Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
, L|ft 1
0ha|r's 0orner 2
|rom the Ld|tor 2
0a|| for Nom|nat|ons for Nat|ona|
Awards
6
Ka|pana 0haw|a Nemor|a|
|oundat|on
7
2005 Annua| Iechn|ca| S,mpos|um 8
Sta,|ng |nformed 8
Nemhersh|p Page 9
A|AA ouston 0hapter Nom|nates
Iohnson Space 0enter
10
0|nner Neet|ng keports / Nest Step 11
Iechno|og, and the |stor, of
Aeronaut|cs
12
Network 0entr|c 0omput|ng for
Aerospace App||cat|ons
14
0raph|ca| 0hject S|mu|at|on Ioo|s &
Iechn|ques
15
0utreach and Lducat|on 15
0utreach and Lducat|on (||j 16
0ran|um 0runcher 17
0a|endar 18
0dds and Lnds 19
N|ss|on Statement / Nemhersh|p 20
Contents:
AlAA ouston 3eotion www.alaa-heusten.erg March,Arll 2005 velume 30, Number 4
1here is one thing that oan be
said for sure about the disous-
sion of heavy lift: there are at
least as many opinions about it
as there are people who debate
the subjeot, and as many moti-
vations. 0ne favorite debate
about heavy lift regards logis-
tios. lor example, a reoent is-
sue of Aviation week and 3paoe
1eohnology oontained a letter
from a reader who expressed
the sentiment: leop|e have
forgorren rhe |essons oonra|ner
sh|ps, rhe 4330, ano rhe 0-54,
have raughr us. s|ze ooes mar-
rer." lt's not hard to support an
opposing view: oontainer ships
have no shortage in the oon-
tinuous supply of oargo to pay
for the investment in huge
ships, the A380 is faoing large
oost overruns and has not yet
(at the time of this writing) re-
oeived the number of firm or-
ders needed to reaoh the break
even point, and the C-5 was
built to fill a projeoted m|||rar,
need. Note, too, the growing
importanoe of smaller, regional
jets in air transportation, whioh
would argue the opposite point
to the one the reader ex-
pressed.
At the 3paoe Lxploration Con-
ferenoe in llorida earlier this
year, outgoing NA3A Administra-
tor 3ean 0'Keefe said, we oan-
not return to the days of 3aturn
v, when we put all of our eggs in
a basket with a few huge, ex-
pensive fire-belohing rookets".
Contrasting the sentiments ex-
pressed by the outgoing NA3A
administrator, his suooessor,
Miohael 0riffin, has a very dif-
ferent view about heavy lift. ln
Maroh 2004 in 1estimony to the
Committee on 3oienoe for the
earing on Perspeotives on the
President's vision for 3paoe
Lxploration", Mr. 0riffin stated:
NA3A should initiate devel-
opment of a heavy lift
launoh vehiole having a
payload oapaoity of at least
100 metrio tons to low
Larth orbit (LL0). 3uoh a
vehiole is the single most
important physioal asset
enabling human explora-
tion of the solar system.
1he use of shuttle-derived
systems offers what is
quite likely to be the most
oost effeotive near-term
approaoh.
Muoh oargo (inoluding hu-
mans) does not need to be
launohed in very large
paokages. we desperately
need muoh more oost ef-
feotive Larth-to-LL0 trans-
portation for payloads in
the size range from a few
thousand to a few tens of
thousands of pounds. ln
my judgment, this is our
most pressing need, for it
oontrols a major portion of
the oost of everything else
that we do in spaoe. et,
no aotive u.3. government
program of whioh l am
aware has this as its goal.
Again, shuttle-derived sys-
tems, partioularly empha-
sizing use of the R3RB,
may offer a useful ap-
proaoh.
Uff|o|a| lo||o,
1here are at least two offioial
polioy reports that address
heavy lift. 1he Report of 1he
President's Commission on lm-
plementation of united 3tates
3paoe Lxploration Polioy" (a.k.a.
1he Aldridge Report") reoog-
nizes the importanoe of a deoi-
sion regarding heavy lift:
leo|s|ons abour heav, ||fr w|||
gu|oe funoamenra| opr|ons
abour how ro oes|gn ano |mp|e-
menr rhe ear|, srages of rhe
spaoe exp|orar|on aroh|reorure,
ano w||| have |ong-|asr|ng |m-
paors upon furure oeve|opmenr
oosrs ano oapab|||r|es." 1he
Aldridge Report lists heavy lift
among 17 foous areas" that
need to be addressed:
Affordable heavy lift oapa-
bility - teohnologies to al-
low robust affordable ao-
oess of oargo, partioularly
to low-Larth orbit.
1ransformational spaoe-
port and range teohnolo-
gies - launoh site infra-
struoture and range oapa-
bilities for the orew explo-
ration vehiole and ad-
vanoed heavy lift vehioles.
(Continued on page 3)
heavy L|ft: |g Lever or Large 0|ameter P|pe 0ream?
JON BERNDT, EDTOR
NASA should initiate development of a heavy lift
launch vehicle having a payload capacity of at least 100
metric tons to low Earth orbit (LEO). Such a vehicle is
the single most important physical asset enabling human
exploration of the solar system.
- Michael Griffin
Page 16
Outreach and Education
2005 AAA REGON V STUDENT PAPER CONFERENCE
DR. JOHN VALASEK, COLLEGE AND CO-OP CHAR
1he 2005 AlAA Region lv 3tu-
dent Paper Conferenoe was
held on 8-9 April, and hosted by
the university of New Mexioo
3tudent Branoh and the Albu-
querque 3eotion. A total of 40
students and faoulty advisors
from the university of New Mex-
ioo (Albuquerque 3eotion), uni-
versity of 1exas-Arlington (North
1exas 3eotion), and 1exas A&M
university (ouston 3eotion)
attended. 1he lirst Plaoe stu-
dents in the undergraduate
1eohnioal Uivision and the
0raduate 1eohnioal Uivision will
oompete in the National 3tu-
dent Paper Competition at the
2006 AlAA Aerospaoe 3oienoes
Conferenoe in Reno, Nv.
Conferenoe attendees were
treated to tours of the National
Atomio Museum, and Lolipse
Aviation, home of the revolu-
tionary Lolipse 1et for 0eneral
Aviation. A oung Professional
3eminar was also held so that
student attendees oould inter-
faoe with young professionals
and garner oareer advioe.
1he students and faoulty from
1exas A&M university who at-
tended the oonferenoe wish to
express their appreoiation for
the generous support provided
by the ouston 3eotion, whioh
made their attendanoe at this
oonferenoe possible.
undergrad 1eohnioal Uivision
1st Plaoe: Laoh Reeder, 1exas
A&M university, 'Marathon
Long Lnduranoe uAv Uevelop-
ment'
2nd Plaoe: Kyle elbing, 1exas
A&M university, 'lmproving
3equenoing and 3eparation at a
3A13 Airport lnoluding uman
laotors Considerations'
3rd Plaoe: (1lL)
Amanda Lampton, 1exas A&M
university, 'Prediotion of loing
Lffeots on the 3tability and Con-
trol of Light Airplanes'
Chris aag, 1exas A&M univer-
sity, 'Charaoterization of 3hape
Memory Alloy Behavior and Po-
sition Control using Reinforoe-
ment Learning'
0raduate 1eohnioal Uivision
1st Plaoe: university of New
Mexioo student
2nd Plaoe: university of 1exas-
Arlington student
3rd Plaoe: 1apan Kulkarni,
1exas A&M university, 'Crew
Lxploration vehiole: 0ptimal
Uesign 3olutions and Configura-
tion'
ere are all of the results from
the oonferenoe:
0utstanding 3tudent Branoh in
Region lv
1exas A&M university
Aerospaoe istory Uivision
(lreshmen and 3ophomores)
1st Plaoe: 1ose Rodriguez,
1exas A&M university, 'An Ana-
lytioal Approaoh to the Uevelop-
ment of 3putnik in 3oviet Rus-
sia'
2nd Plaoe: university of 1exas-
Arlington student
1eam Uesign Uivision
1st Plaoe: 3hane 3ohouten,
Miohael Albright, Randi llorey,
Chris aag, 0uadalupe Perez,
and Ben Riley, 1exas A&M uni-
versity, '1he 'Revenant' Ad-
vanoed 0unship Uesign'
2nd Plaoe: Brandon Ray, 1imo-
thy 1hornton, 1.1. luller, Kyle
elbing, and Alexandrea Ander-
son, 1exas A&M university,
'Uesign of the UA-222 Negotia-
tor Advanoed 0unship'
3rd Plaoe: university of 1exas-
Arlington team
Texas A & M student branch officers. Merri Sanchez receives award.
Undergrad Technical first thru third place winners
Page 17
Cranium Cruncher
BLL MLLER, JON BERNDT
Last lssue 3olution
1he ferry problem oomes from
the puzzle master himself, Mar-
tin 0ardner, from his book
exaflexagons and 0ther
Mathematioal Uiversions
(1959). lt's in Chapter 12.
l have seen about as many
ways to solve this as solvers. l
like this one the best. Let w =
the width of the river. 0n the
first orossing the ratio of dis-
tanoes traveled by the ferry-
boats is (w-720)/(720). 0n the
next trip it's (2w-400)/(w+400).
ou oan set these two ratios
equal and solve for w. lt oomes
out to 1760 yards, or one mile.
1he speed of the boats oan't be
found, but the ratio of the
speeds is 13/9.
Correot solutions were reoeived
from:
Uouglas azell
lrank Baiamonte
Uarrin Leleux (extra oredit for
showing all his work!)
Ld 3mythe
Maroh April Puzzle: llight
Around the world
A group of airplanes is based on
an island. 1he tank of eaoh
plane holds just enough fuel to
take it halfway around the
world. Any desired amount of
fuel oan be transferred from the
tank of one airoraft to the tank
of another while the airoraft are
in flight. 1he only souroe of fuel
is on the island, and for the pur-
poses of the problem it is as-
sumed there is no time lost in
refueling either in the air or on
the ground.
what is the smallest number of
airoraft that will ensure the
flight of one airoraft around the
world on a great oirole , assum-
ing that the airoraft have the
same oonstant ground speed,
the same rate of fuel oonsump-
tion, and that all airoraft return
safely to their island base?
Please send your answers to
1on at editoraiaa-houston.org.
Names of winners will be pub-
lished in the next issue.
Hint: None of the aircraft in this issues puzzle are Scaled Composites designs!
April
4 Lxeoutive Committee Meeting
14 3ooial
15 Lleotion Ballots sent out
15 Assooiate lellow Nominations due
23 3pirit of llight Airshow - Lone 3tar llight Museum
23 13C 0pen ouse
May
2 Lxeoutive Committee Meeting (0ilruth)
4-5 11th Annual workshop on 'Lnhanoing 3paoe 0perations' 0ilruth
6 Annual 1eohnioal 3ymposium at 0ilruth
laoility 1our (1BU)
15 Ballots should be tallied by May 15th
Compile and submit awards for banquet
linish nomination paokages for lellows
?? Apaohe helioopter demo 13C or Lllington
?? Publio astronomioal observing aotivity u-Clear Lake
1une
2 'Risk Management' by Uavid luller/Boeing
6 Lxeoutive Counoil meeting
16 '1he 3earoh for Lxtraterrestrials' by 3eth 3hostak (AlAA Uistinguished Leoturer), Annual onors
& Awards Banquet
1uly
1 'l33 Phantom 1orque' by Ur. 1aok Baoon/NA3A-13C
14-15 Region Leadership Conferenoe in 1uoson, AL
Page 18
Odds and Ends
SPECAL EVENTS, PCTORALS, ETC.
Page 19
NASA Space Pioneer John Young, Astronaut Without Equal, Retires NASA Space Pioneer John Young, Astronaut Without Equal, Retires NASA Space Pioneer John Young, Astronaut Without Equal, Retires NASA Space Pioneer John Young, Astronaut Without Equal, Retires
John Young's achievements during his 42-year career at NASA are unmatched. He was the first human to fly in space six times and launch seven times, six times from
Earth and once from the moon. He is the only astronaut to pilot four different types of spacecraft, flying in the Gemini, Apollo and Space Shuttle programs. Young is the
longest serving astronaut in history. His retirement from NASA is effective Dec. 31. - NASA
Houston Section
P.O. Box 57524
Webster, TX 77598
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