ARRC is a Taiwanese organization that makes rockets. Members are from 6 universities (including 交大、成大、屏科大...）Their goal is to produce an entirely MIT rocket. Nowadays, many countries are able to make rockets such as Japan, India, and Korea. However, whenever we launch a satellite , we need to lend other's equipment. It is expensive and inconvenient. The founder of ARRC, a mechanical engineering professor, discovered this problem and decided to solve it. Eventually, a group of several passionate students and professors formed.
They started from the very beginning-----learning the basic concepts of how rockets work. They manufacture many components in the factory by themselves and even made a parachute by watching videos on YouTube. Since many companies are competing in the rocket market, the founder of ARRC promised to make even cheaper rockets than SpaceX. They invent exclusive hybrid propulsion system which is safer. ARRC's rockets are small and light, aimed in lower orbits.
People often ask why they are willing to do something without a certain future. The answer is obviously------to prove that technology in Taiwan do not fall behind the world, it may even exceed the world. Rockets are extremely complicated, requiring different fields of science and engineering. Therefore, if we successfully launch a rocket, it means that we are able to solve problems and actually produce a huge product by our own. It will change the technology industry from merely manufacture to design.
SpaceX is a company for designing ,manufacturing, and launching rockets and spacecrafts. It was established in 2002, by Elon Musk, also a CEO of Paypal, Tesla, and SolarCity.
Comparing with NASA which requires extremely high cost to commit a space mission, SpaceX's goal is to reduce the cost. In the past, only government organizations were able to enter space. However, in recent years, more and more private companies involve in this great market such as SpaceX and Boeing. There are two reasons for this phenomenon. First, private companies are considered more efficient because it lacks complicated procedures of examination and permission, so it is easier to focus on technology itself. Second, due to business competition, private companies are forced to cut down the cost.
According to the statistics, when a rocket is launched, the fuel only takes up 0.3% of the whole expense. In other words, the rocket itself is the major cost. Therefore, if we can reuse the rocket, the cost will be highly reduced. The objective of SpaceX is to build reusable rockets and send millions of people to Mars in the end. "Ultimately, the thing that is super important in the grand scale of history is—are we on a path to becoming a multi- species or not? If we’re not, that’s not a very bright future. We’ll just be hanging out on Earth until some eventual calamity claims us," Musk said.
Musk's dream is to establish a colonial on Mars. Though it seems crazy, it may actually be possible one day. To achieve the goal, SpaceX makes great progress. They successfully launched two rockets (Falcon1 and Falcon 9) to reach orbits ,and send a spacecraft (Dragon) to supply International Space Station (ISS) .This is the first private company to make these achievements which enables SpaceX to win a 1.6 billion contrast from NASA for 12 missions of supplying ISS.
Although there is still a long way to go, we can expect the surprising future of SpaceX.
The Nobel Prize in physics this year was announced several days ago,
awarded to two scientists who had solved the puzzles of neutrinos.
What we know before:
1. In 1930, Wolfgang Pauli first
predicted a particle that is extremely light, uncharged, and
inactive exist in beta decay due to the conservation of energy.
beta
decay equation: p → n +e++ν(neutrino)
2.In 1938, an Italian scientist proposed
an elegant theory of neutrino.
3.In 1956, two Americans discovered
neutrinos in the detector of nuclear power
plant.
The breakthrough proved that neutrinos are real particles.
4.In standard model, it is said that
"There are three kinds of neutrinos, and all of them
are massless."
electron-neutrino
(e)
muon-neutrino
(μ)
tau-neutrino
(τ)
Something unknown:
Neutrinos remained plenty of secrets since 1930, among them, there was a
bizarre phenomenon that confused scientists for decades. We can calculate the total
neutrinos created from the Sun due to nuclear reactions. However, we only
observe 1/3 of the numbers of neutrinos. Where is the missing 2/3 ?
Brief introduction of 2015 Nobel Prize
in physics:
There are
two major experiments to answer the question.
1.Super-Kamiokande (Japan)
It is a 40m-in -depth water tank 1000m
below earth surface. When neutrinos from cosmic radiation (宇宙射線) pass through the tank, some of them will collide with water, and particular
blue light (Cherenkov light) will be emitted. Since electron neutrino and muon
neutrino produce light with different intensity, we can differentiate the
two particles. In the end, they discover that muon neutrinos from the top of
the tank are more than the ones from the bottom of the tank( which means
it comes from the other side of earth and travel through the core of
earth).However, the number of electron neutrinos from both ways are equal.
Therefore, scientists speculate that muon neutrinos transform into tau
neutrinos when passing through the earth. Because the muon neutrinos from the
bottom of the tank travel through earth in longer distance, more muon
neutrinos change into tau neutrinos, and less muon neutrinos are left.
2.Sudburg Neutrino
Observatory (SNO, Canada)
The experimental device is similar to the
one above, but the water inside is D2O instead of H2O for a higher
possibility of collisions. We know that sun can only create electron neutrinos, and we
can calculate the total theoretically. In the result, they detect
only 1/3 of electron neutrinos comparing to the calculation. However, if
they detect three kinds of neutrinos together, the number matches the calculation.
So, the explanation to the bizarre phenomenon mentioned above is that
neutrinos do not disappear, they change identities.
What's the influence:
The two experiments lead to the same results-------three kinds of neutrinos
can change identity with one another. If a particle can change identity, it can
not be massless. Therefore, neutrinos have mass. This discovery conflict with
standard model, so the model must be modified. Besides, neutrinos are the
second numerous particle in the universe (photons are the most), so the fact
that they have mass will change our understanding of universe significantly.
This is the announcement video:
If you want to read the whole article, please visit :
Today I am going to talk about a movie called “October Sky”. It is a true story about four children who have a dream of making rockets on their own. The story is based on the childhood of Homer Hickam, who becomes an engineer at NASA when he grows up.
In a city called “Coalwood” in West Virginia ,people do not dream much about future. Parents believe that children should either play football or become a miner. It seems that there are no other options for career.
However, an event changes a boy’s life. One day ,people in the city are announced that Sputnik(the first satellite in the world) will be launched by Russia. Everyone looks up and watches a glowing ball crossing the sky. Suddenly, a dream comes into Homer's mind----to send a rocket into space.
He soon begins his rocket project with three friends. They start from collecting materials, producing fuel, and designing equipment. After several failure, they finally accomplish a rocket and launch it successfully.
During the process, they encounter parents' objection and teachers' suspicion of causing danger. Nonetheless, they prove themselves by presenting their rocket at national science fair. They even receive Von Braun (an authority on rocket design)'s appreciation and eventually win scholarships to college.
I think that there are plenty of stories about chasing after dreams ,but when facing all difficulties, will we actually stick to our dream or compromise due to reality? It is really the decision which makes all the difference.
In the end, I would like to share the trailer of the movie. Hope you can follow your dreams!
2015年10月1日 星期四
Do you know what is the beginning of space race? The story began in World War 2. At that time, Germans were not allowed to do research on long-range cannon due to the contract after World War 1. However, they didn't give up easily, and they came up with a smart idea-----to develop missile instead of cannon. After years of struggling by a group of distinguished engineers, they finally invented the first missile called V2 with rocket engine. Therefore, V2 is considered the first rocket in the world. Below is V2,launched in 1943.
When the war came to the end, Germany surrendered. America and Soviet Union saw the bright future of rocket. The two nations started to recruit engineers from the previous team of V2 and also took advantage of their resources. Technology and talented engineers from V2 built the foundation of space race. Below is the most famous engineers recruited by Americans.
With such good resources, America and Soviet Union began their competition. Unfortunately, Soviet Union took the cake at first. It was 1957, the news reported that the first artificial satellite (Sputnik----- only 58 cm in diameter, and weigh 83.6 kg) was launched. People all over the world was astonished, especially was Americans. America soon developed another satellite which was called TV3. However, it dropped down after launch in 2 seconds. This was a great shame of Americans.
In twenty years of space race, both two nations provided plenty of projects, including sending astronauts into space, landing on Moon......Although it really consumed lots of resources, one thing undebatable is that countless of scientific discoveries were the amazing products remain. Below is the first man into space.
As a result, I talk about some stories in space race because I think that was the period when human started to get a key to explore the universe.
In the end, I want to share a video about space race. Hope you enjoy it!
