March 9: Meeting recap

Our special guests, David Shuman and Paul Simard, gave a fabulous presentation yesterday.

David started with an overview of the space programme, with emphasis on the rockets, the perils of space exploration, and then going on to the obstacles we need to overcome to colonize Mars. He also talked about what would need to be done to possibly terraform Mars–a popular theme in science fiction! If life forms of any sort are found on Mars, there will be ethical concerns as well as technical problems to solve.

This presentation was followed by a 3-D film showing Mars as seen by the satellites and rovers. David brought in glasses so all could enjoy the incredible spectacle of canyons, craters, and mountains. All the 30-D effects were created by Paul and David from actual NASA images.  Missed it? If you have the red/blue glasses you can watch the show here: http://www.rascmontreal.org/moon/

Then, the cherry on top–a showing of the documentary they are working on for showing later in the year:  The Shadow Chasers. We got to see wonderful footage of the total eclipse of the sun.

CCSVI is characterized by the veins which are close to the skin surface and this drains the blood. viagra online sample It also has the same function as that of well-known prescription du canada viagra medicines. If cialis without prescription uk unhealthy doses are taken, it can also lead for this condition. It is always to be considered that the medicine consumed well on time viagra in the uk can prevent one from further effects of ED medicine. Our own Sylvain St-Pierre followed with a presentation on space law: Who will make and enforce the laws? with multiple examples from science fiction TV shows, movies, and literature.  He kicked off his presentation with a clip from Night Court, the one with the quarrelling Trekkers who beam out of the court room because the laws of earth do not apply to them–a great favourite of Trek fans!

Today, I was reminded of The Idiot’s Space Force initiative, which you might want to read about. It brings together various issues which were discussed by both Sylvain and David:  there are civilian craft up there in orbit providing us with technology we consider basic to our lives, such as cell phones, GPS, Internet, television, and so on. Do we want the military involved in space law enforcement? Who owns space? who has the right to make the rules?