Reality 2.0 Newsletter - December 16, 2020: Having Too Much Fun

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A Quick Plug

Katherine Druckman and Doc Searls had a fun chat with Petros Koutoupis about open source in space, digital detox, World War 2 cryptography, and poop in the desert. Please remember to subscribe via the podcast player of your choice.

Episode 51: Poop in the Desert

Petros in Space

In episode 51, Petros Koutoupis describes being contacted by the the developer of SEMC OS, an open source operating system designed for mission control.

SEMC, originally standing for Space Exploration Mission Control, is an Open Source project that aims to write software for Mission Control. That ranges from tracking flight paths, to managing communications, to writing custom drivers to get information from Earth to Mars. Although our goal has shifted past simply Mission Control to all of space, our ideology remains the same - to boldly code where no man has written before.

We are a part of Nexus Aurora, which is an Open Source Project, that recently won the 2020 Mars Society Competition (and the Grand Prize of $10 000). Our idea is to innovate in technology past what we have today.

As it turns out, the author of the OS was inspired by an article series Petros wrote for Linux Journal in 2018, which you can find at:

DIY: Build a Custom Minimal Linux Distribution from Source

and

Build a Custom Minimal Linux Distribution from Source, Part II

We think that’s pretty cool!

RIP Arecibo

If you haven’t seen this incredible footage of the iconic Arecibo Observatory’s telescope collapse, we recommend grabbing some tissues, and checking it out.

Pooping in the Desert is a Misdemeanor

If you hadn’t yet heard about the strange monoliths popping up all over the world, you are too late to see the Utah desert installation for yourself. And the California version was dismantled almost as soon as it was found. You may still have time to locate one elsewhere in the world, if only travel was still a thing. If you do venture out though, save the eco adventurers some work and please don’t poop in the desert.

What and/or who do you think is behind these monoliths?

As always, please share your thoughts with us by commenting here on this post, by visiting us on any of our social outlets, or via our contact form.

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This Week’s Reading List

• NASA is paying startups for moon rocks. It's not what you think - CNN — NASA pledged in September to buy moon rocks from companies that can get robotic rovers to the lunar surface and scoop up samples of the dusty terrain, and the space agency asked for bids from companies all over the world. The winners were unveiled Thursday: California-based Masten, Lunar Outpost of Colorado, and two separate companies that are both called iSpace — one from Japan and the other from Luxembourg.

• semissioncontrol/semcos: SEMC OS is an operating system for Space Exploration and beyond! — Space. The Final Frontier. Where man hesitates to go, for it is one of the most dangerous realms that can be found. Not a world, but a multitude of worlds, accessible through only one tool — the space rocket. But tools of great power rely on systems of even more tremendously large strength. These systems are the ones that are created here, at SEMC. The Space Exploration Mission Control organization strives to create powerful tools and services, Open Sourced. And this is SEMC OS. A from-scratch distro written to be fast and reliable. Why? Because large space agencies lack one. There should be a unification when it comes to softwares that control the future of humanity - and this is where SEMC OS comes in. Hooked? Read on!