Robert Haroldsson, Antenna & Servo Maintenance Manager at ITT Exelis DSN, spoke to us at the Goldstone Deep Space Network NASA Social about the massive repairs they did in 2010. He was the manager of the Depot Level Maintenance and Life Extension for the 70 meter DSS-14 antenna.
At the Goldstone NASA Social, we were treated to a very fascinating talk by Ann Devereaux who has worked on the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission for eight years. She has been a Lead Flight System Engineer, responsible for the thermal, power, and communications avionics on board the spacecraft. She is now the Deputy for the Entry, Decent, and Landing system. Her team has designed and built two of the UHF radios on MSL and the radio on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).
The second speaker at the Goldstone deep Space Network NASA Social was Deputy Project Manager Wayne Sible. Sible talked about the missions that the Deep Space Network (DSN) supports and what each Deep Space Communications Complex (DSCC) has to offer.
The first speaker at the Goldstone Deep Space Network NASA Social was Deputy Associate Administrator for Space Communications Badri Younes. He works under William Gerstenmaier, who oversees NASA’s human exploration and operations.
Younes started off by thanking attendees of the NASA Social. He mentioned it is a partnership between NASA and the community. NASA does a lot of great things, but great things that are done, if not communicated, especially to the young folks will lose their value. It is a partnership that NASA wants to build on to get the message out, to sensitize the minds of the young generation about the importance of the work NASA does and to stimulate their minds to pursue science, engineering, technology, and mathematics as a career of choice.
Two weeks ago, I attended the Space Camp Math Alive! tweetup in Huntsville, AL. The rainy morning started off rather wet and dreary. Fortunately, this tweetup was inside for the most part and allowed the soggy shoes from the short sprint across the puddle-laden parking lot to dry.
At the MathAlive! Space Camp tweetup in Huntsville, tweetup attendees got an opportunity to play around in the MathAlive! exhibit presented by Raytheon. The 5,000 square foot exhibit contains nearly 40 unique, interactive experiences that take math from its native form into the applied worlds of design, engineering, technology and science.
The first station I went to explained how music is made through fractions. A note on a keyboard has a fundamental frequency, or pitch, that determines if a note sounds high or low. Frequency is measured in hertz and is based of vibrations per second. Double the hertz of the frequency of a note and the pitch is one octave higher. Divide it by two and the pitch is one octave lower.
What Space Camp Tweetup can be complete without a tour of the facilities? During the MathAlive! Space Camp Tweetup, we had the opportunity to visit some fascinating places including the Habitat and the training center where Space Campers spend a majority of their time. Our tour guide, Jason, started the tour under the full shuttle stack with Space Shuttle Pathfinder sitting above the External fuel tank. When you’re standing under such a large vehicle, you start to understand what an amazing feat the Space Shuttle Program really was.
During the MathAlive! Space Camp tweetup last week, we were very fortunate to have five-time Astronaut Robert “Hoot” Gibson speak to us about flying aboard one of the most beautiful spacecraft the United States has sent to space.
Gibson has been described by the Smithsonian’s Air & Space Magazine as the Man Who’s Flown Everything. Among his Astronaut peers, he was known as the best of the best and the Chuck Yeager of the Astronaut Corps, able to fly anything with a stick and throttle. From light piston aircraft to thundering fighters, supersonic jets to the Space Shuttle, Hoot has flown it.
The first speaker at Space Camp’s MathAlive! tweetup in Huntsville, AL was Raytheon Company plant manager Angel Crespo. They are opening a new missile plant in about two weeks and partnering with Missile Defense Agency located at the Redstone Arsenal. They explored more than 23 locations across the country but chose Huntsville for a talented community, easy transportation via: air, water, highway, and rail, and a favorable location for sensitive operations. Construction of the Huntsville plant started in June 2011 and should be completed around Thanksgiving. It will open on November 26th to the public and start operations the following Monday.
