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1) Do you like to drive?
In a word, no. I do it because I have to. There are very specific circumstances under which it is enjoyable to drive, and they almost never exist in the UK. I have one memory of fun driving here, after dropping my parents off at Heathrow, on a warm sunny morning. The M40 was virtually deserted and I bombed home to Worcestershire in under two hours.
2) Do you own (or have regular use of) a car? What kind is it?
I do. It's VW Golf. It is by far the most fun car to drive that I've ever owned.
3) What is your favourite optional feature on a car?
To be honest, getting this car was such a massive step up from the previous one, everything about it felt like a gift: the bluetooth connection to devices, the built-in satnav, the power windows, the acceleration, the friendly clutch, all of it. But probably the most delightful unnecessary feature of it is the sunroof.
4) How much doesgasoline petrol currently cost where you live?
It's about £1.26 per litre. There are 4.55 litres in a gallon. So it costs £5.73, or US$7.85, per gallon. I've been in the UK for almost 17 years now and I'm still shocked by that.
5) What is the longest car trip you have taken?
I think it's still the one where my parents and I drove across the USA the summer before my ninth birthday. We started in Seattle and the furthest East we went was to visit family in Pennsylvania.
And finally, LOOK at what my fantastically thoughtful and generous friend Josh sent me for a super-early birthday present!! Building this is going to be my reward when Semester 2 teaching finishes in a few weeks.
In a word, no. I do it because I have to. There are very specific circumstances under which it is enjoyable to drive, and they almost never exist in the UK. I have one memory of fun driving here, after dropping my parents off at Heathrow, on a warm sunny morning. The M40 was virtually deserted and I bombed home to Worcestershire in under two hours.
2) Do you own (or have regular use of) a car? What kind is it?
I do. It's VW Golf. It is by far the most fun car to drive that I've ever owned.
3) What is your favourite optional feature on a car?
To be honest, getting this car was such a massive step up from the previous one, everything about it felt like a gift: the bluetooth connection to devices, the built-in satnav, the power windows, the acceleration, the friendly clutch, all of it. But probably the most delightful unnecessary feature of it is the sunroof.
4) How much does
It's about £1.26 per litre. There are 4.55 litres in a gallon. So it costs £5.73, or US$7.85, per gallon. I've been in the UK for almost 17 years now and I'm still shocked by that.
5) What is the longest car trip you have taken?
I think it's still the one where my parents and I drove across the USA the summer before my ninth birthday. We started in Seattle and the furthest East we went was to visit family in Pennsylvania.
And finally, LOOK at what my fantastically thoughtful and generous friend Josh sent me for a super-early birthday present!! Building this is going to be my reward when Semester 2 teaching finishes in a few weeks.
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Yesterday was the 14th anniversary of me working on the European Space Agency's Cluster mission.
Today, I received news that one of my Year 1 Aero students, whom I helped with her application, has been accepted onto ESA's prestigious Fly A Rocket! programme.
That is just about the best anniversary gift I could have received.
Have a photo of an extremely tired me in my headphones, preparing to record a lecture, wearing my Cluster hoodie that was gifted to me by my magnetometer lab colleagues. All that blurry stuff is the cracking around my phone's front camera. I need to replace my phone. There is no time to shop for a new phone. *thud*
Today, I received news that one of my Year 1 Aero students, whom I helped with her application, has been accepted onto ESA's prestigious Fly A Rocket! programme.
That is just about the best anniversary gift I could have received.
Have a photo of an extremely tired me in my headphones, preparing to record a lecture, wearing my Cluster hoodie that was gifted to me by my magnetometer lab colleagues. All that blurry stuff is the cracking around my phone's front camera. I need to replace my phone. There is no time to shop for a new phone. *thud*
I dug out this mechanical drawing of one of the Cluster spacecraft the other day, because I needed to know how long the deployed magnetometer boom is. The reason is not so important. Things that are important:
- The drawing has been taken in and out of the folder so many times that the inner set of holes has been destroyed.
- Holy tatty edges, Batman.
- The version of the document it's part of was issued in June 1993. That's over 26 years ago.
- Printing stuff in A3 is so good for detail in drawings.
- How is it that my old work colleague, Patrick, never spilled his tea on this? Truly a mystery for the ages.
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Today was my birthday, and amongst the many lovely gifts I received (favourite perfume! bubble bath! whisky!) was Slowly Rotating Titan, moon of Saturn, which has come from My Friend Josh to join Slowly Rotating Jupiter (DW/LJ).
19 second YouTube video of rotating Titan on a windowsill. Very soothing, especially with the sound off, because otherwise you can faintly hear Keiki playing Minecraft in the background.
Now it is time to snuggle up with my new book (Mudlarking) and maybe a wee dram, and finish digesting the amazing roast dinner the bloke made.
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Today was much better than yesterday. ( Pre-schooler TMI ) But that is not the only reason it was better, for today, the first birthday card arrived for me, from my aunt-out-law in the USA, and also a Mystery Amazon Package, which turned out to contain this:
[Still life of Slowly Rotating solar-powered Jupiter sitting on its stand.]
If you would like to see Slowly Rotating Jupiter rotating, click below.
[YouTube video, 45 sec, of Slowly Rotating Jupiter rotating.]
It has been gifted to me by My Mate Josh, who is an awesome and faithful friend and has been for over twenty years. He also reads this journal. Thank you, Josh! <3
[Still life of Slowly Rotating solar-powered Jupiter sitting on its stand.]
If you would like to see Slowly Rotating Jupiter rotating, click below.
[YouTube video, 45 sec, of Slowly Rotating Jupiter rotating.]
It has been gifted to me by My Mate Josh, who is an awesome and faithful friend and has been for over twenty years. He also reads this journal. Thank you, Josh! <3
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Today my boss ambled in and dropped another load of Space History on my desk. This included a bunch of photographs of Cassini flight hardware (subject of a future post), but also three photos of Ulysses hardware, which is even older.
The Ulysses spacecraft, which is still in orbit although decommissioned and not operational, remains one of the few spacecraft to leave the ecliptic plane of the solar system to a significant degree. It studied the poles of the Sun. It launched in 1990, and the total mission duration was over eighteen years.
We estimate these photos are from the early 1980s. They're of the flight hardware for the magnetometer, which now drifts quietly with the rest of the silent spacecraft, between Jupiter and the Sun.
[Ulysses magnetometer sensor head]
[Ulysses magnetometer electronics box]
[Topside view of one of the Ulysses magnetometer flight boards. Look at all those beautifully hand-soldered through-hole components!]
The Ulysses spacecraft, which is still in orbit although decommissioned and not operational, remains one of the few spacecraft to leave the ecliptic plane of the solar system to a significant degree. It studied the poles of the Sun. It launched in 1990, and the total mission duration was over eighteen years.
We estimate these photos are from the early 1980s. They're of the flight hardware for the magnetometer, which now drifts quietly with the rest of the silent spacecraft, between Jupiter and the Sun.
[Ulysses magnetometer sensor head]
[Ulysses magnetometer electronics box]
[Topside view of one of the Ulysses magnetometer flight boards. Look at all those beautifully hand-soldered through-hole components!]
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Picture of a metal box with frames for PCBs (printed circuit boards).
I realise this may not be the most thrilling photo ever, but I'm not ashamed to say that I almost cried when I saw this metal box. This box represents 18 months' worth of work on my part (and others', but a lot of it was on me to coordinate) to get A Certain Space Agency to approve our soldering qualification plan for our flight electronics for the JUICE mission. The existence of this box means that we have been allowed to manufacture actual physical hardware rather than just endlessly iterating on bits of paperwork describing the hardware. It's not just spreadsheets and Word documents any more! There is a METAL BOX, and we will Put Things Into It, and heat them up and freeze them repeatedly, and shake the box around violently to ensure that bits don't fall off of it.
I may shed tears when the PCBs arrive and we can put them into the frames.
METAL BOOOOOX \m/
The Parker Solar Probe is due to launch this year, between July and August 2018. If you want to hitch a ride to the Sun with it, well, you can't. But your name can! A memory card with names on it will be carried on the spacecraft as it explores the Sun's atmosphere in a series of brutally boiling perihelion passes. Scorchio.
Sign up here by 27 April 2018, and you will receive a pretty digital certificate that you can save to PDF and/or print out.
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