‘Science and Technology’ Category
My hometown as seen from Space, August 23
October 16th, 2013
During the government shut down, no part of NASA’s website is available. In the meantime, Astronaut Karen Nyberg has posted this image of the Great Lakes on Twitter.
Presque Isle is clearly visible (circled), Chautauqua Lake is the skinny body of water directly below:
The tiny bump to the west of the peninsula is Walnut Creek (arrow), the boomerang-shaped lake to the left is the Pymatuning Reservoir on the Ohio/Pennsylvania border:
Categories: Erie PA, Science and Technology, Web finds
Tags: astronaut, earth, erie, fairview, great lakes, hometown, pennsylvania, presque isle, space
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Flying Eagle’s Point of View
September 20th, 2013
I try not to post too many links, but this is worth sharing.
YouTube video of a flying eagle’s point of view.
Curious screen capture of a man sitting in the field:
Categories: GoPro, Science and Technology, Web finds
Tags: eagle, gopro, video, website find
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Endeavour – more photos and L.A Times time lapse video
October 17th, 2012
L.A. Times has created a time lapse video of the shuttle.
Many photos have been added to the NASA Flickr account. Jason and I were caught aerial photo below (bottom right, Jason in red shirt leaning on orange bike, me in light blue). We can’t find Branden in this image.
Photo via NASA Flickr.
Me on left in light blue, Jason on right in red, leaning on his new orange Handsome XOXO.
Categories: Science and Technology, Southland
Tags: aerial photography, inglewood, los angeles, space, space shuttle endeavour
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Space Shuttle Endeavour in Inglewood, CA
October 13th, 2012
A few photos from our bike ride (strava link) to see the shuttle in Inglewood.
I have uploaded many more photos Google+.
Categories: Science and Technology, Southland
Tags: inglewood, NASA, space, space shuttle endeavour
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The wheels of the mars rovers
August 18th, 2012
A tour of JPL in 2005 left me charmed by the Mars Exploration rover wheel (the Spirit and Opportunity rover design). The 26 cm diameter wheel is milled from a solid block of aluminum. The black surface is anodized for added surface protection. Why black, I don’t recall. The spiral flexures (spokes) add a little suspension.
The new wheel on Curiosity is twice as big at 50 cm. The tread is one piece of aluminum attached to a hub with 6 individually-fastened titanium flexures. The flexures extend axially from the hub, curve back towards the rim maintaining a radial profile, and finally bend almost tangentially to attach to the rim similar to the spirals from before.
The holes in the wheels leave impressions in the soil that allow the scientists to measure distance. They also spell J-P-L in Morse code.
Both wheel designs are inspiring, and have me thinking of applications for human use. Shock-absorbing bicycle wheel or hub? Probably not, but what about uses other than wheels?
(Image source) Left to right: Exploration (Spirit/Opportunity), Sojourner, and Curiosity wheels.
More info on the Exploration wheels on NASA’s website here and on Curiosity’s wheels here.
Categories: Science and Technology
Tags: aluminum, fascination, inspiration, metal
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