Al Fin: "Cowboy Commentary", aka "Eat your veggies" The Flag banner is posted in order to defy those who would make patriotic symbols illegal or disreputable.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Signing off for today
Another busy day. I'm happy with what I'm doing even if it doesn't pay anything. Anyway, everybody who came today, thanks. See ya tomorrow.
Carbon Dioxide electrolysis
This intrigues me enough to want to put it on the sidebar for interesting reading. Here's the paragraph that got my attention:
The page doesn't have a date on it. It does appear to be a Nasa site: here's the link enclosed in quotation marks "http://ares.jsc.nasa.gov/HumanExplore/Exploration/EXLibrary/docs/ISRU/08Atmos.htm"
I got the link from a Google Search.
Oxygen can be produced by passing CO2 through a zirconia electrolysis cell at 800 to 1000deg C. Twenty to thirty percent of the CO2 dissociates into oxygen and carbon monoxide. Separation is accomplished by electrochemical transport of oxide ion through a membrane. A prototype reactor using this chemistry has been run for over 1000 hours. Using such a scheme, we could bring a small unit to the surface of Mars which would then continuously make oxygen for life support, propellant use, or further processing. The only additional item we would need to supply is the power to run it: a 12kW unit would produce about one metric ton of oxygen per month.
The page doesn't have a date on it. It does appear to be a Nasa site: here's the link enclosed in quotation marks "http://ares.jsc.nasa.gov/HumanExplore/Exploration/EXLibrary/docs/ISRU/08Atmos.htm"
I got the link from a Google Search.
Space Show April 11, 2011
Dr. James Wertz of Microcosm, Inc. is on the show.
I am going to do something a little different this time. I am going to mark the mp3 file with what was being discussed at the time moment in the recording.
These times seem to fluctuate, times on player inconsistent and therefore estimates, so they are very approximate; the topic itself is highly condensed. Hard to find it by using this as a guide, which was my goal, so I probably won't do it this way again.
3:30 Introduction of Dr. James Wertz
5:30 Emphasizing lower costs as agenda, where conference is
10:30 Mon. May 2, what panels about and who is on them, who are speakers
12:30 Full list of papers on website "reinventing space.org" "USA getting outperformed"
16:30 Dr Space not at conference this year, his engineer's wife in Japan dealing with tsunami issues
19:30 Keynote and lunch speakers Tues, Wed, Thurs- and what is about "focused group"
22:00 Very professional conference, the place to be for networking, "where it is happening"
Some discussion about comparable space capabilities of various countries- USA not always on top.
27:00 "imperative to have this capability" "only forum in this process" "key issue: dramatically expensive"
29:00 break, comment: Shocking revelation about the expensiveness of USA space assets and what it means. This has serious consequences not only because of budgetary issues, but performance consequences as well. After the break, some discussion of books. "Field has gotten old." Need for replacement book.
Evidently a new teaching book he's talking about. "Smad book"
32:00 Astronautic book needed and created. Replacement of old smad book. Changing way books being used. Ebooks, etc. Want combine traditional book with website. Calculations etc. Web site references in the book. Elaborates on features like this.
37:00 Dr. Space recommends a book which available for free. This must be same book discussed in an earlier post. Discusses "John's" book. Wertz knows him, he says. Adopted a bunch of teenagers.
40:30 Textbooks on Kindles. Comment: Chris Laird said no way to this. Dangerous in a way. But it is definitely convenient and therefore seductive.
44:30 Books on teaching of astronautics. How to get these books.
49:30 Continued discussion of books. And second break.
53:00 Recap of textbook and conference. Website not there yet. Discussion swerves into technology. SBIR's.
57:00 Spacecraft discussion. Small telescopes. Small thrusters. Cubesats. Mentions composites. "Flying propellant tank" maneuvering capability, modern tech in regards to above. Two years away from launch.
Mini sprites.
1:01:00 Some joking about the government running up the costs. Not funny. Composite tank technology question asked by Dr. Space. Can use for cryogenics. Evidently solved this problem. No expansion or contraction, may be problematic. Long discussion of composites. Composites are strong compared to metals and lightweight.
1:07:00 Tank fell at high altitude and still reusable. Rugged quality. Discussion of X prize. Sold composite tanks to participant that worked well for them. Metals v composites and their interfaces.
1:11:00 Can work around interface problems. Stringers as part of wall of a tank and bolt to them.
How tanks can be used, for example, as a frame to build around. Discusses how he got into this line of work.
Longhorn days, football.
Starts to wrap up show. Discussion of lowering of cost of moonbase. Sounds encouraging.
Update:
In connection with what was mentioned on the show and this post , I have gotten the impression that many folks at NASA needs to study up on the KISS principle. Perhaps the principle has gone out of style.
There is book you can buy off of Amazon with this title, but the reviews are bad. One said- in connection to software and modern computers being so fast- that the principle is no longer necessary. This is just sloppy thinking. It ought to be adhered to on general principles even if it is unnecessary. I think that's what gets you in trouble eventually. The thing that is truly unnecessary is the complexity.
I am going to do something a little different this time. I am going to mark the mp3 file with what was being discussed at the time moment in the recording.
These times seem to fluctuate, times on player inconsistent and therefore estimates, so they are very approximate; the topic itself is highly condensed. Hard to find it by using this as a guide, which was my goal, so I probably won't do it this way again.
3:30 Introduction of Dr. James Wertz
5:30 Emphasizing lower costs as agenda, where conference is
10:30 Mon. May 2, what panels about and who is on them, who are speakers
12:30 Full list of papers on website "reinventing space.org" "USA getting outperformed"
16:30 Dr Space not at conference this year, his engineer's wife in Japan dealing with tsunami issues
19:30 Keynote and lunch speakers Tues, Wed, Thurs- and what is about "focused group"
22:00 Very professional conference, the place to be for networking, "where it is happening"
Some discussion about comparable space capabilities of various countries- USA not always on top.
27:00 "imperative to have this capability" "only forum in this process" "key issue: dramatically expensive"
29:00 break, comment: Shocking revelation about the expensiveness of USA space assets and what it means. This has serious consequences not only because of budgetary issues, but performance consequences as well. After the break, some discussion of books. "Field has gotten old." Need for replacement book.
Evidently a new teaching book he's talking about. "Smad book"
32:00 Astronautic book needed and created. Replacement of old smad book. Changing way books being used. Ebooks, etc. Want combine traditional book with website. Calculations etc. Web site references in the book. Elaborates on features like this.
37:00 Dr. Space recommends a book which available for free. This must be same book discussed in an earlier post. Discusses "John's" book. Wertz knows him, he says. Adopted a bunch of teenagers.
40:30 Textbooks on Kindles. Comment: Chris Laird said no way to this. Dangerous in a way. But it is definitely convenient and therefore seductive.
44:30 Books on teaching of astronautics. How to get these books.
49:30 Continued discussion of books. And second break.
53:00 Recap of textbook and conference. Website not there yet. Discussion swerves into technology. SBIR's.
57:00 Spacecraft discussion. Small telescopes. Small thrusters. Cubesats. Mentions composites. "Flying propellant tank" maneuvering capability, modern tech in regards to above. Two years away from launch.
Mini sprites.
1:01:00 Some joking about the government running up the costs. Not funny. Composite tank technology question asked by Dr. Space. Can use for cryogenics. Evidently solved this problem. No expansion or contraction, may be problematic. Long discussion of composites. Composites are strong compared to metals and lightweight.
1:07:00 Tank fell at high altitude and still reusable. Rugged quality. Discussion of X prize. Sold composite tanks to participant that worked well for them. Metals v composites and their interfaces.
1:11:00 Can work around interface problems. Stringers as part of wall of a tank and bolt to them.
How tanks can be used, for example, as a frame to build around. Discusses how he got into this line of work.
Longhorn days, football.
Starts to wrap up show. Discussion of lowering of cost of moonbase. Sounds encouraging.
Update:
In connection with what was mentioned on the show and this post , I have gotten the impression that many folks at NASA needs to study up on the KISS principle. Perhaps the principle has gone out of style.
There is book you can buy off of Amazon with this title, but the reviews are bad. One said- in connection to software and modern computers being so fast- that the principle is no longer necessary. This is just sloppy thinking. It ought to be adhered to on general principles even if it is unnecessary. I think that's what gets you in trouble eventually. The thing that is truly unnecessary is the complexity.
Carbon sequestration
A quick and dirty post here. Here it is: Use a big, dumb rocket to send carbon dioxide into orbit. Why? There has been discussion of processing Martian carbon dioxide into fuel. ( Carbon monoxide and oxygen). Why not do this in Earth orbit or in cis lunar space? It would be a good way to sequester carbon and get fuel into space and to practice these techniques for a future Mars mission. The big dumb rocket can do it cheaply as possible. If anything goes wrong, and the carbon dioxide is released, it is no more harmful ( after it is dispersed) than what it is anyway.
Cracking water is very expensive. This should be cheaper.
Cracking water is very expensive. This should be cheaper.
The Morning Summary
This will be the new feature that I mentioned yesterday. I will sum up the progress of the blog in as succinct a manner as I can manage.
Sitemeter stat yesterday 4404 today 4412, Blogger's pageviews: yesterday 23, which counts up to 7pm local time, since 7pm, it shows 14. You could say anywhere between 8 and 23 pageviews depending upon what standard is applied. Not very good. Nobody left a comment, so there is no public bids. No private messages, either. Not good either.
One thing I will not do is kid myself. Or try not to kid myself. Or anyone else. These are ghastly numbers. No doubt about it. The big question, and this needs answering, and soon, is how do I do better?
I will add to that a daily plan on what I would like to achieve today. That will also become a part of the morning summary. I will write something about the big, dumb rocket concept. By the way, I use that because it runs counter to conventional wisdom. The conventional wisdom needs to be challenged, because conventional wisdom is not doing well these days.
I have some other stuff that's getting put off that I will have to attend to. This is not blog stuff, but I will keep writing, so stay tuned. It may be lite posting today, but I will check in from time to time to keep things updated.
I may want to do a post on the Space Show. Dr. Livingston's schedule is light, as I understand, and I am one show behind. I want to keep up, so I will need to listen to that soon. That should make for a full day. Thanks for stopping by.
Update: a few minutes later
I want to remind myself that JP Aerospace has some pictures of their recent mission, which went well. I bought some ad space on that mission. If I can get some decent pictures out of this, I will post them to the picasa web album and post here.
Update:
Scratch the picasa web album idea for my paid ads. Only Friends should see that. If you want to see them, friend up on Facebook. I will consider posting decent public photos of the mission.
Sitemeter stat yesterday 4404 today 4412, Blogger's pageviews: yesterday 23, which counts up to 7pm local time, since 7pm, it shows 14. You could say anywhere between 8 and 23 pageviews depending upon what standard is applied. Not very good. Nobody left a comment, so there is no public bids. No private messages, either. Not good either.
One thing I will not do is kid myself. Or try not to kid myself. Or anyone else. These are ghastly numbers. No doubt about it. The big question, and this needs answering, and soon, is how do I do better?
I will add to that a daily plan on what I would like to achieve today. That will also become a part of the morning summary. I will write something about the big, dumb rocket concept. By the way, I use that because it runs counter to conventional wisdom. The conventional wisdom needs to be challenged, because conventional wisdom is not doing well these days.
I have some other stuff that's getting put off that I will have to attend to. This is not blog stuff, but I will keep writing, so stay tuned. It may be lite posting today, but I will check in from time to time to keep things updated.
I may want to do a post on the Space Show. Dr. Livingston's schedule is light, as I understand, and I am one show behind. I want to keep up, so I will need to listen to that soon. That should make for a full day. Thanks for stopping by.
Update: a few minutes later
I want to remind myself that JP Aerospace has some pictures of their recent mission, which went well. I bought some ad space on that mission. If I can get some decent pictures out of this, I will post them to the picasa web album and post here.
Update:
Scratch the picasa web album idea for my paid ads. Only Friends should see that. If you want to see them, friend up on Facebook. I will consider posting decent public photos of the mission.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Making how to videos
I have a long gap in my posting today because I am making these videos. I realize not everyone knows how to upload videos to a web album. Or, perhaps not everyone knows what a picasa web album is. These videos will attempt to get someone started on this without needing to be especially web savvy. My idea is to follow the Geico commercial slogan "so easy a caveman can do it". This will depend upon my videos being sufficiently explanatory. Hopefully, I'll be able to do that. When I am finished, I will post them all on YouTube, and then link to them from this page. I won't be putting them up on the public side of YouTube with my other videos. If you want to see them, you have to come here first. ( tee hee)
I expect to have this completed by the end of the day.
Update:
8 pm approx.
What a nightmare. Actually, making web albums with Google Picasa is easy, but I managed to get sidetracked on something that wasted hours of my valuable time. I finished up a total of 9 videos, and I think the last one is the most useful of all because it cuts through all the BS I had to go through in order to get the result I wanted.
If you watch all the videos, you will spend a lot of time on it as I did, but you won't spend as much, and you probably will learn not what to do. In the end, you will know what to do and how to do it, I think.
This all assumes that you don't know how already. If you would rather avoid watching the vids, which are very rough, and amateurish (sorry), you can read this:
1) Google "picasa" and click on web albums
2) Create google picasa account
3) You may have to download a software program. Do that, but don't use it.
4) If you use their software program, God help you. It will waste a lot of time and not work the way you intend.
5) Instead of using their software, just click on the upload button on the home page. You can upload files manually one at a time. This is the easiest part. The key to remember is that you shouldn't use the software program. Just you the web page and the upload button on it. That should be easy enough.
Here are the links to the videos (click on the number in parenthesis) :
1) use google to search for picasa link
2) click on blue button to sign into picasa web album to create an account, if necessary
3) fill in the form in order to create new account for google picasa web album
4) after creating google account, Download program?? Is it really necessary? Here's why I wasted time.
5) downloading the executable file, and begin installation, here is where I get bogged down
6) after tech problems, got the run file running and installed, got Picassa software up and running
7) Picassa software scans the computer. I didn't need nor want this. Just need to upload 1 file at a time.
8) Still spending time doing what I didn't intend doing. This software is for scanning computer (see above).
9) Here's where is should have been in the first place. ( See 4 up above) You may have to download this file, but don't use it. Just use the upload button on Picassa web album home page. The rest is self explanatory.
Update:
4/20/11
A link to my YouTube page is here.
I expect to have this completed by the end of the day.
Update:
8 pm approx.
What a nightmare. Actually, making web albums with Google Picasa is easy, but I managed to get sidetracked on something that wasted hours of my valuable time. I finished up a total of 9 videos, and I think the last one is the most useful of all because it cuts through all the BS I had to go through in order to get the result I wanted.
If you watch all the videos, you will spend a lot of time on it as I did, but you won't spend as much, and you probably will learn not what to do. In the end, you will know what to do and how to do it, I think.
This all assumes that you don't know how already. If you would rather avoid watching the vids, which are very rough, and amateurish (sorry), you can read this:
1) Google "picasa" and click on web albums
2) Create google picasa account
3) You may have to download a software program. Do that, but don't use it.
4) If you use their software program, God help you. It will waste a lot of time and not work the way you intend.
5) Instead of using their software, just click on the upload button on the home page. You can upload files manually one at a time. This is the easiest part. The key to remember is that you shouldn't use the software program. Just you the web page and the upload button on it. That should be easy enough.
Here are the links to the videos (click on the number in parenthesis) :
1) use google to search for picasa link
2) click on blue button to sign into picasa web album to create an account, if necessary
3) fill in the form in order to create new account for google picasa web album
4) after creating google account, Download program?? Is it really necessary? Here's why I wasted time.
5) downloading the executable file, and begin installation, here is where I get bogged down
6) after tech problems, got the run file running and installed, got Picassa software up and running
7) Picassa software scans the computer. I didn't need nor want this. Just need to upload 1 file at a time.
8) Still spending time doing what I didn't intend doing. This software is for scanning computer (see above).
9) Here's where is should have been in the first place. ( See 4 up above) You may have to download this file, but don't use it. Just use the upload button on Picassa web album home page. The rest is self explanatory.
Update:
4/20/11
A link to my YouTube page is here.
Markets Today
Oil is down, Alcoa missed revenue estimates, Goldman Sachs says oil too high. Japan raised the severity level to as high as it gets for their Fukushima tsunami damaged nuke event. Bad news all around, markets are having a bad day.
Nobody really knows what drives a market on a given day, but everybody takes a shot at it. It takes time to sort it all out for its deeper meaning.
As for Japan, they may be able to clean this up with their own robotic technology. If they can make a lot of robots that can go where people can't and do a lot of things that people do, they may be able to do a lot to clean this up without getting a lot of people sick. Just an idea.
Nobody really knows what drives a market on a given day, but everybody takes a shot at it. It takes time to sort it all out for its deeper meaning.
As for Japan, they may be able to clean this up with their own robotic technology. If they can make a lot of robots that can go where people can't and do a lot of things that people do, they may be able to do a lot to clean this up without getting a lot of people sick. Just an idea.
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