My first Diff Eq quiz was today- I think I did alright. I still don't get Bernoulli equations though. Blecchhh.
The aerospace department held a forum/seminar on the shuttle today. Dr. Mark, former deputy administrator of NASA, was the only speaker I found particularly interesting. They had a guy talk about re-entry maneuvers and dynamics, and another guy talked about materials used in the space shuttle- namely the thermal tiles and the foam on the external tank. One of the points brought up that I thought was notable was that commercial airplanes, before being allowed to carry passengers, undergo like 1000 flights of testing. By comparison, the shuttles have flown barely 100 missions total; therefore, the shuttle is still very much an experimental vehicle, and we should regard it as such.
Well, I've had some time to reflect on the shuttle, and I guess I've kind of figured out what it is that I think... Well, first of all, I want to point out how much we all take for granted the hard work that so many people have to put in to make the shuttle successful. It's like we think that just cuz it's in the hands of NASA, everything's gonna work out fine cuz NASA's a bunch of brainiacs. It's so much complex science and math, I think it's a wonder that things do work. But yea, I think the tragedy was really a setback; mankind will still go into space. But also, it'll make us take a serious look at where our space program is now- there was talk in the mid 90's of designing a vehicle to replace the current shuttle. The plans kinda just pettered out, but now think they'll be put back on the drawing board. By any measure, the shuttle is definitely high tech, but then again, it was also high tech like 20 years ago... what will the cutting edge technology of today be like?
I think more than a sense of sadness & grief, the tragedy has instilled a new sense of dedication in me. It really illustrates how NASA isn't infallible. They still need good people to run their operations... will I be one of those people some day? I realize now more than ever, how much progress we still have to make.
The aerospace department held a forum/seminar on the shuttle today. Dr. Mark, former deputy administrator of NASA, was the only speaker I found particularly interesting. They had a guy talk about re-entry maneuvers and dynamics, and another guy talked about materials used in the space shuttle- namely the thermal tiles and the foam on the external tank. One of the points brought up that I thought was notable was that commercial airplanes, before being allowed to carry passengers, undergo like 1000 flights of testing. By comparison, the shuttles have flown barely 100 missions total; therefore, the shuttle is still very much an experimental vehicle, and we should regard it as such.
Well, I've had some time to reflect on the shuttle, and I guess I've kind of figured out what it is that I think... Well, first of all, I want to point out how much we all take for granted the hard work that so many people have to put in to make the shuttle successful. It's like we think that just cuz it's in the hands of NASA, everything's gonna work out fine cuz NASA's a bunch of brainiacs. It's so much complex science and math, I think it's a wonder that things do work. But yea, I think the tragedy was really a setback; mankind will still go into space. But also, it'll make us take a serious look at where our space program is now- there was talk in the mid 90's of designing a vehicle to replace the current shuttle. The plans kinda just pettered out, but now think they'll be put back on the drawing board. By any measure, the shuttle is definitely high tech, but then again, it was also high tech like 20 years ago... what will the cutting edge technology of today be like?
I think more than a sense of sadness & grief, the tragedy has instilled a new sense of dedication in me. It really illustrates how NASA isn't infallible. They still need good people to run their operations... will I be one of those people some day? I realize now more than ever, how much progress we still have to make.
posted by Dear Daniel at 7:04 PM
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