Ambient Sector

Relax. Kick back in a titanium skin and barrel-roll at Hypersonic Mach-5 through the icy, searing hot boundless dark through the observable universe.

See the intersection of the red cross hairs?
That's us! Hey there, what 'cha all doing?

I get overwhelmed with a sense of feeling great to be alive when looking at mission photos or reading background on the people who have shaped history; Feel awestruck and inspired by the ambition, commitment and scientific achievement.

NASA and SpaceX are where it's at!

Dr. Vandi Verma

NASA engineer on Perseverance Rover

Vandi Verma, an engineer who now works with NASA's Perseverance Mars rover, is seen here working as a driver for the Curiosity rover. The special 3D glasses she's wearing are still used by rover drivers to easily detect changes in terrain that the rover may need to avoid.

A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet's geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust). Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis. The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA's Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet. JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.

Credit NASA/JPL-Caltech

Learn more about Dr. Verma here

Dr. Guion Bluford

First African-American in Space

(September 5, 1983) Astronaut Guion S. Bluford, STS-8 mission specialist, assists Dr. William E. Thornton (out of frame) with a medical test that requires use of the treadmill exercising device designed for spaceflight by the STS-8 medical doctor. Bluford was the first African-American astronaut, flying into orbit on the Space Shuttle Challenger on August 30, 1983.

Read Great Interview of Dr. G. Bluford

NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project

Righteous Vibes on the Red Planet

Song: Pink Medicine by Bearson

Pink Medicine dovetails perfectly with my conception of traveling through the cosmos. It was created by, Bearson, a spooky talented DJ from Norway.

The song was barely audible when it first caught my ear amidst the morning bustle of a coffee shop.

That's what I'm talkin' 'bout!

Song: Without Love by Tom Jones

Some singers I love: Dean Martin, Robert Gordon, Robin Zander, Felix Cavaliere, Lowell George, Nat King Cole, Lou Gramm.

If sound could travel through space, and I had to pick one singer whose voice would be sent out into the boundless dark searching for a connection, it would be Tom Jones. The clarity, passion and power of Jones would persuade others conscious entities that humanity means what we say and we come from a good place. Seriously though, those pipes at full throttle!!

Astronuats Experience Awe

NASA is looking outside for help on the subject of increasing astronaut psychological well-being. Companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin or Virgin Galactic will be consulted for this initiative. Being awestuck as an astronaut is one thing. Being awestruck or One-with-the-Universe as your garden variety schmuck, like me, is another matter.

But I think I've discovered a solution: the Intergalactic Mellow Suspension. All you need to do to achieve psychological well-being or feeling One-with-the-Universe is click each icon, dig the resulting vibe and you'll be good-to-go. Ooooommmmm...veggie...

Overview Effect

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"The thing that really surprised me was that it [Earth] projected an air of fragility. And why, I don't know. I don't know to this day. I had a feeling it's tiny, it's shiny, it's beautiful, it's home, and it's fragile." — Michael Collins
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NASA astronaut Ron Garan explains this incredible feeling in his book, "The Orbital Perspective." After clamping into an end of a robotic arm on the International Space Station in 2008, he flew through a "Windshield Wiper" maneuver that flung him in an arc over the space station and back:

"As I approached the top of this arc, it was as if time stood still, and I was flooded with both emotion and awareness. But as I looked down at the Earth — this stunning, fragile oasis, this island that has been given to us, and that has protected all life from the harshness of space — a sadness came over me, and I was hit in the gut with an undeniable, sobering contradiction."

My World

Other World

Tatlow & Rawlings

Gravitational Pull - Fall, 2022

That's the Fact, Jack.