A website for the truly geeky

It's science festival time around the country right now, and that includes the facilities of NASA. I caught something the other day that I thought was really cool, particularly if you love communications and technology.

There was a class taking the tours around JPL and one of the lecturers was the director of the NASA Deep Space Network, the folks that keep in contact with the various far-flung vehicles that have left the planet and, for Voyager, the solar system.

What caught my fancy was when they said that... "oh, yeah, all of this communications monitoring data is available in real time on the internet..."

Oh, so COOL!... here's the LINK

You can go and see the current state of the network, how fast the data is moving, who's on line... etc.

I think the topper was the bit with the Voyager spacecraft, that comunicates at the whopping speed of about 150 bits per second and a round-trip time of about a day and a half!

dr

March 15th & March 22nd launch reports

OK, we're not flying for a few weeks, so I'm posting Roy's extensive launch reports from March 15th and the 22nd make-up day. Remember, your penmanship counts! If he can't read it, don't blame us for spelling! Click the "Read More" link for the whole story... dr

Click to read more ...

Night launch April 26th

The launch on April 26th & 27th will have lots of special things going on, but one that folks have been asking for a lot is a night launch. 

We have secured a special waiver from the FAA and CLT allowing us to have night operations from 8 untill 9:30 PM on the 26th. 

We've posted the rules over in the "Contest Info" section (in the right column) so you can get all the info there. We decided to go a bit larger with engine size due to the number of requests, but keep in mind that our hard ceiling is 1,500' AGL. We're capping motors to I-impulse, and you can do up to a 3-motor cluster as long as your total impulse doesn't exceed the I impulse class. No multi-staging or air starts and you need to make sure that the rocket is illuminated through the entire flight.

So go read the regs and get to building!

dr

February 23rd & March 1st flight report

Roy's report on our split launch, from February 23rd and March 1st. Soggy as the 23rd was, the first of March was one of the finest flight days you could have asked for. Temps about perfect and no wind at all. Click the "Read More" link to see the whole thing.

Click to read more ...

January Launcicles

BUUUURRRRRRR... it was cold!! (How cold was it?) It was so cold.... I can't feel my fingers to type the rest of this sentence! Luckily Roy has taken our flight cards and deciphered our shaky handwriting to deliver the latest flight report... you know what to do. Thanks Roy! dr

Click to read more ...

Take a moment and remember.

This time of year, the 27th of January, brings me back to when I was 10 years old, and the nation stopped, stunned, as 3 american astronauts were lost in a horiffic moment in time.For those who might not know a lot about the event NASA's history page is HERE. After this event we didn't know if the Apollo program would go on.

What has struck me over the years is how, through weather related events, we've suffered 2 more events that have taken 2 shuttle crews from us. Cold weather and ice have directly contributed to both the Challenger and the Columbia accidents.

All 3 of these events fall in a fairly short span of time, just a week's time, from late January to early February. Take a moment out of your day and remember these fallen heros.

dr

December & New Years launch reports

Roy Potter has crunched the numbers, deciphered your handwriting & consulted his Ouija board, resulting in a compendium of launch details for the last few launches. Click on the "Read More" link to get the whole skinny... dr

Click to read more ...

Science in the Movies... all January on TCM

Here's a blog entry from Sean Carroll, a theoretical physicist at CalTech, about a series of movies on Turner Classic Movies each Friday in January.

Here's a LINK to his blog post. They start this Friday with "For all Mankind", made from NASA footage and interviews with the Apollo crews, tells the story of that program.

Sean's blog is pretty good as well, worth reading if you're into the search for the Higgs particle and such things.

dr

Great ISON comic...

Well, while we were waiting to fly last week comet ISON, the visitor from the ort cloud, came by and paid the sun a little visit... you might have read about it.  Some of you may remember that I've referenced Randall Monroe's online comic XKCD here before and he's got a great take on ISON here. XKCD is a great example of a really smart person with a wicked sense of humor and WAY too much time on his hands. He's also got the site "What If...", a kind of web-based, mister wizzard meets agony-aunt column where he solves questions posed by readers involving physics, math, science, and outrageous attention to detail.

There's also a thought provoking XKCD on habitable planets that may be in our "back yard", and it gets you thinking. It's here.

Remember, December's launch window will be here before you know it... get crackin'!

dr

O'burg November launch moved to 23rd & 24th

Got a note from Chuck Haislip saying that Orangeburg has had to move their November launch, originally scheduled for the 9th & 10th, back to the 23rd & 24th.

Apparently the homecomming game for USC is that weekend, and the next weekend is the Jehovis Witness national conference and there's not a hotel room to be had for 30 miles on either weekend.

So for those looking for an after Thanksgiving launch, you may want to look to the south...

dr