Improvements to the the Online Learning Community have been made this week. Some provide for more interaction while others are informative. We hope they improve your online experience and give you a reason to come back often. Here is what you will find:
Home Page
Poll of the Week - Each week a new poll question will be offered for your opinion. A Discussion Board Topic folder will give you a place to champion/challenge the choices.
TW@N - Link to the This Week at NASA vodcast.
Discover
Points Leaderboard - Updated weekly based on current point totals. Are you there?
Activity Archive - Rearrangement of Archive icons.
Connect
NASA Social Networks - Links to connect with NASA on Twitter and Facebook
INSPIRE Schedule - Calendar of weekly themes, Live Chats, and other important dates
Showcase
Patch Competition - See entries to this years Patch Design Challenge
ISS Challenge - View finalists from this summer's ISS Design Challenge
Page Footers
Inspire contact information added
Added disclaimer: Best when viewed in Safari or Firefox
We hope these improvements/enhancements prove helpful. Some of these are the result of suggestions left on the Discussion Board, so if you have any ideas, make sure to post them!
I would say that it's a pretty safe bet that a large (very large) majority of the American population is unaware that we stand on the brink of testing the first new, large, human-rated liquid rocket developed in this country since Gerald Ford was President. I might even venture to suggest that a majority of the diverse and busy population supporting NASA also don't know that this is the case.
Back then, during the Ford administration, the new engine was called the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME). Its initial development at the conceptual level began in the late 1960's. The Space Shuttle itself wouldn't fly until 1981, nearly six years after the first attempted engine test. Today, the engine is called J-2X and this blog represents an attempt to inform those who want to follow the exciting progress of this development effort as we approach full engine testing in early 2011.
As the name suggests, the J-2X has its roots in the Apollo Program with the J-2 engine used for the second and third stages of the Saturn V rocket that first took humans to the moon. In many ways, the original J-2 was the technological predecessor of the SSME. The J-2X design is the beneficiary of over fifty years of rocket engine experience spanning the original J-2, the SSME, the experimental J-2S, and the RS-68 engine that today powers the Delta IV commercial rocket.
The J-2X is being developed by the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, the home of the propulsion systems for the Apollo Program and the Space Shuttle Program. Our contracted partner in this development is Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne located in Los Angeles, California. Appropriately, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, taking into account corporate name changes over the years, was the developer of the liquid rocket engines that powered the Apollo Program and still powers today the Space Shuttle Program. Thus, we have assembled an experienced, formidable, and knowledgeable team for J-2X.
Your humble chronicler for this journey into the exciting final stages of J-2X development is William D. Greene. I am currently the Upper Stage Engine Element Associate Manager. The Upper Stage Engine Element is the NASA office responsible for J-2X engine design and development. For the first three and a half years of this project, I was the Systems Engineering and Integration Manager for this office. I have 22 years of experience, most of which has been in support of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center and much of which has be dedicated to liquid rocket engine analysis, development, production, and testing. I will be charting the progress of the J-2X development effort, introducing you to the extraordinary team responsible for this effort, and sharing what I know about both this activity as well as about rocket engines in general.
This is going to be fun! C'mon along for the ride! For more information about the J-2X project, see the link to the video starring some of the key people engaged in this historic effort.
While KSC was preparing to launch Robonaut 2 to the space station (UPDATE: Launch scheduled for today was scrubbed until Monday), 44 INSPIRE ninth grade community members heard from one of its creators, Curtis Frodge, a mechanical engineer from Johnson Space Center, Texas. Curtis shared his experience working in the robotics branch at JSC, from getting Robonaut ready to fly to designing and constructing the Chariot mobility robot. He talked of how robots will be used to aid the astronuts in the tasks, from carrying tools and supplies to performing repetitive tasks. He even chatted about working with three INSPIRE interns during the summer! You can learn more about Robonaut below.
Bonus question:
Question: Does the robonaut have any sense of balance or way to pick themselves up if they collapse?
Robert S.
Answer: That is being developed right now. Since he is currently hard mounted
he doesn't need to know about balance but he is aware of body position
and forces he places on objects so once legs are incorporated a
balance feature shouldn't be far behind and a way to pick himself up
will be on the to do list. It should just be an algorithm though since
he is rather robust and capable.
Curtis
Next week our chat will take place one day earlier than usual. Because Thursday is Veterans Day, a federal holiday, we will chat on Wednesday night with Karen Ricks from Langley Research Center. Langley is the oldest of the NASA centers, and 10th graders are welcome to come an ask questions about aeronautics, the Orion spacecraft, and other NASA programs taking place at Langley.
Don't forget to set your clocks back one hour to reflect the end of Daylight Saving Time at 2am Sunday, November 7. Set you alarm Saturday night for 2am. When you wake up, reset it to 1am (don't forget to turn your alarm off or you'll wake back up in an hour!). Or you could do it before you go to bed but that would be cheating! ;)
Freshmen are invited to tonight's Live Chat with Johnson Space Center engineer Curtis Frodge. Mr. Frodge will chat about Robonaut 2, its mission on the International Space Station, and other NASA robots. Before the chat, Mr. Frodge would like for all attendees to watch these two videos:
Tonight's chat begins at 8 pm CT with the room open 15 minutes earlier. See you there!
The unique aspect of NASA INSPIRE is our Online Learning Community (OLC). Our community members have been selected because of their desire to learn more about STEM related topics and how they relate to NASA careers, and the pursuit of those occupations. The OLC offers many opportunities to learn; from fun, educational activities to Live Chats with NASA experts. But in order to have a community, members must be able to communicate with each other in open discourse. For this, we have the Discussion Board.
The Discussion Board (DB) is YOUR place to communicate with your fellow members. It is structured for peer-to-peer interaction, whether it is seeking help and helping others with INSPIRE and school activities, or just having fun discussing topics of an interest to you. Knowing how the DB is set up will help you find exactly where to post your ideas.
The Discussion Board is divided into several Forums to help focus conversations. Each Forum contains several Topics, which further clarify the interactions. Topics are subdivided into Threads, which is where the conversation takes place. While Forums and Topics are created by INSPIRE staff, Threads may be started by anyone. Any student may post to any Thread (with the exception of some created for specific activity groups), so some rules are in order to ensure everyone feels welcome and invited. When you joined INSPIRE, you signed on to the following rules:
Stay on topic. Other readers expect the posts they see here to deal with the topic at hand.
No personal attacks. Criticism of decision-making and operational management, including the names of the individuals involved, is legitimate. Criticism on a purely personal level is not.
No profanity. No spam. No sexually explicit or discriminatory material.
Comments about politics and politicians must, like everything else, be on-topic and free from personal attacks.
Because of security concerns and NASA’s legal obligation no commercial goods or services can be endorsed on the discussion board/chats
I also would like to add a couple of very important reminders.
Peer to peer help and advice may be found and given on the Discussion Board. However to communicate with INSPIRE staff please email nasainspire@okstate.edu.
All DB comments will be moderated by INSPIRE staff and may be removed at any time. Abuse of these rules may result in removal from the community.
You will now see these posted at the head of the DB. We will enforce these rules.
Once again please note that the Discussion Board is intended for peer-to-peer interaction. Unless indicated in the Topic description, you can expect to find answers and comments from your fellow INSPIRE community members. Inspire staff will monitor the Threads and may add a comment or two, but this is YOUR conversation. To ask questions for INSPIRE staff, email to nasainspire@okstate.edu.
We appreciate all of you and hope to provide an exciting place to find other students like yourselves. Your help and cooperation will ensure everyone feels welcome to contribute to our community.
By Charles Bolden, NASA Administrator – Nov. 2, 2010
Today, we celebrate ten years of humans living and working continuously aboard the International Space Station. This global milestone is tremendously significant, both for NASA and our partners. It recognizes the success of an amazing feat of engineering and a magnificent leap forward in the story of human achievement. I congratulate the entire station team and the thousands of people worldwide who have helped us reach this anniversary.
Since Bill Shepherd, Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev first boarded the station as the Expedition 1 crew, more than 196 people have visited the complex, and by the exact time of the anniversary this morning, the station will have completed 57,361 orbits of the Earth, traveling some 1.5 billion miles.
More than 600 different research and technology development experiments have been conducted on the station, many of which are producing advances in medicine, recycling systems and a fundamental understanding of the universe. On Oct. 25, the station set a record for being the longest continuously inhabited spacecraft. On that day, the space station eclipsed the previous record of 3,644 days set by the Russian Mir Space Station. The station is our toehold in space, and it will be an essential part of our work to send humans on missions beyond low Earth orbit in the future.
With passage of the NASA Authorization bill, we will now be able to extend the life of the station to at least 2020. Representatives of the five international agencies that built and operate the outpost have also agreed on this in principle. Indeed, one of the station's greatest legacies is the international partnerships we have forged to create something awe-inspiring that benefits people all over the world. Partnerships with other nations will be essential to the global exploration enterprise of the future, and with each new day, NASA and its partners are pushing the envelope of human achievement in space into uncharted territory.
On board the station right now are six talented and courageous travelers representing NASA and our Russian partners. Tomorrow, the crew of STS-133 is expected to lift off on its way to the International Space Station aboard the last flight of shuttle Discovery. As we enter the station's second decade, our path forward will take us deeper into space and expand humanity's potential farther. The lessons we learn on the station will carry us to Mars and beyond. I want to give a heartfelt thank you to the six crew members on orbit and all the teams over the years that have helped us get to this milestone day.
By Leland Melvin, NASA Associate Administrator for Education
Greetings students, educators, families, and organizations and welcome to my first education blog.
I have had an exceptional first week as associate administrator for education at NASA. I traveled to Langley Research Center to attend a senior staff retreat and met with my team at NASA Headquarters. I also conducted a media roundtable and live shot television interviews on Wednesday, October 20. But it really was a pleasure to close out this week by attending the first USA Science and Engineering Festival on Sunday.
The USA Science & Engineering Festival launched earlier this month with activities in schools in the DC area. The festival concluded with a huge event this past weekend on the National Mall and other spots in DC. NASA had a large presence with over 28 booths and joined nearly 500 other groups. I spent time at the NASA areas on the Mall and also at Freedom Plaza interacting with people of all ages. It was great to see so many young people out there getting involved with science and engineering. NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden came by, and Nobel Prize winner John C. Mather, who is an astrophysicist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, gave a talk. This was a treat for festival participants, and I am grateful that they were able to participate. Charlie has established an unprecedented NASA focus on math and science education, and John is an inspiration to all of us.
The many NASA booths featured a variety of hands-on activities, demonstrations, exhibits, and banners. Kids had their photos taken inside a full-size spacesuit, tested how their grip changes when wearing a spacesuit glove, teamed up to practice docking the space shuttle, and watched a wind tunnel demonstration. Those are just a few highlights of the amazing things that were happening.
All who visited the NASA booths could also see the exciting NASA Summer of Innovation calls to action everywhere - “Imagine it. Explore it. Do it!” This is what we have been urging the nation’s middle school students to do since June when we kicked off this project in response to the president’s Educate to Innovate campaign. I am proud of the national effort that took place to engage middle school students in hands-on science, technology, engineering and math activities during the summer break. We reached more than 75,000 students, and I anticipate many more in years to come.
The pursuit of the minds and career ambitions of America’s youth is as challenging and important to humanity as the quest for space. I can say from personal experience that both journeys are equally exciting and rewarding. They are also dependent upon one another, because our continued discovery and progress on Earth and in space will require the energy and innovation of the next generation. I turn to this new frontier in education with the knowledge that this is a team effort and will require dedication of countless individuals.
I want to thank everyone – the NASA staff supporting our booths, the other organizations exhibiting at the expo, and the families and organizations that brought young people to this amazing event. Everything you are doing is helping inspire tomorrow’s explorers today. I truly believe in our power to change lives, and this weekend’s activities are true examples of this. We are empowering our youth to take charge of their destiny and help create a better future for us all.
