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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
Showing posts with label Failure is not an option. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Failure is not an option. Show all posts
Monday, February 21, 2011
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Spaceflight is Dangerous. Pass the chips.
Snow day number three. I figured my two loyal readers deserved a real blog post, so here's one on safety in spaceflight.
Spaceflight is an inherently dangerous activity. Everything about it has the potential to be fatal, and spectacularly so. First, our intrepid explorer is strapped to an explosive stack the size of a medium city. Then, he's shot into a cold, airless environment that is so full of radiation that sunburn times are measured in seconds. Finally, there's a death-defying plunge toward the ground at twenty-five times the speed of sound, all the while encased in air so hot it's no longer air. While in space, there's no appreciable gravity. Down and up are irrelevant, eating and drinking is a chore, and using the facilities requires advanced gymnastics training.
And yet, still we go. Whether it's for the money, the fame, the science, or for Hillary's reason (because it's there), the will always be those who make the venture regardless of the risk. This is the quality that makes exploration possible and also what makes the rewards of that exploration tangible. Those who forge ahead in the face of tremendous odds reap the rewards of their gambles.
Of course, this means that people will get hurt, and that some people will die. Given all of the potential dangers involved with sending people up a couple of hundred miles above the earth, it is inevitable that accidents will happen. Nothing can work correctly every single time. The nature of the universe and the existence of entropy guarantees that things will break. Human weakness makes mental mistakes a certainty. Someone will forget to turn on the widget, or turn off the widget, or turn the widget at the wrong time, or whatever. It is guaranteed.
That said, someday the deaths associated with spaceflight will be just like the deaths associated with air travel. The cameras will show up, and the reporters will report, and the families will grieve, and that will be it. When an airliner crashes, we reflect on how it could have been us, and how sad those affected must be. Currently, when a spaceship crashes, it's a national tragedy. That's okay now, but maybe not in twenty years.
This article from NPR makes the point that the transition of NASA to more difficult tasks leaves private companies in the space taxi business. Private enterprise faced this same situation four decades ago with the rise of Apollo. When we as a nation set our sights on the moon, air disasters became less disasters and more normal life. As we looked toward the moon, the space closer to home became more familiar, smaller, less mysterious.
An interesting thing to consider is that thousands of people die in car crashes every day, yet we pay little attention to them. Air travel is far safer than car travel, and airplane crashes are becoming far less of the spectacle that they used to be. Someday, spaceflight will go the way of the car - problems will be so marginalized that they may not even appear on our radar screens.
And this is the point. The national psyche (nay, even the world's psyche) can only pay so much attention to events. If the world shut down every time there were an airliner crash, we would never get anything done. More people in space means more space disasters. More spaceship crashes will take up more of the collective psyche until the load becomes too great. It is then that these events will become accepted as the price of doing business in space.
n a perverse way, we'll only become good in space when we can care less about it. Once we can mourn astronauts in the same way that we mourn air passengers, we will be well on our way to space fluency. It's a shame that it'll take many deaths to get there.
On deck for tomorrow: mindless link propagation, and happy ones at that.
Cheers,
-- Zach
Spaceflight is an inherently dangerous activity. Everything about it has the potential to be fatal, and spectacularly so. First, our intrepid explorer is strapped to an explosive stack the size of a medium city. Then, he's shot into a cold, airless environment that is so full of radiation that sunburn times are measured in seconds. Finally, there's a death-defying plunge toward the ground at twenty-five times the speed of sound, all the while encased in air so hot it's no longer air. While in space, there's no appreciable gravity. Down and up are irrelevant, eating and drinking is a chore, and using the facilities requires advanced gymnastics training.
And yet, still we go. Whether it's for the money, the fame, the science, or for Hillary's reason (because it's there), the will always be those who make the venture regardless of the risk. This is the quality that makes exploration possible and also what makes the rewards of that exploration tangible. Those who forge ahead in the face of tremendous odds reap the rewards of their gambles.
Of course, this means that people will get hurt, and that some people will die. Given all of the potential dangers involved with sending people up a couple of hundred miles above the earth, it is inevitable that accidents will happen. Nothing can work correctly every single time. The nature of the universe and the existence of entropy guarantees that things will break. Human weakness makes mental mistakes a certainty. Someone will forget to turn on the widget, or turn off the widget, or turn the widget at the wrong time, or whatever. It is guaranteed.
That said, someday the deaths associated with spaceflight will be just like the deaths associated with air travel. The cameras will show up, and the reporters will report, and the families will grieve, and that will be it. When an airliner crashes, we reflect on how it could have been us, and how sad those affected must be. Currently, when a spaceship crashes, it's a national tragedy. That's okay now, but maybe not in twenty years.
This article from NPR makes the point that the transition of NASA to more difficult tasks leaves private companies in the space taxi business. Private enterprise faced this same situation four decades ago with the rise of Apollo. When we as a nation set our sights on the moon, air disasters became less disasters and more normal life. As we looked toward the moon, the space closer to home became more familiar, smaller, less mysterious.
An interesting thing to consider is that thousands of people die in car crashes every day, yet we pay little attention to them. Air travel is far safer than car travel, and airplane crashes are becoming far less of the spectacle that they used to be. Someday, spaceflight will go the way of the car - problems will be so marginalized that they may not even appear on our radar screens.
And this is the point. The national psyche (nay, even the world's psyche) can only pay so much attention to events. If the world shut down every time there were an airliner crash, we would never get anything done. More people in space means more space disasters. More spaceship crashes will take up more of the collective psyche until the load becomes too great. It is then that these events will become accepted as the price of doing business in space.
n a perverse way, we'll only become good in space when we can care less about it. Once we can mourn astronauts in the same way that we mourn air passengers, we will be well on our way to space fluency. It's a shame that it'll take many deaths to get there.
On deck for tomorrow: mindless link propagation, and happy ones at that.
Cheers,
-- Zach
Friday, January 28, 2011
Selecting an Internship
Wherein our intrepid scholar will plan out the next three years of his life.
Nowadays, employers expect that you will have participated in two to three internships over the course of your college career. This is in addition to having performed research pertinent to your field, received good grades, and done some extracurricular (perhaps volunteer) work. What this means for me is that I'm already behind the curve. I've done the CAS, but that's it.
Now, however, the resume and cover letter assignment for my technical writing class has given me both the opportunity and the impetus to fix that. I'll write a resume and cover letter for a program that begins this summer, but I won't be able to participate because of the arrival of baby h. I also have o keep in mind that I really want to take the next physics class in my sequence from UTD, and I need to take it in the fall of 2011. Given my off-kilter class history (beginning in the spring, three developmental classes, opting to take the time to get an associated degree), I fully expect to not be through with my BS program until the end of fall 2012.
This has a few advantages. I can do two summer internships and one full spring internship between now and grad school. This allows me the ability to make the necessary contacts for employment out of school, and it will help me to both choose and get accepted to a graduate program.
Spring 2011 - finish this semester, get the two roadblocks that I have out of the way (Calc II and Mechanics)
Summer 2011 - Enjoy a new baby :-)
Fall 2011 - Load up. Two math and two physics, at least. Maybe a winter class as well.
Spring 2012 - Keep a heavy load. Plan an exit trajectory toward grad school.
Summer 2012 - Summer internship with NASA.
Fall 2012 - Complete BS and matriculate :-)
Spring 2013 - Spring Co-Op with NASA.
Summer 2013 - Summer internship with NASA.
Fall 2013 - Begin grad school!
With this plan in mind, I've chosen three programs to apply tofor the NASA programs listed above.
First is the Langley Aerospace Research Summer Scholars program (LARSS). This program has spring, summer, and fall sessions. I'd choose the spring session, to be completed during the spring of 2013. This is a research-intensive internship and should help me finalize the research I want to do pre-grad school.
Second is the NASA Academy. This is actually the first program I'd do in summer of 2012. It is an intensive summer research and leadership program, perfect for the roles that I continue to find myself in. There's a large carrot at the end of the stick - induction into the NASA Academy Alumni Association (NAAA). This would really help my networking base and is therefore a very high priority.
Finally, the NASA Aeronautics Scholarship program serves two purposes. The first is to get scholarship money into the hands of aeronautics students. The second is to provide summer internship opportunities for those students. This is my aim for the 2012-2013 year, with the summer internship occurring just before the start of grad school.
I think that I'll do the assignment for the LARSS program. It seems to be the most business-centric of the three programs, and the feedback I receive from the professor will help me zero in on what I need to better win this internship.
In the meantime, I think I'll reconnect with my CAS contact and see if she can help me put this plan into motion. Now, I'm off to start this assignment. My wife and I will be out of town for the weekend (anniversary trip!), but she requested that I bring the laptop. Maybe I'll get some more schoolwork done.
I doubt it ;-)
Cheers,
-- Zach
Nowadays, employers expect that you will have participated in two to three internships over the course of your college career. This is in addition to having performed research pertinent to your field, received good grades, and done some extracurricular (perhaps volunteer) work. What this means for me is that I'm already behind the curve. I've done the CAS, but that's it.
Now, however, the resume and cover letter assignment for my technical writing class has given me both the opportunity and the impetus to fix that. I'll write a resume and cover letter for a program that begins this summer, but I won't be able to participate because of the arrival of baby h. I also have o keep in mind that I really want to take the next physics class in my sequence from UTD, and I need to take it in the fall of 2011. Given my off-kilter class history (beginning in the spring, three developmental classes, opting to take the time to get an associated degree), I fully expect to not be through with my BS program until the end of fall 2012.
This has a few advantages. I can do two summer internships and one full spring internship between now and grad school. This allows me the ability to make the necessary contacts for employment out of school, and it will help me to both choose and get accepted to a graduate program.
Spring 2011 - finish this semester, get the two roadblocks that I have out of the way (Calc II and Mechanics)
Summer 2011 - Enjoy a new baby :-)
Fall 2011 - Load up. Two math and two physics, at least. Maybe a winter class as well.
Spring 2012 - Keep a heavy load. Plan an exit trajectory toward grad school.
Summer 2012 - Summer internship with NASA.
Fall 2012 - Complete BS and matriculate :-)
Spring 2013 - Spring Co-Op with NASA.
Summer 2013 - Summer internship with NASA.
Fall 2013 - Begin grad school!
With this plan in mind, I've chosen three programs to apply tofor the NASA programs listed above.
First is the Langley Aerospace Research Summer Scholars program (LARSS). This program has spring, summer, and fall sessions. I'd choose the spring session, to be completed during the spring of 2013. This is a research-intensive internship and should help me finalize the research I want to do pre-grad school.
Second is the NASA Academy. This is actually the first program I'd do in summer of 2012. It is an intensive summer research and leadership program, perfect for the roles that I continue to find myself in. There's a large carrot at the end of the stick - induction into the NASA Academy Alumni Association (NAAA). This would really help my networking base and is therefore a very high priority.
Finally, the NASA Aeronautics Scholarship program serves two purposes. The first is to get scholarship money into the hands of aeronautics students. The second is to provide summer internship opportunities for those students. This is my aim for the 2012-2013 year, with the summer internship occurring just before the start of grad school.
I think that I'll do the assignment for the LARSS program. It seems to be the most business-centric of the three programs, and the feedback I receive from the professor will help me zero in on what I need to better win this internship.
In the meantime, I think I'll reconnect with my CAS contact and see if she can help me put this plan into motion. Now, I'm off to start this assignment. My wife and I will be out of town for the weekend (anniversary trip!), but she requested that I bring the laptop. Maybe I'll get some more schoolwork done.
I doubt it ;-)
Cheers,
-- Zach
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Team UTD Next Steps
Moving forward is not always an easy task. There's the ever constant effort to try to "build up steam", as it were, so that any progress can be built on prior gains. It becomes especially difficult to gain momentum when one hits a setback. It takes discipline and courage to get back on the horse. One must realize that a stumbling block is a signpost on the road to success.
I've not always been the best at displaying tenacity in the face of adversity. I'll readily admit that it's super easy to throw in the towel and call it a day. On the face of it, my lack of success in getting our team a spot for the 2011 RGSFOP looks like a pretty big hiccup on the road to academic success. However, I realize that this is just the sort of jumping off point that I need in order to get where I want to go.
First thing's first: our proposal wasn't bad. The concept wad solid. What we lacked was the fleshing out of the project. Figures, sensors, a better plan, more cohesive writing. These are the major takeaways that I gleaned from our feedback. The primary plan, then, is to tighten up our RGSFOP proposal and resubmit it this fall. One of the team members has offered to fly a reduced-size project on a Cessna in order to establish a baseline for the big test. This will serve as the primary focus for Team UTD this year.
There are other projects out there, too.
Some of the things that Team UTD is looking into, both as a full-sized group and as smaller "tiger team" units, include the following:
- Rocketry. There's the ever-popular Team America Rocket Challenge. High-powered rocketry can be an avenue of research in it's own right. I've wondered at non-traditional methods for rocket stabilization, and model rockets would allow us to do the research for a fraction of the cost of a full-sized model. Other programs include CanSat and NanoSat, whose goals revolve around payload. There are now programs coming online that would provide an orbital insertion vehicle for a student payload. We could fling a little satellite into orbit! Finally, a large percentage of the research NASA does in the upper atmosphere and at lower G involves the use of sounding rockets.
- Atmospheric transit problems. Both re-entry into Earth's atmosphere and entry into an alien atmosphere present significant design and engineering challenges. I think that Team UTD could provide industry with a cost-effective or novel method for atmospheric insertion. We could piggy-back the testing for this on the high-power rocketry component.
- Scientific balloons. The mishap in Australia notwithstanding, high-altitude balloons are a very viable and current method to solve the problems related to high-altitude science. The simplicity of such a setup is astonishing. One father-son team used their iPhone and a big toy balloon, and recorded data at altitudes in excess of 26 miles. I think they spent about three-hundred dollars on the balloon.
- Current NASA challenges. NASA always has something cooking. Team UTD will apply for everything that is reasonable, splitting into smaller teams as needed in order to meet project requirements.
- Attitude control. Team UTD has access to the tools needed for extensive research in this area. I personally don't know enough about it to talk about it, so I'll wait until I've had a chance to dig into this area before I discuss pros and cons.
- In-flight control surface configuration modification. If you've ever watched Robotech, you know what this is. UT Dallas is at the forefront in the materials research needed to produce the kind of meta-morphing craft needed to go from a runway to orbit and back again. The possibilities are incredible, and the research is scant. I admit to not knowing as much about this as I should.
There are other avenues that we can pursue, both individually and as a team. I'll delve into them as they become more relevant. For now, this is essentially our working list. If anyone has a pet project they want researched, let me know and I'll see if it fits into our long-term goals. If so, you might help us do science!
Cheers,
-- Zach
I've not always been the best at displaying tenacity in the face of adversity. I'll readily admit that it's super easy to throw in the towel and call it a day. On the face of it, my lack of success in getting our team a spot for the 2011 RGSFOP looks like a pretty big hiccup on the road to academic success. However, I realize that this is just the sort of jumping off point that I need in order to get where I want to go.
First thing's first: our proposal wasn't bad. The concept wad solid. What we lacked was the fleshing out of the project. Figures, sensors, a better plan, more cohesive writing. These are the major takeaways that I gleaned from our feedback. The primary plan, then, is to tighten up our RGSFOP proposal and resubmit it this fall. One of the team members has offered to fly a reduced-size project on a Cessna in order to establish a baseline for the big test. This will serve as the primary focus for Team UTD this year.
There are other projects out there, too.
Some of the things that Team UTD is looking into, both as a full-sized group and as smaller "tiger team" units, include the following:
- Rocketry. There's the ever-popular Team America Rocket Challenge. High-powered rocketry can be an avenue of research in it's own right. I've wondered at non-traditional methods for rocket stabilization, and model rockets would allow us to do the research for a fraction of the cost of a full-sized model. Other programs include CanSat and NanoSat, whose goals revolve around payload. There are now programs coming online that would provide an orbital insertion vehicle for a student payload. We could fling a little satellite into orbit! Finally, a large percentage of the research NASA does in the upper atmosphere and at lower G involves the use of sounding rockets.
- Atmospheric transit problems. Both re-entry into Earth's atmosphere and entry into an alien atmosphere present significant design and engineering challenges. I think that Team UTD could provide industry with a cost-effective or novel method for atmospheric insertion. We could piggy-back the testing for this on the high-power rocketry component.
- Scientific balloons. The mishap in Australia notwithstanding, high-altitude balloons are a very viable and current method to solve the problems related to high-altitude science. The simplicity of such a setup is astonishing. One father-son team used their iPhone and a big toy balloon, and recorded data at altitudes in excess of 26 miles. I think they spent about three-hundred dollars on the balloon.
- Current NASA challenges. NASA always has something cooking. Team UTD will apply for everything that is reasonable, splitting into smaller teams as needed in order to meet project requirements.
- Attitude control. Team UTD has access to the tools needed for extensive research in this area. I personally don't know enough about it to talk about it, so I'll wait until I've had a chance to dig into this area before I discuss pros and cons.
- In-flight control surface configuration modification. If you've ever watched Robotech, you know what this is. UT Dallas is at the forefront in the materials research needed to produce the kind of meta-morphing craft needed to go from a runway to orbit and back again. The possibilities are incredible, and the research is scant. I admit to not knowing as much about this as I should.
There are other avenues that we can pursue, both individually and as a team. I'll delve into them as they become more relevant. For now, this is essentially our working list. If anyone has a pet project they want researched, let me know and I'll see if it fits into our long-term goals. If so, you might help us do science!
Cheers,
-- Zach
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Super Slappy Science Updates
Happy hump day, intrepid readers. Normally, I'd be at apogee preparing for the terminal dive phase of my week. Unfortunately, my plans were derailed by sleeping almost ten hours last night. Oh well. I suppose I needed it.
Super slappy science, in no particular order.
Collapse? What Collapse? Societal Change Revisited
The concept that societies simply vanish, or that they die a fiery, cataclysmic death, is one that Hollywood loves. It would seem, however, that it's not consistent with reality. Large societies tend to weather large stressors well, and it is almost impossible to point to one event and say "Yes, the sack of Rome by the Visigoths caused the collapse of Western Civilization."
Civilizations are like tires with slow leaks. Problems exist for long periods of time, occur slowly, and tend to mask their effects. The people comprising the society may not even notice that there's a problem until long after the society is gone.
This is fascinating stuff. Applied to our own civilization, it shows that the fall of the US is not imminent.
NASA - Shaping the Shuttle
It's stories like this that persuaded me to get into this field in the first place. This is why I want to be an engineer.
NASA - NASA to Show Live Webcast of Nanosatellite Launch
Nanosatellites offer the promise of high launch frequency and low launch cost. Of course, miniaturization is an issue...
I just found a post that was supposed to have gone live on October 24th. Oops. It's included here below for the sake of completeness.
------
You know that you're old when your Saturday night is spent furtively trying to get children to sleep (and back to sleep). I put the little ones down at about 8 or so, then promptly passed out. Smersh fell asleep pretty quickly, but SWWNO fought it until almost midnight. Smersh woke up about 12:30 am, likely from nightmares or night terrors. When that happens, the only way to get her back to sleep is to stand in the middle of the living room under the bright bright light and twirl slowly. Counterclockwise. For an hour.
Of course, SWWNO woke back up at 6:30 and woke her sister up shortly thereafter. I thanked my wife for a "rockin' Saturday night" and got up to begin the new day.
Rockin' Saturday nights when you're old. Why didn't they mention this in school?
The failed NASA balloon launch has been studied. From the report:
-----------
That's all I have time for right now. Until Friday...
Cheers,
-- Zach
Super slappy science, in no particular order.
Collapse? What Collapse? Societal Change Revisited
The concept that societies simply vanish, or that they die a fiery, cataclysmic death, is one that Hollywood loves. It would seem, however, that it's not consistent with reality. Large societies tend to weather large stressors well, and it is almost impossible to point to one event and say "Yes, the sack of Rome by the Visigoths caused the collapse of Western Civilization."
Civilizations are like tires with slow leaks. Problems exist for long periods of time, occur slowly, and tend to mask their effects. The people comprising the society may not even notice that there's a problem until long after the society is gone.
This is fascinating stuff. Applied to our own civilization, it shows that the fall of the US is not imminent.
NASA - Shaping the Shuttle
It's stories like this that persuaded me to get into this field in the first place. This is why I want to be an engineer.
NASA - NASA to Show Live Webcast of Nanosatellite Launch
Nanosatellites offer the promise of high launch frequency and low launch cost. Of course, miniaturization is an issue...
I just found a post that was supposed to have gone live on October 24th. Oops. It's included here below for the sake of completeness.
------
You know that you're old when your Saturday night is spent furtively trying to get children to sleep (and back to sleep). I put the little ones down at about 8 or so, then promptly passed out. Smersh fell asleep pretty quickly, but SWWNO fought it until almost midnight. Smersh woke up about 12:30 am, likely from nightmares or night terrors. When that happens, the only way to get her back to sleep is to stand in the middle of the living room under the bright bright light and twirl slowly. Counterclockwise. For an hour.
Of course, SWWNO woke back up at 6:30 and woke her sister up shortly thereafter. I thanked my wife for a "rockin' Saturday night" and got up to begin the new day.
Rockin' Saturday nights when you're old. Why didn't they mention this in school?
The failed NASA balloon launch has been studied. From the report:
In summary, the causes for this mishap evolved from: (1) a flawed underlying assumption, (2) a problematic historical mindset, and (3) an ineffective organizational structure.This is actually kinda neat. I saw a show on TDC about the folks that launch the majority of NASA's balloons. Their professionalism was impressive.
-----------
That's all I have time for right now. Until Friday...
Cheers,
-- Zach
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