Selected Articles from the
February 2001 Odyssey

Editor: Terry Hancock

• NEAR Shoemaker Touches Down, Terry Hancock
• Annual Activities Report for 2000, Steve Bartlett
• A Matter of Attitude, Part 2, Robert Gounley
• The Surf Report, Diane Rhodes

Annual Activities Report for 2000

By Steve Bartlett

During 2000, OASIS promoted space development through several avenues: tours of local space facilities, science and science fiction conventions, involvement in the California Space Development Council, communications, group acti vities, and amateur rocketry work.

In a long-standing tradition, OASIS gave its members the unique opportunity to tour local space facilities. Several members visited the rocket assembly plant of Microcosm, Inc. in April where they saw the construction of the second in the Scorpius family of rockets, the SR-XM suborbital vehicle. Both children and adults had a close-up view of the low-cost rocket and the equipment used to build it.

The following month, OASIS went as a group to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's annual Open House, where they watched the development of space probes bound for deep space and for researching the terrestrial environment. Highlights of the visit included the Cassini probe to Saturn, Mars rovers under construction, the Deep Space communications network, and the Pluto Express mission.

Our convention activities spanned the year, beginning with the Gallifrey convention in February and running through the LOSCON gathering in November. At the Gallifrey convention, OASIS members staffed an information table at the Van Nuys location.

OASIS table at LOSCON. Seated (l-r) are members Diane Rhodes and Tina Beychok.

For the third year running, the Agamemcon convention in June provided us an opportunity to show attendees the wide range of space activities in the Greater Los Angeles area. OASIS arranged for a full slate of space-related programming for the run of the convention, including dozens of panels and over twenty guest speakers from NASA, local space companies, and elsewhere. These programs covered the gamut of space development: reusable and expendable launch vehicles, commercial satellites, future lunar missions, solar power satellites, asteroid exploration, Mars missions, robotic probes, space medicine, the future of education and many others.

The highlight of the convention was the talk on the Politics of Space, featuring actor space enthusiast congressional candidate Jerry Doyle. This panel talk drew a standing room-only crowd and included speakers from OASIS and the Hour25 radio program.

Besides space programming and table staffing, OASIS provided space modeling activities for adults and children.

We continued our convention work in November at the LOSCON gathering, where OASIS members staffed an information booth at this convention, spoke with science fiction fans and authors, and handed out Mars bars as part of our "Take a Piece of Mars" effort. OASIS also provided speakers for space-related convention panels.

OASIS members were heavily involved in the California Space Development Council throughout the year. This involvement included helping to manage CSDC activities, organizing gatherings, helping to publish the group's newsletter, and coordinating with other CSDC members to promote space activities within the state.

The Greater Los Angeles chapter continued its long-standing history of communications excellence through several outlets. Our monthly newsletter, the Odyssey, provided chapter members and others with a local perspective on human and robotic space development. For a wider audience, the OASIS web site showed the world who we are, what we do, and the benefits of membership. Besides our own web site, OASIS members researched and published an extensive list of space-related web sites around the globe. Our telephone hotline continued to provide the latest information on upcoming space activities in the local area.

OASIS also had a successful membership drive in 2000,further increasing our membership past 100. Several of these members attended a screening of the film Mission To Mars early in the year and handed out NSS informational materials on Mars tied to the film. Group members also attended a screening of the film Space Cowboys.

File translated from T_EX by T_TH, version 2.25.
On 24 Mar 2001, 10:33.

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