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Wes O'Donnell

A veteran of both the US Army and US Air Force, Professor Wes O’Donnell is a highly sought after presenter who has recently spoken at TEDx on Data Visualization and the US Air Force Academy on Leadership. He is noted for his fascinating, informative, dynamic and entertaining keynotes. Wes educates companies and government organizations on a number of topics ranging from emerging technology and big data visualization to veteran’s issues and leadership. But Wes’ best talks tend to center around his personal journey from poverty to distinguished entrepreneur and professor; a truly inspiring journey.
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Aerospace

Air Force’s Mysterious Space Plane Ends 780-Day Mission

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The secretive Boeing X-37, also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV), is a reusable robotic aircraft whose most recent mission, Orbital Test Vehicle Mission 5 (OTV-5), was launched from the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A on September 7, 2017.
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Aerospace

Why NASA Wants an Equatorial Launch Site – Part II

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In the first part of this series, we discussed how NASA lacks an equatorial launch site and how such an asset could be really important to reducing launch costs for national space agencies and private sector launch providers.
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Aerospace

Why NASA Wants an Equatorial Launch Site – Part I

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NASA is by far the most well-funded, well-developed space agency on the planet. Even as its budget -- relative to total U.S. tax income -- has continually been reduced over the decades since the Apollo era, NASA still receives several times the funding of its largest international competitors.
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Editor's Pick

This Week in Space! October 20, 1970 – the Soviet Zond 8 Mission

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This week in 1970 the Soviet Union launched the last spacecraft of its Zond (Russian for “probe”) program. Known as Zond 8, the spacecraft was sent to take images of the lunar surface.
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Aerospace

We Asked NASA: Is It Possible to Hack into a Spacesuit?

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Along with nuclear missile silos and the U.S. stock market, few other targets provide such a tantalizing challenge for U.S. foes as hacking our space endeavors.
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Astronomy

PSW Science Live-Streaming Immortal Spacecraft Lecture

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PSW Science is live-streaming a space-related lecture, which will take place at the John Wesley Powell Auditorium in Washington, D.C., at 8:00 p.m. tonight.
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Astronomy

Take a First Look at NASA's Black Hole Simulator

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NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center is making news with a stunning visualization of a black hole created by Jeremy Schnittman using custom software.
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Aerospace

The Growing Threat of Orbital Debris in Our Atmosphere

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There are hundreds of satellites, 8,000 tons of junk and more than 500,000 pieces of debris that are tracked as they circle the planet. This orbital debris and the speeds at which it travels increases the potential danger to both manned and unmanned space vehicles due to the increased potential for collision-related damage.
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Astronomy

Exploring Saturn's Mysterious North Pole Hexagon

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The peerless Spanish architect Antoni Gaudí once proclaimed there are no straight lines in nature. Born in the 1850s, he clearly lived in a time when Saturn’s mysteries were still somewhat enigmatic. Gaudí is proof that intellectual brilliance is no guarantee against being dead wrong.
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Aerospace

NASA's Plans for the Artemis Lunar Lander Move Forward

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The Artemis program is a crewed spaceflight program in which NASA plans to land the first woman and next man on the south pole region of the moon by 2024.
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