About

Illustration of Moni’s profile at Moni-07b, a new alien world.
“Welcome to MONI-07B” by Najib Fatikhun. 2021.

Boldly independent.

The space industry is global, but the noise converges around the same topics and stakeholders. This repeat news and media coverage create an echo chamber that leaves out many exciting advancements and essential issues. As a result, there’s a critical need for diversity of opinion and new perspectives about what’s flying under the radar.

MONI-07B is a hybrid between an indie space blog and a multimedia portal. It is built fundamentally differently due to core values that resonate with the Web 3.0 efforts and new visions of the Internet championing decentralization, independence, and privacy.

MONI-07B is powered by an open sourced infrastructure explicitly built for indie creators. Furthermore, unlike the Web 2.0 ad-tech model that often abuses your online behavioral data and predetermines content based on clicks, there’s a guiding ethos at MONI-07B.

Ethos
Built with values and ethics that resonate with the Web 3.0 vision, MONI-07B prioritizes indie research and perspectives without the centralization, hype or dystopia typically found in the traditional sources of mainstream news, media, and analysis. MONI-07B values online user privacy and data right…

The subscription-based business model is simple, transparent, and straightforward. There’s absolutely no mining of users’ data through social engineering, advertisements, analytics, and tracking. There are NO company advertisements, NO sponsored content, NO affiliate links, and NO tracking of your IP address at MONI-07B.

MONI-07B is solely written and maintained by Monica Hernandez.


About me.

I was born and raised in Costa Rica, so I grew up watching the first Costarican-born NASA astronaut, Franklin Chang-Díaz, make history in the Space Shuttle program. His achievements were always present in our daily conversations and embedded in our sense of national cultural identity. Throughout my professional experiences, including working in 2017 with Chang-Díaz (now CEO of Ad Astra Rocket Company) and Microsoft, I noticed that I enjoyed writing and producing content the most.

When I started publishing articles online about different space advancements and startups, I didn’t find a fully dedicated blog and portal that was completely ad-free, privacy-friendly, and community-funded. So, when I wasn't seeing the portal I envisioned, I decided to go ahead and build it.

In my current role at the 92-year-old Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) – a national science lab in the United States – I serve as Communications Lead for two major funded quantum information science and technology programs funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. I write and produce dozens of news releases, feature articles, and multimedia productions to showcase the latest breakthroughs in quantum computing research and development, including in a bilingual format (English and Spanish), a rarity in a new field. Major trade, industry, and scientific publications have picked up my work, reaching the top of the front page, including at HPCwire and Phys.org. In addition, I frequently liaise with the White House Office of Science and Technology and major federal science agencies, including NASA, and NIST, among many others. As a result of my career, I have been recognized twice for Excellence, earning Berkeley Lab’s coveted SPOT Awards.

I am also a published writer in niche media outlets for technologists, futurists, and business audiences, including Hacker Noon (4+ million global readers) and Delfino.cr (1+ million readers in Latin America).

 A young girl dreams of being an astronaut in her adult life in an alien world.
“Nurturing spacefaring dreams” by Eliadys Ortega. 2021. [r].

Creating content about the space industry keeps me connected to my childhood dreams and spaceflight. One of my favorite interpretations of dreams appears in the science fiction television series Star Trek Voyager (1995-2001). Neelix, an alien, and The Doctor, an Emergency Medical Hologram Mark I (AI program), have several profound conversations about dreams—one such conversation developed in season six, episode four.


NEELIX: On Talaxia, we have a saying. The dream dreams the dreamer.
EMH:
Care to translate?
NEELIX:
We like to think that fantasies and daydreams come from someplace else. Another land. They slip into our minds and whisper about things we never imagined.
EMH:
A strange notion.
NEELIX:
Do you daydream, Doctor?
EMH:
Of course not. I’m a computer program. I prefer wide shots, Mr. Neelix. If you’re feeling creative, throw in a little ultraviolet.


Maybe these spacefaring fantasies come from a yearning for our point of origin? Perhaps this constant state of becoming multiplanetary defines us. What is remarkably accurate for me is that dreams of space generate a powerful connection to the cosmos.

Interestingly enough, as I planned my content platform and shared the vision of what I hoped to achieve, I encountered support from young daydreamers. So in their own words and artwork, let me showcase what children across the world have shared to support me in this journey, and more importantly, let me spotlight their dreams.


Leah. United States. Age 10.

There are so many things out there I want to learn about space. The galaxy is really pretty. What I like about space are the beautiful random things that happen that science cannot explain. One thing I would like to see in the future is if there is really another planet like Earth that has living animals. I love to dream about space because there is always something you don’t know that you might think it’s different and want to learn about.
Children's space art: United States astronaut and flag on the lunar surface. View of astronomical elements and Earth from space..
Leah. United States. 2021. (10 years old).

Kedi. Kenya. Age 11.

I’m interested in space because I want to know more about the planets, the sun, and the moon. I like to learn how the universe affects our planet Earth and how it changes our weather patterns. I also love Martian explorations. I would love to see space become a place where people can visit easily. I would like to see schools, hospitals, and houses where people can stay and enjoy themselves. If you can dream it, it’s possible. Most wonderful inventions came to be from dreams.

Children's space art: Observatory, rocket on the lunar surface ready for launch, and school for astronauts in space.
“The future space” by Kedi. Kenya. 2021. (10 years old).

Dunja. Bosnia and Herzegovina. Age 10.

Children's space art: Solar System featuring several planets with rings, stars, and astronomical elements.
Dunja. Bosnia and Herzegovina. 2021. (10 years old).

From all ages and backgrounds, children and young adults are looking up to us right now to imagine what’s possible. It’s essential for the future of our species to nurture and protect early spacefaring dreams.


From a nickname to an alien planet

Moni-07b is inspired by the nomenclature of exoplanets. These are the strange and alien planets located beyond our solar system. The International Astronomical Union categorizes many of these exoplanets with the letter b and often uses the telescope's name to distinguish them.

Moni-07b is also inspired by the curious frequency of the number seven in U.S. space history. Some noteworthy missions:

Freedom 7 (Mercury-Redstone 3) - first U.S. crewed spaceflight mission

Trajectory of Alan Shepard’s Historic Flight
Fifty-four years ago on May 5, 1961 only 23 days after Yuri Gagarin of the then-Soviet Union became the first person in space, NASA astronaut Alan Shepard launched at 9:34 a.m. EDT aboard his Freedom 7 capsule powered by a Redstone booster to become the first American in space. His historic flight l…

Friendship 7 (Mercury-Atlas 6) - first U.S orbital spaceflight

Inspecting Friendship 7
Astronaut John Glenn inspects artwork that will be painted on the outside of his Mercury spacecraft, which he nicknamed Friendship 7. On Feb. 20, 1962, Glenn lifted off into space aboard his Mercury Atlas (MA-6) rocket to become the first American to orbit the Earth. After orbiting the Earth 3 times…

STS-7 - first U.S. woman in space

Launch of STS-7, 1st US Woman in Space – June 18, 1983
This week in 1983, space shuttle Challenger, mission STS-7, launched on a six-day mission to deploy two communications satellites, one for Canada and one for Indonesia. This was the first time the shuttle flew with a crew of five and the first time a U.S. woman was in space.

Costa-rican born Chang-Díaz flew seven Space Shuttle missions (1986 - 2002).

The NASA Voyager 1& 2 robotic spacecraft were launched in 1977. These are the world’s longest-operating spacecraft. They have reached our solar system’s ends and now navigate in interstellar space.

Voyager

The recently discovered Trappist-1 system has seven Earth-sized exoplanets. Three of those are located in the habitable “Goldilocks” zone.

Exoplanet discovery: Seven Earth-sized planets around a single star
The discovery of seven Earth-sized planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system have lit a new fire in the search for life. This is the resource page for all images, videos, and interactive media from the NASA news conference.

The first known interstellar object, 1I/2017 U1 (Oumuamua), was detected cruising through our solar system in 2017.

Small Asteroid or Comet ‘Visits’ from Beyond the Solar System
A small, recently discovered asteroid -- or perhaps a comet -- appears to have originated from outside the solar system, coming from somewhere else in our galaxy.

When you subscribe to MONI-07B, you play a leading role in providing the space community with nuanced research. In addition, the artistic visions advance the conversation beyond the mainstream.