Presentation: February 2017

This month's AE presenter: David
Date of presentation: 20 Feb 2017
Subject: STEM kit - Quadcopter
Description: From an email sent by David on 15-Feb:
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I finally received the "Build a Quad Copter" STEM kit.  Here is a summary of what I had put in the request for the kit:

•     Build the quadcopter with a couple senior members, include a couple cadets from Squadron 36.
•     Perform a density altitude experiment:
•  Fly in a cold environment, perhaps in a park outside in the morning. Baylands is a good park for this, Steven also suggested the RC park near Morgan Hill. Suspend a weight at the center of gravity, find the maximum that can be lifted.
•  Fly in a warm environment, perhaps the Squadron building with seats removed and the heater running. We should see that the max weight is less.
•     Give the following presentations to both Squadrons 80 and 36 as part of our AE program:
• General aerodynamics of a quad copter (Wikipedia on Vortex Ring State, Forbes article on what makes quadcopters so great for small drones).
• Use of drones, both commercial, hobby, SAR, and military.
• Effects of Density Altitude.
• (The above could be combined into one long preseo depending on the amount of content)

Thoughts on how to do this?  I can kick this off by giving a quick introduction to the project at the next Sq 80 meeting.
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Presentation: January 2017

This month's AE presenter: Jeff
Date of presentation: 30 Jan 2017
Subject: Pan Am Flight 7
Description: Jeff's presentation for January discussed Pan Am Flight 7, which was a Boeing 377 Stratocruiser that went missing during a flight from San Francisco to Hawaii as part of a round-the-world trip in 1958.  The wreckage and many bodies were found a few days later.  The original report was unable to determine the cause of the crash, but recent research points to mechanical failure rather than sabotage as was originally suspected.

Download a zipped PDF of this presentation (159 KB).

Mea culpa...

Jeff here... I've been somewhat lax about posting my updates recently.  No excuse other than laziness.

I'll be backfilling those older updates little by little, but from this point forward, I intend to be a bit more diligent about getting that information updated on time.

Have a great 2017!

Presentation: December 2016

This month's AE presenter: David

Date of presentation: 12-Dec-2016

Subject: The GOES Satellite Program

Description: David discussed the Geostationary Orbital Environmental Satellite (GOES) program. This program started in 1975 to provide geostationary satellites for weather forecasting. There are two satellites active at any given time, GOES East and GOES West, with an online, or in-orbit, spare. This gives complete coverage of the Western Hemisphere to image clouds in the visible and infrared spectrums, and provide soundings to determine the amount of water vapor, cloud heights, and ozone layer. Current satellites also monitor solar weather. The satellites have the ability to receive and retransmit signals from the earth, and even have been used as communications satellites for Antarctic research stations. GOES satellites also used by the AFRCC to listen for ELTs. 

Aerospace Minute by David

On 7 Nov, David talked about the new international space station proposed by the International Space Craft Working Group (ISCWG). It would be built around 2020 and positioned in a cislunar orbit. If built, components would be placed in orbit using the Orion system. Electric thrusters would be used on the space station, and all environmental systems will be closed circuit.

Presentation: June 2016

This month's AE presenter: David

Date of presentation: 27-June-2016

Subject: The Stratolaunch Aircraft

Description: The Stratolaunch is a dual-fuselage, 6-engined aircraft designed to carry spacecraft to high altitudes for an aerial launch. It is under construction with a planned first-flight in late 2016. The all-composite aircraft's conceptual design was by Burt Rutan, and the intial project funding came from Paul Allen. When complete, it will be the largest aircraft (by wingspan) to ever fly. Engines and flight controls came from two Boeing 747's. It will be capable of launching spacecraft up to 500,000lb in weight. Potential spacecraft include the Dream Chaser IIS resupply ship.

Aerospace Minute by David

On 14 March, David talked about the new Virgin Galactic spacecraft, the Unity.  This spacecraft replaces the spacecraft that crashed in 2014. The spacecraft's wings are hinged to rotate into a feathered position. This allows the wings to create drag and prevent high heat on re-entry, yet not produce lift until it is needed. In 2014, the wings came unlocked, causing the fatal crash. The hinge mechanism has now been redesigned, and the new spacecraft is ready for testing. The spacecraft it piloted manually vs. through automation for simplicity and reliability. Tickets will cost approximately $250K for a flight. No word yet on the a date for the first flight.  Source for this AE Minute came from CNN  news.

Brewer Award

Squadron 80 is proud to announce that our External AE Officer was awarded the prestigious Frank G. Brewer, Sr Award for efforts to evangelize aviation to youth.

Aerospace Minute by David

On 25 January, David talked about the Dragon 2 program from SpaceX. SpaceX is a commercial spacecraft company founded by Elan Musk, who also founded eBay and Tesla. The goal of SpaceX is to build reusable commercial spacecraft. The Falcon 9 booster has successfully launched capsules to the ISS and been recovered using rockets to soften the landing. To date, it has not successfully landed on its landing gear, but they are close to making it work. The Dragon 2 will be a manned capsule. It will also be recovered using rockets. Currently, it is undergoing testing tethered to a crane. Tests will culminate with it being dropped from a helicopter and recovered on its landing gear.

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.

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).

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.

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).

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)

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!)