Wait a Minute, Wait a Minute...

Maybe someone can explain this to me.

If the Universe is 156 billion light years across...

And if the Universe is 13.7 billion years old...

And everything flew into existence from a single point in the Big Bang...

Does that mean that the galaxies at the outer reaches of the Universe traveled at 5.6 times the speed of light??

Humorous Clip

Very Lucky Photograph

A very lucky photographer camped out under high-traffic airspace with a moon-tracking camera and happened to catch this picture.

Taken from Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD).

USLI

There is a group within the Iowa State Space Society called CySLI, which is a small club that participates in NASA's University Student Launch Initiative (USLI, I call it "Oozli," but I think I'm the only one). I think that this will be one of the coolest activities I will be participating in this year. Basically, USLI is a contest in which Universities design and build both a scientific payload and the launch vehicle to carry it to as close to one mile as possible. So far we've been talking about what kind of payload we want to design. One option we've been talking about is having a nose-mounted escape pod with a method of controlling the decent, and a live video feed from an onboard camera.

Here's a video about USLI:
(Iowa State's rocket is the big black one with the orange nose cone).

NASA Student Launch Projects Video

Pop Quiz

A few guys were studying in our dorm the other day, and somehow the following question came up:

Which of the following has more kinetic energy?

(a) A fully loaded freight train traveling at 79 mph across country
(b) The shuttle orbiting at mach 25

The answer wasn't immediately obvious. We started geeking out about it, looking stuff up online and doing some calculations. Some predicted the train, others predicted the shuttle.

The answer?

A typical freight train weighs about 8,000 tons. It has a kinetic energy of 4,767,000,000J.
The Shuttle Orbiter has a mass of 99,318 kg. At mach 25 it has a kinetic energy of 3,579,000,000,000J. So it turns out that the freight train only has 0.13% of the kinetic energy of the Shuttle. Shuttle wins, hands down.

And it makes sense when you think about it. Just think how much fuel the Shuttle has to take on as opposed to the relatively small tanks in the diesel engines. (Not to mention that the energy is proportional to the square of velocity, and not the square of the object's mass.)

College is funny.


P.S. Will it ever stop raining??

Career Fair

Due to the recent flooding in Ames, IA, the Engineering Career Fair at Iowa State University had to be moved from its usual location in Hilton Colosseum to giant white tents outside Schemann. The fair took place on the 21st, a day of solid rain. Determined students vying for internships braved the weather and showed up professionally dressed but soaked to the bone. It was fun.

As a freshmen, I didn't expect to be inundated with opportunities, but even so, it was a great experience to be there, learning about options for the future. I only had time to hand out about five resumes, which is sure better than none! The most interesting employer that I talked to was for the Strategic Systems Program of the U.S. Navy. They take on engineering students for summer internships, who work on submarines, strategic missiles, and other goodies like that. There are numerous opportunities like that out there just waiting for me!

XCOR Conducts Supersonic Wind Tunnel Tests

XCOR Aerospace completed extensive supersonic wind tunnel tests for their commercial sub-orbital spacecraft, Lynx. The tests were conducted at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The vehicle was shown to be a safe and stable design under mach conditions, with only a few minor design changes.

I am looking forward to the completion of this spacecraft. I like to see the private space industry emerging.