DIY Space Program

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Yesterday I led a Conversation Hour at the American Center Hanoi about Neil Armstrong.  One of the questions that came up during the discussion was - Are there cheaper ways to run the Space Program?  Well, when I got home I turned on the TV and CNN was on talking about DIY Space Programs. So, I asked Google to show me the links and here are some pretty cool Space experiments you can do yourself on the cheap*.  
   
Send a camera (or object) in to space.  In the show notes you will find a link to a video about a father and son who did just that.  They attached a video camera to a weather ballon and launched it from Brooklyn, New York.  It made it all the way to space and back safely. The images are pretty cool. 

Join a citizen scientist project.  You don't have to be an expert in engineering or science to participate in Space Exploration. At Spacehack.org you can find a list of different projects run by different groups and organization that you can help out with. 

Google also brought me to this interesting article related to another question brought up in our discussion - Should the space Program be run by private corporations instead of the government? It could be the next wave of the future*.  

The article mentioned a small company called ArduSat which is using Kick Start to fund their small satellite project.  Check out their video that explains their project. 

I'm always impressed with the great thoughts, questions, and ideas brought up during the conversation hours.  Language learning allows us the opportunity to share and learn from each other.   

*Language Link
On the cheap is an idiom that means something done for not a lot of money.  

Wave of the future means a trend that will become popular in the days ahead.  

Thanks for listening.   This has been Cassie Brenn for fastfoodenglish.blogspot.com.