Final Conclusions--Motivations and Rewards

    When you look up the sky, you can see stars. It is magnificent. From ancient to present, people are always stunned by starry nights.

    Due to the touch from sky, people want to know more about what is behind the beautiful scenery. We are curious about why and how a phenomenon happens.

    1.Here is Jupiter. There is a famous theory called the three-circulation on earth. Similarly, there are several circulations on Jupiter. Since Jupiter is much bigger, there are more circulations. On Jupiter, we can categorize the surface into two types, zones and belts, according to atmospheric movements. Zone looks brighter and air descends there, so the top of Troposphere(對流層) is lower and thus warmer. Belt is the opposite. Between belts and zones are jet streams which are  fast airflows. There is also a strong west wind jet stream on earth.

    The red spot is actually an anticyclone (反氣旋) twice bigger than the earth in size. Unlike a cyclone on earth which only last for few days, the red spot on Jupiter has already existed for 300 years . What makes it last for so long? Scientists thinks that it receives energy from the jet streams nearby.

    2.Here is 2015 Nobel Prize in physics. The experiments lead to the result-------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.

    Besides, people desire to get closer to the sky. Therefore, rocket was invented. This is the famous movie called "October Sky". 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, the boys wanted to do something different. They had a dream of building their own rocket. They started from collecting materials, producing fuel, and designing launching equipment. After several failures, they finally accomplished a rocket and launched it successfully.

    Nowadays, there are several rocket companies share the same dream, determination, and bravery with the boys in the movie. Two of them I want to mention are SpaceX and ARRC.

    1.SpaceX is a private company that designs, manufactures, and launches rockets and spacecrafts. It was established in 2002, by Elon Musk, who is also the CEO of Paypal, Tesla, and SolarCity. According to statistics, when a rocket is launched, fuel costs only takes up 0.3% of the overall expense. In other words, most of the expense is spent on the rocket. Therefore, if we can reuse the rocket, the costs would be reduced by a huge amount. The objective of SpaceX is to build reusable rockets and send millions of people to establish a colonial on Mars in the end.

 Although it seems crazy, his dream may actually be possible one day. SpaceX has made great progress. They have successfully launched two rockets (Falcon1 and Falcon 9) to reach orbits, and sent a spacecraft (Dragon) to supply International Space Station (ISS). SpaceX is the first private company to have made these achievements. The accomplishment won SpaceX a USD1.6 billion contract, according to which SpaceX is to run12 missions of supplying ISS for NASA.

    Although there is still a long way to go, we can expect a surprising future of SpaceX.

   2.ARRC is a Taiwanese organization that makes rockets. Members come from 6 universities (including 交大、成大、屏科大...）Their goal is to produce a made-in-Taiwan rocket.

  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 have invented an exclusive hybrid propulsion system which is safer and also in low cost.

    People often ask why they are willing to do something without a certain outcome even though they are teased as idiots. The answer is obvious------to prove that Taiwan’s technological skills do not fall behind the world. In fact, they may even exceed global standards. Rockets are extremely complicated, requiring the combination 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 transform the technology industry from mere manufacture to design.

    Boys in October sky, SpaceX ,and ARRC have some spirit in common. They are all courageous to be different and they stick to their dream although it seems impossible to reach in the beginning. Eventually, they all made some accomplishment. So, the point is that when we face all difficulties, will we actually stick to our dream or compromise due to reality? It is really the decision which makes all the difference.

    Exploring the universe is a dream that people have been pursuing for thousands of years. No matter you are simply touched by the stars ,curious about how air circulates on Mars and the importance of neutrino, or eager to make a rocket and actually approach space. We often get inspirations from nature and also from the people who seek better answers in nature.