Some Updates

Hey gang. It's been a minute, but I have a good excuse. Like school. I'm back on track now.

First, I'd just like to say that my thoughts and prayers are with the Japanese people in this most difficult time. I try to put myself in their shoes and can't. We have a friend who is stationed there. She's helping out with the rescue and recovery, though there isn't much one can do from the deck of a destroyer. We worry about her too.

Second, does anyone remember when KVIL did the Pet Shop Boys spoof "Quadaffi Sucks"? It's been in my head non-stop since the air strikes started in Libya.

Next, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that SpaceX has inked a deal with Luxembourg-based SES-SA to launch one of their commercial satellites on its Dragon 9 launch vehicle. The launch will occur sometime in 2013. SES is knows to be relatively risk-averse and conservative in its pursuit of new companies. This deal signals a major shift for SpaceX as the company expands into commercial payload launch.

Finally, apparently I missed Ball Aerospace at the recent Career Fair at school. Bummer. I had really wanted to get to talk to Raytheon about internship opportunities. The timing was bad for me - I wasn't able to be in the kind of shape I would have liked. Better luck next time, I suppose.

An extra tidbit: there is scuttlebutt about us selling both of the Accords and using the proceeds to finance a motorcycle for me. Am I crazy? Absolutely :-)

Cheers,

-- Zach

Blogger keeps telling me I have more followers that I really do...

The B-52 has some life left in her after all.

The Air Force has decided to allow Boeing to continue to perform maintenance and upgrades to its fleet of Stratofortress H-model heavy bombers. By continuing to support the BUFF fleet, the Air Force is guaranteeing that they will remain in a front-line role for at least another decade, if not two. The other message being sent is that the acquisition of a new front-line heavy bomber has taken a back seat for the time being.

There are a couple of points to be made here. First is that proper initial design and simplicity will last for the long haul. I think we so often become enamored of new technology and whiz-bang features that we forget to keep things simple. The fact that the B-52 has been in active service for over 50 years really speaks to the skill and competence of the designers at Boeing. Any attempt at a replacement should heed the same general principles.

Second, in a post-Cold War world, it's okay to be "good enough" when it comes to our military. We aren't going head to head with the best that the talented Soviet designers could muster. We are, however, often called to fight irregular and guerrilla conflicts against adversaries armed with Kalashnikovs and Semtex. A gazillion-dollar B-2 is not the right tool for this conflict. On the other hand, it's relatively simple to "bomb back to the stone age" with an unbroken stream of B-52s dropping a hundred 500 pound iron bombs at a time. In the B-52, we have a bomber that's good enough to handle the tasks that we need to handle right now. We can utilize the money that would have been spent trying to get a new whiz-bang out the door on research and development. When the time comes, we'll be able to make a better weapons system, because the research will be there and the major problems will have been overcome.

Now, China is the wild card. What comes out of Beijing will serve to drive our weapons development for the next fifty years. ABM, anyone?

Cheers,

-- Zach

Lunar X Prize

I really wish I could have participated in this.

The X Prize Foundation and Google announced the Lunar X Prize in 2007. The goal of the competition is to get a rover onto the moon, move 500 meters, and transmit high definition video of the feat. Bonus points will be awarded for finding water, landing near an Apollo landing site, surviving the night-side of the moon, traveling five kilometers, and the nebulously-worded "stimulating diversity" in space exploration.

There have been 29 teams selected for the competition. Teams range from large, well-funded corporate interests to smaller university efforts. In all, fifteen countries are represented.

The prize is relatively small compared with the cost of winning the competition, being $20 million for non-government teams. The cachet of having won, however, makes the whole thing worthwhile.

I'm reminded of how the Collier Trophy helped drive innovation in aeronautics. Every year, someone would do something greater than the year before just to get their name on the cup. The money was inconsequential. These X Prizes are the same way. I just hope I get to participate on an X team someday.

Cheers,

-- Zach

MLP - 21 February 2011

Today is my youngest ex-utero child's second birthday! Woo-hoo! She decided to start the day with a nice round of screaming. Once we made it to day care, she decided to continue the theme and scream until I was all the way out of earshot. Hopefully, she'll be better after her nap.

I'm going to do some mindless link propagation today, primarily because I'm swamped with schoolwork. Here goes.

The Wall Street Journal is running a story about how NASA's funding is in limbo. Apparently, NASA's buget is a partisan fight. The White House is trying to scale back the amount of funding the agency would receive for support of private rockets. This means that commercial space taxi services might be making shots on their own dime. Congress was understandably skittish last year about outsourcing core NASA functions to private firms.

I'm torn about this. On one hand, I think that NASA and science in general ought to have a nearly blank check to do whatever they need or want. It is a fact that a dollar invested into science and technology research and development returns much more than a dollar once the tech hits the private sector. On the other hand, NASA does need to be frugal (just like the rest of us) and not waste money on things that detract from its core purpose. What do you guys think the right answer is?

Florida Today is running an internal NASA assessment about how they (the agency) mis-calculated the risk of the shuttle flights. They were apparently off by an order of magnitude (1 in 10 instead of 1 in 100). The fact that we only lost two orbiters and their crews speaks large volumes about the skill and dedication of the people associated with the program. It also shows how lucky NASA was. "We were lucky" notes the report. Lucky indeed. How do we go forward and make the next project better and safer?

United Space Alliance is trying desperately to stay in business. They are seeking funding to proceed with a second-phase study on the potential of flying another twelve to fourteen shuttle missions. The United Space Alliance is a joint Boeing/Lockheed-Martin venture; they handle the production of the eternal tank and do other assorted work for the Shuttle Program.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has predicted that China will take a long time to begin to match the United States in terms of low-observable air superiority aircraft. Gates' comments are in response to industry buzz about the unveiling of the first Chinese stealth aircraft, the J-20. Timed to coincide with the Defense Secretary's visit to China last month, the test flights of the J-20 proceeded smoothly. Many pundits feel that this was nothing more than hollow saber-rattling, noting that China has a much more effective arsenal of surface-to-ship ballistic missiles for projecting power in the Pacific.

Time will tell if this is where WWIII would start...

One of my professors is giving a talk on Friday about the Mars Phoenix Lander mission. Dr. John Hoffman will be speaking on behalf of the Texas Astronomical Society Friday, February 25, from 19:00 to 22:00 in one of the lecture halls in the Science and Learning Center.

That's all for today, folks. Happy Monday!

Cheers,

-- Zach

Rocketry in Junior High

If we're going to make more rocket scientists, it stands to reason that we need more kids playing with rockets. That's the thinking behind the model rocketry elective program at Millville junior high school in Redding, California. One of the school's teachers, William Hutt, suggested teaching the class this year. Open to seventh and eighth graders, the class is a challenging mix of conceptual physics and aerodynamics. Once past the first twelve weeks, students get to build relatively simple Estes model rockets. These models are then flown in a launch event that draws the whole school outside.

Launch procedures are borrowed from the army and from NASA. Students man science, meteorological, engineering, communications, and security stations, and all have to give a "go/no go" to the range master for a launch. The professionalism inherent in the breakdown of tasks is impressive, especially when you consider that the range is staffed by 12- and 13-year-olds. Also impressive is the amount of theory and training that goes int the launches. The curriculum is modeled after a graduate program, and the students have to digest it before getting to shoot their rockets.

Something that I found awfully impressive from the article was the fact that the first student interview in the story comes from a girl. As a father of three girls, I sincerely hope that math, science, and engineering will be of interest to them. I realize that it may not be their cup of tea, but I do not want negative pressure from their peers to sour their view of the sciences.

Our family is coming soon to a decision point. I will probably go to grad school somewhere other than Texas. This means that we'll have to send the Pikl and SWWNO to different schools. I'd love to start a rocketry club for my kids at their current school, but would it be worth the effort to get it going just to leave? I'll have to ponder that.

In the meantime, know that I love my new laptop and that I'm getting back on track with the blogging next week.

Cheers,

-- Zach

Fast Trains

One of the more interesting things to come out of Obama's proposed 2012 budget is the request for $53 billion for research, development, and implementation of an interstate fast train system. Fast (> 150 mph) trains have been a staple of Europe and Japan for decades. China has also gotten into the fast train game, having recently inaugurated what is maybe the fastest train in the world. The demand for rapid train access from one city to another has increased over the years, owing to many factors. One is the reduced pollution of a train relative to an equivalent number of cars. Another is the noticeable reduction in gridlock in areas where fast train service has been implemented. A third is the relative ease and luxury associated with being able to let the train do the moving while the passengers concentrate on other tasks (for example, I'm typing this post on the DART light rail.)

Unfortunately, nothing like the intercity train system so prevalent in Europe exists in the US. I firmly blame Dwight Eisenhower. The national interstate highway system was his baby, and it helped cement the status of the car as king of getting from a to b. Little could he have known just how big of an impact the auto would have on the country and the environment. (I guess I can forgive him a little bit, then.) Now, almost fifty years on, we find ourselves increasingly spending more and more time suck in traffic. The car-as-birthright paradigm has unfortunately led us to urban sprawl, "white flight", and excessive resource usage. Fast train service between cities, or even between central suburban locations and cities, could go a long way toward easing these problems.

Not only do I like the idea of taking the train to work and school, I like the idea of helping to design and build it. There are big aerodynamic problems to contend with. Segmented trains have complex engineering challenges. Comfortable seating, safety, power, efficiency, and good looks are all important considerations. I wonder if I could do grad work on this.

Anyway, that's my two cents. Fast trains are good. Inter- and intra-city trains are good. Mass transit that goes where people want to go is good. All of these things will be designed and built by teams of engineers. Maybe I'll get to participate too.

Cheers,

-- Zach

Dude! Wait, what?

This was supposed to have been posted yesterday. Something went screwy.

Here is yesterday's post in all it's lovin' glory. I'll have a new post tomorrow after my physics test.

...I've even been known to jot down the odd poem, when the muse descends.

What a wonderful day. And not because it's Valentine's day. I'm not really sure that I buy into all of that. Hearts and candy and teddy bears, all seem like a cross between Christmas and National Get New Teeth Because Your Old Ones Rotted Out Day. On the other hand, it is as good an excuse as any to creatively express one's love for another.

In that vein, I've tried my hand at a sonnet. It's been a minute, and I'm rusty. Once I have SWMBO's permission, I'll post it here.

What a wonderful day. Seventy degrees, light breeze, partly cloudy, and no rough weather for at least a week. Don't get me wrong, I love my snow. I just like my spring-y weather too. I'd like to think that I can get in an extra two runs this week. My neighbor is a fair-weather runner, so this stuff shouldn't be too tough for her.

Speaking of running, I should mention that I've managed to hit my running goals for last week. I'm back to where I wanted to be mileage-wise, and I'm on track to run the Rock-n-Roll half at the end of March. Every once in a while, I'll pop out a seven minute mile as motivation. Like, I can't believe that I can run this for a mile, much less for thirteen! Maybe by the end of the year I'll be able to do that.

What a wonderful day. My new laptop is here! A Dell Inspiron 15R. It's fast (zOMG!!1), pretty, and mine! Microsoft has finally made a good operating system in Windows 7. It's fast, stable, and pretty. Too bad it took twenty years, but better late than never, eh? Speaking of fast, Office 2010 Professional (Plus! w00t!) installed in about twelve minutes. I'm blown away. This is what I've always wanted n a computer.

If you're wondering if this means that I'll be back to regular updates, fear not. It does. My goal is to get about ten posts ahead by the end of the semester. That way, any problems that I have will be covered by blog filler (blog + bondo = blog-do? bond-log?). No more weeks and weeks with nary a sign of life.

Okay. Here's what's on base. I want to do something about how private spaceflight ventures are really working well with NASA. I have personal research to do and report on. I finally figured out what the thrust of my masters research will be (fluid dynamics!) and want to get started into that right away. There are also posts on kids, babies, tweens (no Beiber), and married life. Stay tuned, it's gonna get hot in here...

Cheers,

-- Zach (Dude! I gotta Dell! (great, I just verbed a computer company))