31 December 2015
No presentation: December 2015
December 2015 provided a very shortened schedule, as there were fewer meetings this month due to the holiday season, and therefore there was no meeting in which it was possible to sneak in an AE presentation. So none was given this month.
30 November 2015
Presentation: November 2015
This month's AE presenter: Jeff
Date of presentation: 16-Nov-2015 (? - not sure, could be a week either way)
Subject: Strange Aircraft
Description: For this presentation, Jeff scraped the dust off an old favorite that he's given at least once before and which proved popular again this time. Over the century plus that mankind have been building heavier-than-air craft, some designs have definitely worked out better than others. This presentation "celebrates" some of the less-successful designs throughout aviation history. Note that these are not necessarily all "bad" designs, although most of them were, and several had fatal flaws (literally) that resulted in spectacular failures. But they were all unusual designs by today's standards.
Download a zipped PDF of this presentation (1839 KB).
Date of presentation: 16-Nov-2015 (? - not sure, could be a week either way)
Subject: Strange Aircraft
Description: For this presentation, Jeff scraped the dust off an old favorite that he's given at least once before and which proved popular again this time. Over the century plus that mankind have been building heavier-than-air craft, some designs have definitely worked out better than others. This presentation "celebrates" some of the less-successful designs throughout aviation history. Note that these are not necessarily all "bad" designs, although most of them were, and several had fatal flaws (literally) that resulted in spectacular failures. But they were all unusual designs by today's standards.
Download a zipped PDF of this presentation (1839 KB).
31 October 2015
No presentation: October 2015??
Due presumably to random brain fluctuations, Jeff has no memory of giving a presentation in October 2015, though he is not 100% certain that he did not, as he has no memory of NOT giving one either. This blog entry may change if new, more definitive information about the existence of such a presentation becomes available.
28 September 2015
Presentation: September 2015
This month's AE presenter: Jeff
Date of presentation: 28-Sept-2015
Subject: Truly World-Wide Web
Description: Jeff's presentation for September discussed the possibility of making Internet access widely available even in remote areas of the world. Even if the local economy can't support a traditional Internet infrastructure (cable TV, fiber optic lines, etc.), aerial options may still exist. Google is experimenting with balloons that carry a telecom payload, Facebook is designing solar-powered drones, and other companies are thinking about creating constellations of communication satellites, all of which serve to tie this presentation in to the "aerospace" mission.
Download a zipped PDF of this presentation (817 KB).
Date of presentation: 28-Sept-2015
Subject: Truly World-Wide Web
Description: Jeff's presentation for September discussed the possibility of making Internet access widely available even in remote areas of the world. Even if the local economy can't support a traditional Internet infrastructure (cable TV, fiber optic lines, etc.), aerial options may still exist. Google is experimenting with balloons that carry a telecom payload, Facebook is designing solar-powered drones, and other companies are thinking about creating constellations of communication satellites, all of which serve to tie this presentation in to the "aerospace" mission.
Download a zipped PDF of this presentation (817 KB).
25 August 2015
Presentation: August 2015
This month's AE presenter: Jeff
Date of presentation: 24-Aug-2015
Subject: The New Horizons mission
Description: The August presentation covered the New Horizons mission to Pluto. I talked about the origins and impetus behind the mission, then discussed some of the technical details of the launch, the craft itself and its payload, the flybys of Jupiter and Pluto, and what to expect in the future. I concluded with a series of photographs taken at various points in the mission.
Download a zipped PDF of this presentation (5803 KB)
Date of presentation: 24-Aug-2015
Subject: The New Horizons mission
Description: The August presentation covered the New Horizons mission to Pluto. I talked about the origins and impetus behind the mission, then discussed some of the technical details of the launch, the craft itself and its payload, the flybys of Jupiter and Pluto, and what to expect in the future. I concluded with a series of photographs taken at various points in the mission.
Download a zipped PDF of this presentation (5803 KB)
31 July 2015
No presentation: July 2015
Due to scheduling constraints, there was no aerospace education presentation given to the squadron in July 2015. (I had one prepared, but no opportunity to deliver it!)
15 June 2015
Presentation: June 2015
This month's AE presenter: Jeff
Date of presentation: 15-Jun-2015
Subject: Solar Impulse 2
Description: Jeff's presentation for June was about the Solar Impulse 2 - a solar-powered airplane currently making an around-the-world flight (as of this writing, it is in Nagoya, Japan). The presentation began with a video of the construction of the plane, then touched on the history of solar-powered aviation, the prototype Solar Impulse 1 which flew across the USA in 2013, and finally discussed the Solar Impulse 2 and the current status of its mission.
Download a zipped PDF of this presentation (196 KB).
Date of presentation: 15-Jun-2015
Subject: Solar Impulse 2
Description: Jeff's presentation for June was about the Solar Impulse 2 - a solar-powered airplane currently making an around-the-world flight (as of this writing, it is in Nagoya, Japan). The presentation began with a video of the construction of the plane, then touched on the history of solar-powered aviation, the prototype Solar Impulse 1 which flew across the USA in 2013, and finally discussed the Solar Impulse 2 and the current status of its mission.
Download a zipped PDF of this presentation (196 KB).
18 May 2015
Presentation: May 2015
This month's AE presenter: Jeff
Date of presentation: 18-May-2015
Subject: Aerospace Game (Jeopardy-like Quiz)
Description: For May, Jeff wanted to try something a bit different, so he created a Jeopardy-like game show and got the squadron involved in playing. The game consisted of questions in four Aerospace-related categories: General Aviation History, Aerodynamics, Aviation Safety, and Aeromedical. Team 2 (the left side of the room) won by a substantial margin.
The game can be found at this URL to play, or this URL to edit (password required).
Date of presentation: 18-May-2015
Subject: Aerospace Game (Jeopardy-like Quiz)
Description: For May, Jeff wanted to try something a bit different, so he created a Jeopardy-like game show and got the squadron involved in playing. The game consisted of questions in four Aerospace-related categories: General Aviation History, Aerodynamics, Aviation Safety, and Aeromedical. Team 2 (the left side of the room) won by a substantial margin.
The game can be found at this URL to play, or this URL to edit (password required).
27 April 2015
Presentation: April 2015
This month's AE presenter: Jeff
Date of presentation: 27-April-2015
Subject: The USS Macon - A Piece of Local History
Description: Jeff's presentation for the month of April was a documentary of sorts about the airship USS Macon - its history, its design and construction, its service, and ultimately its loss in 1935 off the shore of Northern California near Monterey. The fallout of this loss was the death knell for rigid airship designs considered by the US Navy. Also mentioned were expeditions undertaken in 1991 and 2006 to view, photograph, and recover artifacts from the wreckage, among which were the remains of parasitic biplanes that had been carried aboard the Macon.
Download a zipped PDF of this presentation (303 KB).
Date of presentation: 27-April-2015
Subject: The USS Macon - A Piece of Local History
Description: Jeff's presentation for the month of April was a documentary of sorts about the airship USS Macon - its history, its design and construction, its service, and ultimately its loss in 1935 off the shore of Northern California near Monterey. The fallout of this loss was the death knell for rigid airship designs considered by the US Navy. Also mentioned were expeditions undertaken in 1991 and 2006 to view, photograph, and recover artifacts from the wreckage, among which were the remains of parasitic biplanes that had been carried aboard the Macon.
Download a zipped PDF of this presentation (303 KB).
31 March 2015
No presentations: February, March 2015
Due to various time constraints and other issues within the squadron, no AE presentations were given in the months of February and March, 2015. Normal presentation schedule resumed in April.
26 January 2015
Presentation: January 2015
This month's AE presenter: Jeff
Date of presentation: 26-January-2015
Subject: Astrophysical Fitness
Description: January's presentation was an exploration of the effects of prolonged space travel on the human body. Some effects can be controlled - analgesics help with general body pain, exercise prevents muscle atrophy, sleep medications help with disrupted sleep cycles, etc. - but some are not so easily controlled at all, and very little research has been done with psychological effects - loneliness, isolation, etc. The presentation touched on an upcoming ISS mission in which astronaut Steve Kelly (brother of Mark Kelly, who was in the news recently when his wife, Gabrielle Giffords, an Arizona congresswoman, was shot by a would-be assassin) will spend over a year traveling to and from the ISS plus time spent onboard the station. His physical and psychological effects will be closely monitored and studied.
Download a zipped PDF file of this presentation (83KB).
Date of presentation: 26-January-2015
Subject: Astrophysical Fitness
Description: January's presentation was an exploration of the effects of prolonged space travel on the human body. Some effects can be controlled - analgesics help with general body pain, exercise prevents muscle atrophy, sleep medications help with disrupted sleep cycles, etc. - but some are not so easily controlled at all, and very little research has been done with psychological effects - loneliness, isolation, etc. The presentation touched on an upcoming ISS mission in which astronaut Steve Kelly (brother of Mark Kelly, who was in the news recently when his wife, Gabrielle Giffords, an Arizona congresswoman, was shot by a would-be assassin) will spend over a year traveling to and from the ISS plus time spent onboard the station. His physical and psychological effects will be closely monitored and studied.
Download a zipped PDF file of this presentation (83KB).
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