The other day, I heard the last words said on our moon by Eugene Cernan, the commander of Apollo 17.
"And as we leave the moon at Taurus-Littrow, we leave as we came, and God willing as we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind."
Clear skies and godspeed, Neil Armstrong. Thank you for the giant leap.
Showing posts with label space. Show all posts
Showing posts with label space. Show all posts
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Monday, November 17, 2008
UCSD Rocket Project
This is the launch of my senior-class project at UCSD. It was a hybrid rocket, burning nitrous oxide and a rubber grain. It was supposed to measure pressure as it went up, or something like that, I don't recall. I do remember that the nose cone only ejected because the engine shut off and it started decelerating at two gees, instead of our incredibly reliable ejection charge. This was the only class in college with which I got to play with explosives. Go aerospace engineering!
I'd like to note that this is actually filler, but I've got three things going on at once right now, and they'll all be up shortly. I hope.
I'd like to note that this is actually filler, but I've got three things going on at once right now, and they'll all be up shortly. I hope.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Rockets!
I'd like to start by admitting that this is filler. It's awesome filler, but filler nonetheless. But this project has been sidelined by a couple of things, and is probably a little over-ambitious on my part, so be patient. I promise a HILARIOUS, and undoubtedly embarrassing video.
In the news lately, Armadillo Aerospace just won the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander X-Prize! I'd explain it, but this video does it better:
Apparently, in the second phase of the test, it crashed and burned. Which is actually pretty funny. But this is really awesome, a success for a small-scale space entrepreneur. Between that and the success of SpaceX's Falcon 1 late last month, the independent space industry is beginning to take off, which is super exciting.
In awesome news that I didn't know about beforehand, it looks like NASA is gearing up to launch another awesome rover to Mars! It's called the Mars Science Laboratory, and it's the size of an SUV, nuclear powered, and is expected to operate for a solid martian year (687 terrestrial days, 669 Martian days/sols). Which, given that the last ones were designed to last ninety sols, and are currently operating seventeen hundred sols later, so it's safe to expect that this bad boy will last until we're walking around on Mars to take over.
In the news lately, Armadillo Aerospace just won the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander X-Prize! I'd explain it, but this video does it better:
Apparently, in the second phase of the test, it crashed and burned. Which is actually pretty funny. But this is really awesome, a success for a small-scale space entrepreneur. Between that and the success of SpaceX's Falcon 1 late last month, the independent space industry is beginning to take off, which is super exciting.
In awesome news that I didn't know about beforehand, it looks like NASA is gearing up to launch another awesome rover to Mars! It's called the Mars Science Laboratory, and it's the size of an SUV, nuclear powered, and is expected to operate for a solid martian year (687 terrestrial days, 669 Martian days/sols). Which, given that the last ones were designed to last ninety sols, and are currently operating seventeen hundred sols later, so it's safe to expect that this bad boy will last until we're walking around on Mars to take over.
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