SETIcon II arrives next week to inspire space explorers and enthusiasts

Why do I hear about these things A WEEK BEFORE THEY HAPPEN? Seriously, had I known about SETIcon, I'd have been scrimping and saving all year to go. Forget ComicCon--poseurs!--this is for REALZ. From the SETIcon website:

SETIcon, envisioned and organized by the SETI Institute, is a unique, entertaining and enlightening public event where science and imagination meet.  SETIcon brings together innovative scientists, science fiction authors, space and science artists, space lovers, and the curious and adventurous everywhere for a 3-day public celebration and exploration of space, real science, technology, imagination, and science education.

There is no other event in the world like SETIcon that explores space and the human imagination through the lens of real science, attracting global interest and participation. This is not a science conference with technical lectures (SETI Institute scientists lecture all over the world). Instead we’ll bring together scientists with authors and artists to celebrate science and exchange ideas around space exploration and our place in the cosmos. SETIcon will create a new channel of discussion between Earthlings where real science and imagination will meet.

Among the speaker presentations is a keynote by Bill Nye the Science Guy! More to my interests though are several presentations by exoplanet/planetary experts like Geoff Marcy, Martin Still, and Franck Marchis.

Should someone leave me an envelope of $1,000 at my front door for airfare, reg, and expenses, (hint hint!) here's a few of the programs I'd be attending:

Sat, June 23

• 9:30 a.m. – C1.Asteroids: Junkpiles or Resources for the Next Generation?
• 11:00 a.m. – Interview with Kevin Grazier (science advisor for half-a-dozen major sci-fi shows, movies) and Alex Filippenko (the charasmatic scientist you've seen 100x on the History Channel's "The Universe")
  1:00 p.m. – This one's a toughie, I'm torn equally between:
• A3. All Aboard the 100 Year Starship!
• C3.Exoplanets – What Can SETI Learn from Kepler? (This one would likely win out)
• And an interview with SETI director Jill Tarter
• 3:00 p.m. – A4.The Race to Find Alien Life
• 4:15 p.m. – C5. Do You Need Good Science to Have Good Science Fiction? and maybe sneak over to the Andre Bormanis (Producer for Star Trek and the new TRON cartoon) interview

Sun, June 24

• 9:30 a.m. – A6.Do Any Exoplanets Have Intelligent Occupants?
• 11:00 a.m. – Interviews with Marc Okrand (guy who invented the Klingon language!) and Debra Ann Fischer (exoplanetary science pioneer)
• 12:00 p.m. Brunch with Frank Drake, "father of modern science of SETI"
• 1:30 p.m. – Aw, man this one is REALLY tough. I'd flip a 1d4 and see where I end up:
• A8.Would Discovering ET Destroy Earth’s Religions?
• B8.Artists Imaging Exoworlds – Getting it Right*
• C8.Citizen Science – Can Science Harness the Power of 7 Billion?
• Kepler Planet Data Visualized
• 3:00 p.m. – B9.The Magnificence and Majesty of the Outer Solar System* (given my recent fascination with the Kuiper Belt) 
• 4:15 p.m. – B10.Gaming the Future: Science and Video Games * (I really should go to the Kepler session though) and if I can get there in time, I'd see the interview with Antarctica researcher Dale Anderson.

If you're in the Santa Clara, CA region or can drive, fly, or beam your way there, online registration is still open.

What would you see if you could go?

Filling in the Map Part III: Artifacts

LEVEL 6 CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTATION

CENTRAL SPACE COMMAND MEMORANDUM: INCIDENT AT ASTEROID 9950 (Tarkas)
MISSION: Kuiper Belt Exploration and Prospect Analysis
DATE: 2612.5.18
LOG FILE: Kuiper Belt Expedition 505 - C.S.C. 1001 Helios
AUTHOR: [REDACTED------>], Astro Intelligence Division

After the last transmission we received the C.S.C. Command Council met to go over the evidence. In addition to the Helios' A.I. persona's written report, still images, and poor quality audio, we were able to capture two more images. The first was recovered from one of the geo-rovers that went with the team, below the surface of Tarkas in their drill vehicle "Rocky". Images were then bounced to Helios via drones on the surface and the second of the two files was badly damaged, but the Graphics Dept. is working on enhancing.

Here's the first, we're not sure when exactly it was taken:

The astrobiologists and geology teams are up in arms right now--one of them even claims this is some sort of city-like structure. All analysts on this project are in quarantine until further notice. Nobody calls home--nobody leaves the facility. At this time I'd like to enter into the record my own misgivings about [REDACTED--------------------------->] and I think it's best we assume these [REDACTED---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->]. It's essential we proceed with utmost caution.

At 0850 hours I ordered a press blackout. So far we've been reporting that contact was lost due to a malfunctioning relay satellite, but that won't satisfy them for long. We made such a stink about this mission at the start that the whole thing is ready to go to hell once they catch on.

I'll have orders in one hour, once the Council is out of session.

END TRANSMISSION




....



[SUPPLEMENTAL: 01]
Session just ended--we're clear to form a special strike team to go in. I'll send mission and manifest details soon, but you should alert your best personnel now and let them know they'll be flying into a hot zone. We're still aiming at keeping this quiet. If word of this leaks, we'll have [REDACTED--------------->] from Naval Space Command chomping at the bit to nuke the entire belt.

One last thing--there's a good chance they won't come home. Give them one hour to contact kin and get them up to the space elevator pad by 1600 hours.

END TRANSMISSION



....


[SUPPLEMENTAL 02]
Graphics just finished enhancement. Thought you'd like to see what we're up against:

Mission details to follow shortly.

END TRANSMISSION






Images by artist Kilian Eng

Filling in the Map Part II: A Deeper Mystery

SPACESHIP REGISTRY: HELIOS
MISSION: Kuiper Belt Exploration and Prospect Analysis
DATE: 2612.5.5
LOG FILE: Kuiper Belt Expedition 505
AUTHOR: Ship's A.I., S.O.P.H.I.E.

Since our arrival last week at the edge of the Kuiper Belt, we've begun our survey of resident specimens using remote drones. Current Kuiper objects analysed: 58. Today, we found something most extraordinary.

Science officers are still analyzing the data, but it appears we've found an unusual asteroid: 9950 (Tarkas) giving off a high frequency energy signature that the captain has called "the hum". The object has an equatorial diameter of approximately 1,900 km.

"Rocky", our mission rover outfitted with the large diamond-tipped drill apparatus was deployed to the surface. Approximately 2 standard hours after drilling began, a flashing of purple auroras were viewed in various spots on the object.

At the same time a energy spike on the EM sensor registered at +3500 percent.

The anomaly lasted a mere 3.7 seconds, but was visible from both my sensor relays, visual scanners, and crew starboard portholes.

Soon after, Midshipman Wallace observed a "glint" which he approximated to be an elongated "shard" that quickly disappeared. No further observances were made.

Rocky has resumed drilling.




FILE ADDENDUM: 01

Approximately 17.25 hours after drilling resumed, Rocky has stumbled upon what appears to be a vast cavern system inside 9950 Tarkas. An excursion team has been sent down to have a closer look, but preliminary reports point to an ice cave of immense size.

The captain, with science officers and CSC naval commandos in tow is taking a scanning package with mapping drones Jules our geo-rover into the caves. I've outfitted them with supplies for 1 week. Further reports to follow.




FILE ADDENDUM: 02
Jules has returned some shocking images. It appears that the ice caverns were only the beginning (tip of the iceberg?). The asteroid's true nature was revealed at 24.25 hours into the mission--it is by all appearances a giant geode. Preliminary findings indicate it's interior composition could be completely filled with massive quartz or quartz-like crystals. While it's not yet understood how this phenomenon could come to pass without regard to volcanic genesis, the occurrence is never the less, astounding.

Science officers also have discovered microbial life growing on the interior walls. Samples have been taken for further study.

The captain has said that he will report back in the next hour with detailed scans and raw data for me to process. Perhaps most intriguing, the captain says that there seems to be ordered paths from one cavern room to the next.

I eagerly await his supplementary report.



FILE ADDENDUM: 03
At 26.75 hours into the mission, the excursion crew has yet to check in. I've come to the conclusion that the geode's exterior crust and interior make-up are playing a part in hampering communications. Per my standard protocols, I've dispatched a drone to check in on the crew.

Further reports to follow.














FILE ADDENDUM: 04

------------> %%%////////////

ERROR 00070002301

DATE: 2612.5.9

LOG FILE RETRIEVAL FAILURE

FRAGMENT RECOVERY:

-------...NDER ATTACK...REPEAT, WE ARE UNDER ATT-----

CODE NULL

END FILE








For the story on the very REAL images, visit Threads of Adventure. Images: 2001: A Space Odyssey, King Moguras model, National Geographic

Filling in the Map: PART 1

LOGFILE: Kuiper Belt Expedition 505
DATE: 2612.4.18
AUTHOR: Col. Valerie Animus, Dept. of History, University of
Sagan, Lagrangian Station 3.

Near the outskirts of our home solar system exists the Kuiper Belt, a vast array of ice and rock left over from the birth of the planets. The belt is made up of icy chunks, asteroids, and planetary bodies that include dwarf planets like Pluto, Hamumea, and the "nearly dwarf" Orcus.

When the Space Settlement Act of 2436 was passed, many of our system's planets (and moons) were
settled not only by corporations, governments, and billionaires, but by the everyfolk that struggled to make a better life for themselves and their communities.

For the decades and centuries that followed, asteroids inside the Mars-Jupiter Interplanetary Ridge were successfully mined by multinational megacorps and Mom-and-Pop operations alike. Interplanetary shipping, manufacturing, and mercantile operations sprung up seemingly overnight to support a burgeoning industry. But while the inner belt prospered, the Kuiper became a sort of Bermuda Triangle where ships would venture and never be seen or heard from again.

One after another, starships, freighters, and exploratory missions would venture in, and no sooner, disappear inside the Kuiper's icy grasp. No remains of any kind, no derelicts or debris were ever recovered in more than 117 separate cases.

Soon after faster-than-light travel became commonplace, the belt was relegated to Sargasso Sea status: deemed too treacherous to warrant further navigation. But a few still longed for the rich minerals and scientific gold rush for which the region seemed primed.

Even dating back to ancient Earth times, scientists have claimed the Kuiper--like the Oort Cloud beyond it--has long held the secrets to life itself in the form of chemical compounds frozen in ice crystals, carried to inner planets by comets, and released into the warm embrace of Earth's atmosphere where they seeded life.

So it's with great pride, that at 06:00 Central Sol Time this morning, we launched the first of a series of scientific missions into a thicket of dense debris in the hopes finding evidence that would spawn a new gold rush to the belt.

Like the Earth sailors of old, we fling ourselves into Neptune's domain and beyond in the name of discovery and enterprise. And perhaps we'll also yet learn the fates of all those who never did return....

***TRANSMISSION END***


Images: NASA Jet Propulsion Lab, Our Universe, and Chesley Bonestell