Blue Marble Space

Filing Period

Oct 1, 2012 to Sep 30, 2013

Signed

Feb 15, 2014

Return Version

2012v2.0

Gross Receipts

$214,680

Mission

Major Activities

Activity 2

S.A.G.A.N. (Social Action for a Grassroots Astrobiology Network) is a moderated, social and collaborative web-platform whose mission is to sustain a vibrant community of scientists and science enthusiasts in an inviting environment supporting shared learning. S.A.G.A.N. provides a lively communication platform where interested individuals, journalists, teachers, students, and scientists alike can organize events, inform about events, exchange ideas, ask questions, find mentors, describe new findings, share pictures of science events, view live streaming of science talks, and virtually communicate and collaborate using powerful tools built into the site. All pictures and videos are approved by S.A.G.A.N. administrators prior to being released on the site to maintain relevance and quality. All tools are free to the users and no advertising clutter the site. A major development during TY 2012 was the launch of a novel mentoring program, where professional scientists and STEM graduate students were brought into the classroom and families of elementary school children in Arizona using virtual teleconferencing technologies, in addition to working with at-risk youth high-schoolers in California. These mentoring sessions were all done virtually using the tools made available through S.A.G.A.N. These mentoring activities are expanding in TY 2013. The mentoring program has a board of advisors of educators and researchers, and a dedicated program coordinator. As of this writing, the S.A.G.A.N. mentoring program hosts 18 mentors. More information can be found at http://saganet.org/page/mentoring-welcome S.A.G.A.N. is part of the BMSIS vision of integrating science communication into the core of the organization's philosophy. It thus provides an active venue for BMSIS scientists to share their findings with an interested audience, in addition to the passive science communication efforts that BMSIS undertakes, such as the podcasts and article summaries. If BMSIS scientists do not have their own twitter account, their S.A.G.A.N. status updates can be connected to the S.A.G.A.N. twitter feed (@saganorg). If BMSIS scientist have facebook accounts, their S.A.G.A.N. updates can also be connected to the S.A.G.A.N. facebook page (facebook.com/sagancommunity). This maximizes the social reach of a single post on S.A.G.A.N. Launched in April 2012, S.A.G.A.N. has, as of writing, 915 members, 8104 facebook "likes", and 362 twitter followers. The S.A.G.A.N. acronym is courtesy of the Carl Sagan Foundation.

Activity 3

The mission of the One Flag in Space initiative (www.oneflaginspace.org) is to promote the use of the "Blue Marble" as a symbol of world unity in space exploration. It is a symbol that anyone, anywhere in the world can relate to, regardless of nationality, ethnic origin or religious beliefs, yet does not require political collaboration between space-faring nations. Astronauts/cosmonauts, national space-agencies, or private companies venturing in manned or unmanned vehicles in and beyond low Earth orbit, are acting as ambassadors of planet Earth. The "Blue Marble", the first complete picture of Earth taken from space by humans in 1972, fits this universally appealing symbol. Placed on the shoulder pads of astronauts/cosmonauts, or prominently displayed on space-bound hardware, it would send a universal message that space exploration is done for the benefit of humanity as a whole, not just space-faring nations. The OFiS initiative has three main objectives: Increase awareness of the Blue Marble symbol through photo initiatives, publishing in peer-reviewed journals about the benefits of such an endeavor, and seeing the "Blue Marble" flag into space. In addition to selling a 5'x3' flags of the "Blue Marble" as well as patches, the most popular photo initiative ("Blue Marble" the World), has collected 138 pictures from all 5 continents where the "Blue Marble" symbol is displayed prominently as the foreground of a spectacular landscape or constructions, emphasizing the fact that it is truly a symbol of international unity (http://www.oneflaginspace.org/Home/efforts/world) The second objective resulted in the publication of "An International Symbol for the Sustained Exploration of Space" in the peer-reviewed academic journal "Space Policy". http://www.oneflaginspace.org/files/som_SPJ_2010.pdf The BMS "Blue Marble" flag flew onboard space shuttle flight STS-131 to the International Space Station. Although kept in storage due to Astronaut time constraints, the flag did make its successful maiden voyage into space. http://www.oneflaginspace.org/Home/efforts/certificate

Filer

EIN

27-0184094