SAM, 2019-present
In May 2019, Over the Sun founder Kai Staats began work with the University of Arizona and Biosphere 2 to develop the world’s highest fidelity Lunar and Mars analog and research station. A Study of Analog Missions (SAM) is a human-in-the-loop, hermetically sealed environment for short- and long-term biology, ecology, chemistry, and habitation studies. It incorporate a pass-through airlock, semi-closed ecosystem, environmental control and life support systems (ECLSS) and CO2 scrubber, and pressure suits for extravehicular activities (EVA). SAM is now under construction at Biosphere 2.
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SIMOC, 2017-present
A hi-fidelity computer model and web interface to a simulation of a human habitat on Mars. Users are invited to design a habitat that sustains human life through a combination of physico-chemical (mechanical) and bioregenerative (living plant) systems, selecting various combinations of crew quarters, greenhouse, food and plants, energy generation and storage, and mission duration. Initially developed as an Arizona State University Interplanetary Initiative pilot project, Over the Sun continues development with support from National Geographic who hosts SIMOC for use world-wide by students and citizen scientists, free of charge.
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Mt. Meru Astronomical Observatory (MMAO), 2015-present
In partnership with Telescopes to Tanzania and Astronomers Without Borders, Kai Staats designed, remotely managed, and completed Tanzania’s first dedicated astronomical observatory. While the effort of an individual and not that of Over the Sun, this exemplifies the foundation on which Over the Sun, LLC is established—to provide platforms for authentic science inquiry and investigation and an outstanding vehicle for science education.
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Documentary Film for Science Outreach and Education, 2011-2017
Over the Sun produced more than a dozen short and feature length documentary style science outreach and education films with clients including Ron Spomer Outdoors, an archaeological project in Palestine, the South African Astronomical Observatory, Space.com; the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO), National Science Foundation, and associated universities; Dr. Paul Sutter and the Ohio State University, and Mission Control Space Services. Footage has been provided for the Discovery Channel, NASA, MIT, Morgan Freeman, and PBS NOVA.
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iConji, 2009-12
Over the Sun, LLC was founded in 2009 to bring a universal, icon-based language to life. iConji was born of the desire to develop a simple, fun-to-use universal means of communicating in a digital world which brings people to understand each other in a new way. While increasingly functional, automated translators reside in the middle, parsing phrases from speaker to recipient. With iConji communication is direct where the speaker must consider the means by which the message is generated, thereby connecting her own frame of mind with that of the recipient.
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SketchBox, 2006-08
Acquired from Terra Soft Solutions, developer of Yellow Dog Linux, the patented SketchBox product was born in the year that MIT’s Nicholas Negroponte initiated the concept for a small, highly portable, durable and inexpensive tablet computer for children in underdeveloped countries. Kai Staats had been studying the evolution of personal computers and PDAs and how they were received in both domestic and international markets, and recognised a gap in existing and reported product trends.
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Yellow Dog Linux, 1999-2008
Prior to the formation of Over the Sun, LLC, Kai Staats and his team developed, distributed, and supported the world-renowned Yellow Dog Linux operating system for the POWER architecture. With more than a quarter million users world-wide, YDL was an alternative desktop for Apple computers used in universities, the Departments of Energy and Defense, and NASA for an incredible diversity of research programs. This experience provided the business acumen and determination for Over the Sun’s platforms for research and science education.
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