I've often run into the idea of 'realspace' (or 'meatspace') versus 'virtual reality' (or 'the Internet').  The concept is that they are two often separate worlds.  I disagree with that, and feel there are three spaces.  One has solid entities like people and rooms, and you interact with them noticeably.  The second may be online or it may be solid, but the interactions are between individuals and kept private.  The third is completely open, for many to access-- typically via online presence, because online lends permanence that the 'solid' world rarely has.

I call these solid spaces, private spaces, and open spaces.  And for the past two months, Project Calliope has been quite here (an open space) because I've been busy with private spaces, and a bit in solid spaces.  Much of my recent private work has been chasing down commitment from various music entities for their portion.  These email-only exchanges aren't quite suitable for blog postings, though I confess they're good (slightly anonymized) fodder for an eventual book.

I've also been active in 'solid space', what some call the real world.  In fact, this week I've been at the 215th AAS Conference, and am talking tomorrow about Project Calliope, to an audience of fellow astronomers.  And there's non-Calliope paying work.

As I move from the planning period to actual satellite assembly, I expect to move more of the Project Calliope story to the open spaces where it should be-- this blog, in podcasts, and on other channels.

In the meantime, I've learned an important lesson.  When I started this project, I thought I'd need to assemble a crack team of technical, engineer and ops people to assist me, while I'd handle promotion solo.  It turns out I'll be able to build this satellite with COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) components in a straightforward way relatively alone-- but will need to assemble a team to help me effectively promote it and ensure the music and science results get to people who want them.

So for 2010, expect more... and more... and more... until we either launch or explode!

Alex


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