Chaos I’ve recreated one of my favorite mathematical demonstrations below. Three double pendulums, all starting with near identical initial conditions, all rapidly diverging. I love this demonstration because it’s such a great example of chaotic dynamics. What is Chaos? Chaotic dynamics, in a nutshell, means that a system is extremely sensitive to initial conditions. That…
What is the Spaceport America Cup? The Spaceport America Cup (SAC) is an international collegiate rocketry competition. Student teams build a rocket that can carry an 8.8 pound payload to either 10,000 or 30,000 feet. This is one of the best collegiate rocket competitions because of their locator at the Spaceport America in New Mexico. Because…
Going through undergrad commencement this weekend had me thinking about my time in undergrad and more specifically, those things I chose to carry with me almost every day. I compiled a list with links to where you could find these items on Amazon. What I Carry Starting from the upper right hand corner and working…
Why am I qualified to write this? As I write this post, I’m about to finish my senior year studying aerospace engineering at the University at Buffalo. I’ve had three summer internships so far and this summer I have an REU lined up (Note: This coming fall I will be entering Grad school to begin…
Intro on Lab ” All models are wrong; some models are usefull” -George Box Learning about concepts in class can only take you so far. They present the world, often in simplified terms, as a totally understandable place governed by simple, knowable equations. They say things like, ignore viscous drag, assume acceleration due to gravity…
Last Second Lunar Lander This post begins to to over the math behind a suicide burn maneuver. It covers what is a suicide burn along with generating the systems governing equations. What is a suicide burn? A suicide burn is a colloquialism for any powered landing that you turn your engine to full thrust at…
Test Stand Rollout This is the fifth and final part in a series about UB SEDS rolling out a test stand to support our in-house propellant program. In this part we validate the test stand using a motor characterize by the manufacturer. Part 1 – Smoke Test Part 2 – Backboard Test Part 3 – Structural Test Part 4…
Test Stand Rollout This is the fourth part in a series about UB SEDS rolling out a test stand to support our in-house propellant program. In this part we test the test stand’s electronics. Part 1 – Smoke Test Part 2 – Backboard Test Part 3 – Structural Test Part 4 – Electronics Test Part 5…
Test Stand Rollout This is the third part in a series about UB SEDS rolling out our test stand to support our in-house propellant program. In this part we test the test stand’s structure. Part 1 – Smoke Test Part 2 – Backboard Test Part 3 – Structural Test Part 4 – Electronics Test Part 5…
Test Stand Rollout This is part 2 in a series covering UB SEDS’s roll out of a test stand to support our in-house propellant program. Part 1 – Smoke Test Part 2 – Backboard Test Part 3 – Test Stand Structural Test Part 4 – Test Stand Electronics Test Part 5 – Test Stand Final…
