a commercial astronaut, there’s an American group dedicated to developing the common training you will need to go to space tomorrow (but not today).
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Gemmaster22
ParticipantHello, Space exploration is something i have recently tumbled into, I find it to be highly interesting to say the least.
I do hope you do not mind my intrusion, and i would like to request a place in this particular forum group.
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Orbital Sciences Director Gonzo, YJ
ParticipantHey Gemmaster,
We can always use more recruits in the T.S.O.S.D. Welcome aboard :)
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Geoff Nicholson
ParticipantWell, damn. Looks like CopSub is discovering that rocketry is hard.
But at least they’re not doing it in spectacular ways, they’re just going back to the assembly barn and starting over.http://copenhagensuborbitals.com/nexo-i-mission-is-postponed/
Oh well.
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Gemmaster22
ParticipantSo you gays/gals do any designing of crafts of your own, weaponised or otherwise?
I’ve done some minor designing but my current land lord would not appreciate the grass stain it would leave.
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Orbital Sciences Director Gonzo, YJ
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Geoff Nicholson
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Gemmaster22
Participant@Orbital Sciences Director Gonzo said:
All I have designed rocket-wise is my (still to be tested) water rocket.This looks interesting for sure, What did you use for the fins though? Almost looks like cardboard.
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Orbital Sciences Director Gonzo, YJ
ParticipantYes it is cardboard, sprayed over with some neon paint
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Geoff Nicholson
ParticipantI should upload pictures of the model rocket I made back in grade school. I still have it ;)
There’s also the fire-less rockets we made for Independence Day at the lab… Baking soda and Vinegar in soda bottles.However, Cadeon and Minion and I came up with a new mission idea last night; a satellite broadcasting (on HAM/Shortwave bands) Propaganda music. I’m sure we can put a shortwave transmitter on a cubesat, right?
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Hiram234
ParticipantCool thing for the end of the last year.
Casesam samsung j5 screen prtectors
Cheap high-quality case casesam -
Geoff Nicholson
ParticipantPlenty of Space-nerdery in the Tenth Episode of the M-series of QI
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Geoff Nicholson
ParticipantWant to go to space? If Google paid you to get ready, what would you do?
Simone (the queen of shitty robots) scored some sweet-sweet science bucks, and went to try it out on her own.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpzN93pMd8w
I don’t know about the Orbitron. Definitely not after lunch.
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Geoff Nicholson
ParticipantIf you’re curious about the upcoming moon cycles, NASA has a bit of DIY you can do too!
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/learn/project/make-a-moon-phases-calendar-and-calculator/
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Geoff Nicholson
ParticipantIt’s been a minute or two since I last achieved a close enough orbit to the forums to post about things, and WOW has there been a lot of updates since then.
Boeing and their Starliner launch oops, SpaceX and their CrewDragon oops, Besheret and their moon-landing oops…sounds like Space is Hard!
But there’s been some good things in space too. SpaceX has been launching their Starlink system with aplomb and getting their constellation out there and going. Northrop Grumman successfully docked their “Mission Extension” vehicle onto a mostly-dead geostationary communications satellite. NASA’s Mars InSight mission has been probing for marsquakes to see the geology of the Red Planet, and has even started making plans for a moonbase!
So yeah. Space continues to be hard, space continues to be big, and space continues to be awesome!
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