la prochaine selection d'astronautes commence le 12 decembre....

Starwalker is an inspirational reality TV show that demonstrates the accessibility of space, its benefit to humanity, the potential for private investment in space and the ability for the whole world to get involved in this New Age of Discovery, via a televised competition to select and train two astronauts from the ranks of the common global population, assisted by world experts in human spaceflight. The show culminates in two winners flying into orbit as fully-fledged astronauts on a Soyuz rocket. There will be two main competitions run in parallel: one for citizens of the Southern Hemisphere and another for those of the Northern Hemisphere, each involving physical, psychological and skills testing along with such activities as survival training, skills testing, joy flights and analogue studies. A significant portion of the show will be dedicated towards showcasing the facilities, achievements and projects of space agencies, companies and organisations around the globe to demonstrate the global nature and interconnectedness of the space industry and excite the public in a ‘Top Gear’ style approach.

The contest to find the final two astronauts shall be a worldwide competition with people from literally anywhere on Earth able to enter for free on the Starwalker website or alternatively by premium call mobile phone access. This allows people from the entire planet to enter – anyone from any background can dare to dream and try out to become an Astronaut. Registration for contestants shall open on December 12 2009. All entrants will then be reviewed and processed prior to the filming of the show in May 2010 onwards.

All funds and insurance to cover this “astronomical” cost are in place. Starwalker is thus a television show featuring the most powerful media alliance, largest competition and richest prizes not just in television history but in human history.

The show was the brainchild of Katherine Bennell, Campbell Pegg and Rogan Shimmin, who are Australian and British postgraduate students within the space industry and three young people who are extremely passionate about humanity’s destiny to explore the solar system. It was during the International Space University SSP 2009, held at NASA Ames Research Center, that Katherine, Campbell and Rogan conceived and developed the idea for the television show STARWALKER. Surrounded by space pioneers and experts and encouraged by their example, this experienced provided these students with the belief that they could make their idea succeed. The show concept was largely inspired by the journey of Soyeon Yi, a fellow participant, and how her experience so enthused the population of South Korea. The concept was originally to replicate her experience in Australia, but fully funded by the media rather than the government. However, the potential benefits to the world and the enormity of this undertaking were deemed so great that the show went global, to encompass entries from any country on the planet.

The competitions on the show will potentially feature contributions from every type of space agency and space business on Earth. The audience of the show is UK, Europe, the USA (35% of the world’s television audience all on its own), North and South American, India, China, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. The biggest audiences in history. For ten weeks (about half) of the show, voting lines will be open for the population of the Earth to vote for their favourite contestants.

Starwalker also features the on air talents of worldwide scientist celebrity Stephen Hawking, and on the production side the award winning talents of Dave Mousley and Red Vision UK, together with showrunner and executive producer the award winning film director, novelist and documentarian Jonathan Nolan. Red Vision has just concluded a multimillion dollar filming project with Discovery Channel, INSIDE THE MIND OF STEPHEN HAWKING, detailing and showing to the public the wonders across the known universe. The “bounce” generated from that project for the massive undertaking of Starwalker is significant indeed.

Behind them is a team including the most award winning television and film production specialists ever assembled outside of the combined team for an Olympics broadcast. Segments, feature episodes and background clips on the history of space travel and rocketry, the countries of origins of the contestants, the existing space agencies and industries worldwide will be filmed across the whole of the planet.

Starwalker will screen on free to air, cable and digital television worldwide as well as eventually being made available online as free webisodes and downloads. It will only be available online by paid subscription during the show, after which it will be provided for free to any web visitors. This is to protect the investment of the show’s backers and producers.

The show is carbon positive, with carbon credits issued under the official Australian government backed (world’s best practice) CCGAS scheme eliminating the entire show’s carbon footprint several times over, including the entire overseas carbon footprint of every aspect of the launch into space of each of the two winners.

spacemen1969 a écrit:Ce n'est pas une reprise d'un projet qui avait été abandonné il y a 1 ou 2 ans ?

All I can say at this stage is that the Western Hemisphere has the best of both worlds as it were and will be hopefully very much involved… :)

As for the North-South dichotomy, it reflects the origin of the show creators, and the southern hemisphere also counts amongst its population some of the most vibrant of cultures, and indeed some launch facilities and other space resources. The show must involve the whole Earth, including the least developed.

Entry is open to all inhabitants of the Earth over the age of 18, who are able to meet the minimum initial requirements when the contest begins.

Entry is via free website entry and/or paid mobile phone entry.

The entry process is officially slated to begin 12.12.09 but we may open the entry earlier depending on current logistical matters. :)

As for funding- it is entirely covered with private finances and the operational matters of the northern and southern theatres are controlled through separate chains of command reporting to the showrunner and his producer partners.

By all means, visit the blog until the website officially launches (it will launch very soon and of course be open for entries soon after).

There will be many more exciting and substantive announcements shortly about our amazing show. :)

-Jonathan Nolan
Executive Producer / Showrunner
STARWALKER

CosmoS a écrit:
Malgré les bonnes intentions affichées, n'y a-t-il pas le risque - audimat et business plan oblige - que le principal ressort de ce projet soit l'aspect compétition/sélection/(égo), comme n'importe quelle autre émission de télé-réalité ?