I use AI all the time for different school projects.  I occasionally use it for space center projects.  I'm a firm believer that A.I. is the future.  Many will say I'm wrong and that AI will never be able to fully do what a human can do, but I strongly disagree.  The sooner we understand it, learn about it, and learn how to use it properly as a tool to help us be more creative and effective in our jobs the better.  That goes for the space centers as well.  
     Yesterday I saw AI in action at the AI and the Space Center Workshop taught by Ben Murdoch.  Ben was assisted by his wife Cayla and Wyatt Lenhart. Wyatt is a former Odyssey Flight Director and currently works in software development locally. Ben is a former Galileo flight director back in the day.  He currently works in at Google's headquarters in California on developing AI for Google's Gemini AI division.  Ben painting a picture of AI being able to write complete simulator missions in scripted form, produce the visuals and graphic art, and even code the ship's computers with ship controls - all from prompts.  Of course, some of this is down the road several years, but it is coming.  
      In Saturday's workshop, our Voyager's were introduce to a tool Ben developed to write missions using a branch of Open AI 4 paired with a program he created in Python.  The students were tasked with using the prompting tools to create a new mission for the simulators.  At the end of the workshop, teams were given the opportunity to summarize their missions.  As they summarized, Ben wrote a AI to evaluate their missions and score them on a 75 point basis.  Marcus Porter's AI mission won.  
       Of course the missions were not tellable in that form and much work would be needed to rewrite sections into usable script form, but the outline of a good story was there.  Needless to say, I was impressed.  I want to thank Ben, Cayla,and Wyatt Lenhart for teaching the workshop and thank all those in our Voyager Clubs who participated.  After the workshop Ben, Cayla, Wyatt and I went to lunch and discussed future workshops Ben will teach this school year covering all aspect of AI and the Space Centers.  We will plan on one workshop every time Ben and Cayla come to Utah to visit family (which is several times a year). 
     A.I. will be a major focus for our Voyager Club's Academy this school year with the end goal that each participant will have a completed mission story, mission script, and graphic art to go with the story ready for presentation by June. Watch for announcements in the Google Classroom and here in the blog.  

     Registration for The Young Astronauts and Voyager Club at The Space Place is underway.  Both clubs meet after school once monthly from 3:30 - 6:30 P.M.  Students are divided into 10 person squadrons.  Each squadron becomes the crew of the mightly Jumpship Voyager on a mission that lasts 8 months from September to May.  We call this extended mission an LDM (Long Duration Mission).  Students spend the entire 3 hours of their meeting time in the Voyager on the mission.  Each segment has a curriculum tied to the mission story itself.  Student learn the curriculum during special "Captain's Ready Room" gatherings off the bridge.  This keeps the learning within the confines of the ship and doesn't distract from the immersiveness of the experience.
     The club membership is restrict to Renaissance Academy students only.  Renaissance is a free public K - 9th grade charter school.  Renaissance welcomes students from many different communities.  Consider enrolling if you're looking for a different school experience (smaller class sizes, the Space Place programs, Chinese immersion, Spanish or Arabic daily instruction, etc).  Contact me if you'd like more information.  [email protected].  
      Volunteering at The Space Place is open to anyone, Renaissance and non Renaissance students, who are in the sixth grade and older.  Contact me for more information on volunteering for our two space clubs or to help with group missions.    

     I should post pictures of The starship simulator that I built at American heritage school with the help of many many people. Students at AHS act as the captain and crew of a starship and complete missions that fuse STEAM learning with theater for deep immersive learning.
     We're about to begin our fourth year of operation. there are many fun improvements to come, such as finishing the engineering room and the shuttle craft that you see in the pictures. I'll post some more of the projects that we are working on as the time comes.

​Alex 

      Ever since the Space Center first opened, we were expected to raise as much of our operating budget as possible. That didn't include my salary as a teacher.  That expectation is still true today.  A large part of the Center's operational budget comes from the Alpine School district (which we are a part of), donations from the community and corporate partners, our planetarium shows, private missions in the simulators, and summer camps.  Due to the cost of advertising, the Space Center relies on social media to spread the word that we are here and that we are an excellent place to visit.  Another form of "getting the word out about the Space Center" comes through word of mouth from our visitors and field trip participants. 
       Here is another Facebook advertisement  recently released by the Space Center to inform the public about the Center and our programs.  Please like and share on your own social media sites.       

     The Lion's Gate Space Center publishes a monthly newsletter.  The August newsletter is below.  The text is small but you have the general idea.  Visit the LGSC's website to subscribe to the newsletter if you'd like to stay up to date.  LionsGateSpaceCenter.com.   

     Just as the Reel said above, we had a fantastic summer camp season at the Christa McAuliffe Space Center. Thank you to the Space Center's highly trained staff for putting in so many hours to ensure each camper had a wonderful time.  A special thank you is due to the Space Center's volunteers.  We have over 100 active volunteers ranging in age from 12 to adults.  Each volunteer spends a minimum of 5 hours a month at the Center helping wherever they are needed; cleaning the cafeteria, cleaning the simulators, caring for the costumes, playing numerous characters in the missions, etc.  Without the volunteers, the missions and programs at the Space Center wouldn't be the same.   

    Jonathan Eden is The Troubadour reported at the Lions Gate Space Center at Lakeview Academy at Saratoga Springs.  Conveniently, Jonathan is also on staff at Lions Gate - which means we get an insider's view into the LGSC's operations.  Jonathan sent the follow report last week.

Mr. W. 

Hello Troubadours from the Lions Gate Space Center! 
     This past week was Prep Week at Lakeview. All of our staff have been doing lots of filming, maintenance, and other things to get ready for a busy year of flights. I didn't have a ton of time to take photos, but I got a couple and I'll explain each one briefly.  

     A lot of our footage is a couple years outdated, so Emma has been hard at work recording new footage of alien planets to use for tactical cards in Thorium. We've been using a software known as Space Engine to get video recordings of planets, stars, and many other things like that. It's a long process of finding good planets to use, but it was well worth the effort.

     We keep a lot of stuffed animal friends around at LGSC. This is both because we like fluffy animals, and because they are fun to use in missions for the younger kids. A particular favorite of the students is our bird friend Aerisquawkle. One of our supervisors, Melissa, has been hard at work on tactical cards for the younger grades and needed some green screen pictures of our feathered friend. So Kelsie, Emma, and myself did a photo shoot for our bird. He performed wonderfully!

     During prep week, we ran a demo flight for the new teachers to help them understand what their students will be doing during space missions. As you can tell in the photo we have a lot of new teachers (a few in the photo aren't new, they just like flying missions when they can haha) so Dan took some time after the flight to answer the teachers questions and go more in depth into what Lion's Gate can do to help in the learning experience.

     One of the middle school classes at Lakeview is called Space Tech. They do a lot of things, but among them is helping us test out new missions, and create materials we sometimes use in missions such as 3d printed scopes for our phasers. The Space Tech teacher printed out these hockey-puck sized versions of our insignias as a start of the year present.
     This all culminated in the back to school night where students and parents went around the school and met the faculty, and we had an open house set up for people to go through. I wanted to grab a picture of the event but I was a bit busy talking with parents and couldn't grab one, but needless to say it went off without a hitch. Overall, we have been quite busy preparing for the school year, but I'll be sure to grab photos if anything else interesting happens.

Hailing Frequencies Closed
​Jonathan

    The Space Place told its last summer space camp on Friday.  It was a junior camp and I don't remember its name, which in the grand scheme of things isn't that important.  What is important is how happy Mr. Bracken Funk is to see the camp season end and the school year Voyager and Young Astronaut Club season to begin. 
  Pictured above is a happy Bracken with his adoring young Voyager Volunteers in the Control Room waiting for his commands.  Young Boston is giving Mr. Funk a thumbs up. He is happy with his assignment.  "Boston," Mr. Funk said as he stretched out in the Voyager Control Room Flight Director Station, "your job will be to stay out of the way. You do it so good. In fact, you're the best we have at that one job so I'm relying on you. Can you do it?" 
     With those orders in hand, Boston excused himself from his peers and ventured out into the abyss of the Voyager knowing that he had the toughest job of all, and that Mr. Funk was counting on him to execute that responsibility with perfection. 

​Mr. W.       

     Contrary to everyone's perception of my abilities, I cannot be in multiple places at once in this space / time dimension.  Now if the multi-universe theory is correct, and there are an infinite number of Mr. Williamson's living in an infinite number of universes, then I can be in all places at once. But because we all live in this plane of existence, and given its limitations, I am restricted to one place at one time. 
     Why am I laboring you with these deep thoughts the week before school starts?  I'm simply driving home the point that the pictures above are from the first extended camp on July 29 and not the last extended camp of August 2nd - which was the Space Center's final camp of the 2024 summer camp season.  I wanted this post to mirror the "final camp" post started with the Space Place story at the top of the page.  I couldn't get to The Space Center on Friday due to the fact that my home was filled to the rafters with family -  all here for a niece's wedding. When they congregate, I'm expected to be social and participate in family things even though I rather be anywhere else (keep that fact to yourself; I'd be dead to the world if that statement got back to certain family members who are fed up with my excuses for missing things :)
     With all that said, we celebrate the final camp of the CMSC's summer season.  As far as I understand, the two ships running were the Odyssey and the Galileo.  The photos above from the first camp are from the Odyssey and the Magellan.  The staff and volunteers from both days did an amazing job at staging the extended missions.  The landing parties (or away teams) were elaborate.  It was fun to see everyone at their best to ensure our campers had an experience they will never forget.  
     

     Mr. Porter announced the well-deserved promotion of Nan Bryant to the role of Flight Director on the Starship Falcon on Saturday! This significant achievement marks a new chapter in Nan's Space Center career, reflecting her dedication, exceptional skills, and commitment to excellence; all things I've seen firsthand whenever I had the opportunity to work with her.
     Just like all the flight directors who've come before, Nan underwent rigorous training for many months, honing her abilities and expanding her knowledge of missions and Falcon technical operations. Her hard work and determination have finally paid off, earning her the coveted Navy Blues that signifies her new status. This promotion also reflects her leadership qualities and her ability to inspire those around her; again I know from personal experience working with Nan.
     In addition to her new role on the Falcon, Nan also serves as a supervisor on the Cassini. Her multifaceted expertise and hands-on experience make her an invaluable asset to the Space Center. Her contributions to both the Falcon and the Cassini have been instrumental in many successful missions, and her attitude and can do personality has set a standard for others to follow, especially our volunteers.
     What truly sets Nan apart is her warm and friendly personality. She is widely regarded as one of the friendliest persons at the Space Center. She is always ready with a smile and a cheerful greeting for everyone she meets. Her positive attitude and genuine kindness have made her a beloved figure among her co-workers.
    As Nan embarks on this new journey as Flight Director, I have no doubt that she will continue to excel and inspire. Her leadership will undoubtedly steer the Starship Falcon to grand new heights, and her presence will continue to uplift and motivate all those who have the pleasure of working with her.
   Congratulations, Nan! All of us who work with you are immensely proud of your achievements and look forward to witnessing the incredible contributions you will make in your new role. Here’s to many more successful missions and milestones!
     Now, a moment of silence as Nan rises to the podium to take her Flight Director oath.  

     Ellie stopped by my workspace in the Space Center's staff room to play a short video of Jon Parker playing Admiral Sontall in the legendary mission Greenpeace. She confessed that both she and Jon have a bit of a competition to see who can be the loudest and most evil.  Ellie secretly confessed to me under oath of perjury if I tell anyone else that Jon was the best.  Jon, you didn't hear that from me...
     In the spirit of honoring excellence, wherever we find it, let's listen to Jon's piercing Admiral Sontall laugh.  Jon, it is in the blog so it will now be recorded in Space Center history. THE LAUGH WILL LIVE ON AND ON LONG AFTER WE ARE ALL GONE! 

     The Space Center is pleased to announce the addition of a new planetarium show to the lineup.  Beyond Our Night Sky lets you visit fantastic views from our past, sights to expect from our future, and see things you may never have the chance to experience on your own. We view a variety of sights which includes the Aurora, far side of the moon, comets, and more!
Get your tickets at: spacecenter.alpineschools.org/planetarium