Category: Uncategorized

Space X and Goals

SpaceX is a privately owned company that was founded in the year 2002. The founder Elon Musk, took a dream and his millions and created an empire made out of rockets that raced ahead of their time.The company has a strong believe that being able to expand our race to live on other planets is another step in evolution that was meant to be. That is there overall goal, to be able to allow the human race to expand onto other planets.

Since being created the company has made the most extraordinary things happen. In the year 2010, SpaceX became the first private company to land a craft from low orbit in history with their rocket model known as the Dragon. The company is not only the most successful but also is the least expensive to transport cargo into space compared to the others that have the capability to do so. Even more recent in 2014, SpaceX and NASA made a deal for 2.6 Million dollar to allow the company to carry US astronauts into space. The deal was then increased when NASA gave SpaceX 440 million dollars to make the Dragon model rock crew ready.

The company only uses one type of engine called the pintle. The rocket is more efficient compared to rocket engines that competing companies use. Most rocket engines use droplets of fuel and oxidizer are sprayed into the combustion chamber through an injector plate resembling a shower head. However, the pintle uses a needle-like injector that’s more like the nozzle on a garden hose. The engine runs on Liquid Oxygen and RP1. The engine SpaceX has been able to create is far more efficient and has less of a chance of combustion during a launch.

The company has grown massively over the years. They have a workforce of 4000 current employees, all in which working hard with the intention of creating a second home for people of planet earth. What once was an idea has truly become a brilliant and booming business that has and will continue to expand and break through new barrier of success in outer space.

 

Dragon Space Craft

 

Resources

http://www.airspacemag.com/space/is-spacex-changing-the-rocket-equation-132285884/?page=2

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2016/02/spacex-prepares-ses-9-mission-dragons-return/

http://www.spacex.com/

This site brings you to a video of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 Model Craft winning the best technological achievement award

Lego Robots

On January 29 during class time we ran an experiment by using lego robots and a computer program that allowed us to change features of the robot; the time that the robot would move, and the amount of power that each engine that powered the robots wheels were given. The goal of our experiment was to see when changing the power setting but leaving the same amount of travel time; what the difference would be in velocity, and distance (meters).

Before actually driving the little robot around, we need to find the circumference of the robots wheel. By finding this measurement, we would be able to know how many rotations the wheel would go through during each of its travels. We found the the wheels circumference was .1758 meters. After finding this information we then used the computer program to input the amount of power given to each engine, the circumference of the wheel and the amount of time the robot would drive. Time was the constant variable in our experiment meaning it remained at 2 second throughout the entire trial run. The only variable we alternated was the power. We would do three runs for each power setting we would use in order to double check our data and make sure that each run was accurate. In total we went through nine trial runs and three different power settings for the engine (each engine would always have the same amount of power). When doing the runs it was very simple; we would enter the power setting, line up the bot evenly with the beginning of a ruler, and then we would simply hit a start button on the computer that would run the bots for the set time. After the bot finished rolling we would measure its progress write it down in our data table and repeat. The program actually did  the math for us and gave us the velocity of the bot and the distance. We would still compare the distance the computer got with the distance we could see using the naked eye to search for fault in the program.

In the end we were able to find all of the variables we were in need of. For example; when you run a bot for 2 seconds with a power in both engines of 50 watts. The bot will travel 32.9 cm which is then converted into meters which turns out to be 0.3297 m. Then you get a velocity of 0.1653 m/sec. The rest of our data is shown below in the table we created using a google spreadsheet.

Time 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
Power 50 50 50 40 40 40 35 35 35
Circumference 0.1758 0.1758 0.1758 0.1758 0.1758 0.1758 0.1758 0.1758 0.1758
Distance(m) 0.3297 0.33067 0.33021 0.25448 0.25106 0.2512 0.2076 0.2115 0.2051
(cm) 32.9 33.07 32.8 25.4 24 24.1 20.5 21.2 20.3
Velocity 0.1653 0.1651 0.1651 0.12724 0.12553 0.12553 0.1037 0.10574 0.10257

The Energy Grid

In modern day life it is amazing how much we rely on electricity to power us through our days. We use electricity to power our lap tops, entertainment systems, for lights, heat, air conditioning and so much more. None of this however would be functional without the energy grid we have here in the United States.

The energy grid is a system of power lines that allow electricity to flow from the plants and into your homes. Power lines are everywhere when you look around because everyone need tons of power which is why these lines have to be able to pump out enough power to keep up with everyones needs. The energy grids power source is the burning of coal which is a negative feature of the grid because of the effects it has on our planet with global warming. We are however improving our grid by adding in the smart grid. The smart grid are those large wind turbines you will see the wind is able to generate renewable energy. Another method we implicated is solar powered generators.

We are still looking for better ways to power the planet but without having access to energy like we do, we would never be able to function as a society. We need energy like we need oxygen which is why the energy grid is not only fascinating, but a blessing for all human needs.

Scientific Engineering

In our every day lives as a society, we are able to live with less complications due to the men and women who engineer and design little things that can solve the little mind blowing problems we face. For example on high ways engineers have designed reflectors that are planted into the high way that make it far easier to see that dividing lines well driving on the high way at night. Also exit signs, the way engineers have designed them to move from left to right as you approach closer and closer to the exit. Half the people I have discussed little things like this with haven’t even noticed the change. That goes to show how natural the improvements seem. Engineers are the most fascinating people in my opinion. They are able to design these  works of intelligence in there head and then apply it to our every day life to make things even easier for us as a society. They are every day people who are a part of pretty much everything that is designed and created in the USA. This is something that I felt like bringing to the light in my write up this week.