jrv12

Launch Report and Debrief Launch Time: 10:50 Team Members Present: Kyle Upson, Alex Wansha, Julia Vanill Play-by-Play: launching straight up decoupled 1:10 - stage 5 Kerbin periapsis 77 km antennas extended 2:22 decoupled 4:14 - stage 4 2d, 05:07:39 escaped Kerbin's influence correction RCS burn 13d, 00:22:35 orbiting towards Duna 269d, 05:26:27 setting Duna periapsis - 97,761m - 269d, 05:28:01 orbiting Duna 300d descending onto Duna's surface 300d, 02:35:49 reached stage 1 300d, 02:46:20 landed 300d,

Launch Report and Debrief Launch Time: 10:34 Team Members Present: Kyle Upson, Alex Wansha, Julia Vanill Play-by-Play: heading North toward the ice caps 2km above sea level @ 800m/s narrowly avoiding mountains at 5km turning on and off stability assist to stop ship from shaking passing over part of the ice cap 17:38 landing near UFO 22:05 Valentina arrived near crashed UFO planted flag 28:34 Photographs: Time of Flight: 28:34 Summary: The launch and flight was another success for WUV our Work. We were

Launch Report and Debrief Launch Time: 10:41 Team Members Present: Kyle Upson, Alex Wansha, Julia Vanill Play-by-Play: Heading straight up maneuvering West to get into orbit around Kerbin decoupled 3:53 using solar panels on rover to help power ship maneuvering into Mun's orbit 5:42 decoupled 7:04 Mun apoapsis 35km maneuvering into orbit around Mun 1d, 00:46:11 using monopropellant to eliminate horizontal velocity landing on Mun without landing gear landed 1d, 1:32:03 no wheels on rover? Photographs:

Launch Report and Debrief Launch Time: 10:33 Team Members Present: Kyle Upson, Alex Wansha, Julia Vanill Play-by-Play: launch straight up for 30 km maneuvering into orbit around Kerbin 80 km started first RCS burn 85 km stage 2 at 90 km - decoupled full orbit around Kerbin 4:30 correction RCS burn 16:30 maneuvering into orbit around Minmus correction RCS burn 46:10 Kerbin periapsis: 37.6 km time warping into Minmus orbit started RCS burn around Minmus 10d, 2:09:27 landed on Minmus 10d, 2:44:07 leaving

Launch Report and Debrief Launch Time: 10:46 am Team Members Present: Kyle Upson, Alex Wansha, Julia Vanill Play-by-Play: After launching straight up for 70 km, started maneuvering sideways to get into orbit Started burning RCS at 80 km Decoupled at 97 km Started 31s burn at 86 km Unfortunately ran out of fuel at 1:39:44 Pilot came prepared with monopropellant to continue into orbit and made it into geosynchronous orbit with plenty monopropellant to spare Reached geosynchronous orbit with an apoapsis of 2,864,921 m and a periapsis of 2,8

Mario Kart was (and still is) the greatest game of all time, and there is a surprising amount of physics involved – not the part about falling off the edge of rainbow road and then magically reappearing back on the track though. Mario Kart uses Newton’s laws. The use of Newton’s first law proves why in order to get moving you have to press a button to accelerate, and when you let your finger off the button, you don’t just automatically stop, you just slow down. Newton’s second law shows how if you use a cart with a greater mass, you need a greater force to get the kart moving with the sam

Space rockets use thrust in order to get them up into space. Thrust is the sudden, propulsive force of a jet engine, and is based on Newton’s third law. In the rocket, thrust is created from the solid rocket boosters and the main engines. The solid rocket boosters and the external fuel tank are eventually dropped from the rocket in order to reduce mass once in space. The rocket is slowed down a little because of the force due to gravity and the drag force when in the Earth’s atmosphere. NASA has been working on a new way to launch rockets into space: the EmDrive. It is an electromagnetic

If you live in a house like mine, blowing fuses and circuit breakers is a common occurrence because of all the things we have plugged in at once. A fuse is a small, thin conductor that is designed to separate whenever there is excessive current flowing through the circuit. Fuses are connected in series so that when the fuse blows it will stop current flow throughout the entire circuit. If fuses were connected in parallel, they would not affect the current through any of the other branches. Although fuses are designed to stop all the current flowing through the circuit, sometimes if the vo

Newton’s cradle is a device demonstrating the conservation of energy and momentum. In an ideal Newton’s cradle, only the two balls on the end will move and there will be no energy loss, resulting in the cradle going on for an infinite amount of time. However, in a real Newton’s cradle, the fourth ball does have some movement and there is slight reverse movement as seen in the picture above. The equations p=mv and KE=½mv2 can be used to help find the velocities of the two end balls on an ideal Newton’s cradle, with perfectly elastic objects so there is no loss. The type and size of th

Since The Masters seems to be the only TV program on in my house these past few days, it seems fit to talk about the physics of golf. The angle of the golf club head helps to determine the distance the ball travels in the air and once it hits the ground. The greater the club speed hitting the ball, the lower you want the club face loft angle. This is because you want the golf ball to go farther and not higher. When you are closer to the green, you are more likely to use a higher numbered iron because it has a greater angle and won’t send the ball as far. The dimples on a golf b

The Magnus effect happens to a spinning object that drags air faster on one side, which causes the object to move in the direction of the lower-pressure side. Here’s a video showing the Magnus effect in action: Newton’s third law helps to prove the Magnus effect because the object pushes the air in one direction and the air pushes the body in the other direction, an action-reaction force. With a ball spinning through the air, some of the air spins around the ball with it. The side of the ball traveling into the air slows down the airflow, while the other side of the

When I flew to California and back last month, I noticed that it took more time to fly to California than it did to fly back to Rochester (even though it seemed shorter to fly to California because of the time zone difference). This happens as a result of the jet stream. The jet stream is a strong and narrow air current the circles the globe flowing from West to East. Jet streams occur because of the heating of the atmosphere from solar radiation and the Coriolis effect from the Earth’s axis of rotation. Jet streams are used to help aid in weather prediction, because the jet stream causes

The other day I came across something talking about a spill proof mug. Since I do tend to spill drinks occasionally, I wanted to read about it. The cup uses a suction on the bottom of it to help prevent it from tipping over. Once the mug forms a seal with the surface it is on, the air pressure under it becomes smaller than the atmospheric pressure above the cup, resulting in the downward force keeping the cup on the table. Even when a small force is applied to the top of the cup that would usually tip the cup over, the suction on the bottom of the cup keeps the cup upright. Here’s a

If you know me well, you know that I have lots of irrational fears that will most likely not happen, knock on wood (I’m also superstitious). One of these fears is that the magnetic poles of earth are switching, ever since I read an article about it in January. Earth’s poles switch about every 200,000 to 300,000 years, and considering the last major flip was 780,000 years ago, we are long overdue. The magnetic field helps to protect Earth from deadly rays, and if the poles switch, the protection would largely diminish and allow harmful radiation to get to us. Also, the electric grids woul

As I watched the Winter Olympics this February, I loved to watch the snowboarding slopestyle and couldn’t help but think of all the physics involved in getting the highest score. When the snowboarders start at the top of the hill, they are full of potential energy. As they make their way down the hill, the potential energy turns into kinetic energy. To create the flips and turns they do in the air, the snowboarders use angular momentum by applying an initial twist in their movement and that helping them spin in the air. They exert a torque from their body onto their snowboard to have the