Author Archives: Carol

The Saturn V Rocket

Posted on by August 30, 2019

-by Serena Ingamells-

With the prospect of reusable rockets in the future, a story about a 50 year old system may seem anachronistic, but for people who lived through the triumphs and disasters of the Apollo programme, the mighty Saturn V rocket (pronounced “Saturn five”) holds a special place in history.
In 1969 I did a Greyhound bus trip around the USA and by a quirk of fate happened to be at the right place at the right time. On the 20th July 1969 at the Grand Canyon I was privileged to see a grainy, almost ghostlike video of the first lunar landing. It was only many years later on a visit to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC that I realised why NASA pipped Russia to the Moon. Statistics between the Saturn V and N1 rockets tell only a small part of the story but in this case size did matter. The Saturn V burned 21 tons of fuel a second – incomprehensible to mere mortals. It remains the largest and most powerful man made vehicle ever built.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_V

SaturnV-N1 comparisonN1-Rocket-EnginesThe Russian N1 rocket was almost as big as the Saturn V, a bit shorter and a bit lighter, but it had more thrust out of the gate – which probably was its downfall. The N1 had a lot of engines – 30 little ones – 24 tightly packed to form a ring around the outside of Block A, the name of the first stage, with six placed in the centre to provide roll control. The thinking was that if one of these small engines was good, then strapping them all together would be great but this went horribly wrong. All four N1 test launches ended in failure. None so spectacularly though, as the second launch attempt: the rocket exploded with the force of seven kilotons of TNT, equivalent to a small nuclear bomb. It remains one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in human history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N1_(rocket)

By comparison the Saturn V with only five engines (where the name derived from) had a relatively simple system. It still had six million different parts, yet never resulted in a fatality. The Apollo 1 astronauts were tragically killed, but that was due to a failure in the command capsule oxygen system.

Von-Braun-RocketsMuch of the success of the Saturn V rocket was due to Dr. Wernher von Braun who was the technical director at the rocket research station at Peenemunde, in north-eastern Germany during World War II and later became a citizen of the United States of America in 1955.
http://www.space.com/20122-wernher-von-braun.html

Helde

Posted on by September 28, 2017

–deur Serena Ingamells–
Laika

Die geskiedenis van lugvaart en ruimtereise is vol menslike helde soos Chuck Yaegar , Yuri Gagarin en Niel Armstrong maar daar was ook dierereisigers wat moederaarde verlaat het en ʼn bydrae tot die wetenskap gemaak het.
Alhoewel hulle rolle moontlik as passief beskou kan word bly hulle in my boek, helde.

 

Ham

Sonder hierdie eksperimente sou die mens nooit op die Maan geloop het nie maar wie sou kon dink dat die storie reeds in 1783 begin het toe die Franse broers Montgolfier met een van hulle eerste lugballonne ʼn lewendige skaap, haan en eend die lug ingestuur het? Hierdie eksperiment het voor Koning Lodewyk XVI en Marie Antoinette plaasgevind. Die vlug het 8 minute geduur en ʼn hoogte van 457 meters bereik. Al die diere is veilig teruggebring.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montgolfier_brothers

Soos met die Montgolfiers was die vroeë ruimtewetenskaplikes bekommerd oor die mens se vermoë om die uitdagings van die ruimte te oorleef. In 1947 is vrugtevlieë met ʼn Amerikaanse V2-vuurpyl die ruimte ingestuur en veilig teruggebring. Sommige van die ander diere wat gevolg het, was minder gelukkig. Tussen die laat 1940’s en vroeë 1950’s is resusape (almal Albert genoem) gebruik om te bewys dis moontlik om ten minste ʼn op en af reis in die ruimte te oorleef. In 1957 was Laika, die pavement special van Moskou, die eerste ware ruimtereisiger aan boord Sputnik 2. Daar was genoeg kos vir ʼn week maar weens ʼn tegniese fout het die kapsule oorverhit en is sy binne
ʼn paar uur dood.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laika

Vir my is Ham, ʼn manlike sjimpansee, saam met Laika ʼn baanbreker wat dikwels vergeet word. In 1959 het die driejarige met onderrig by NASA begin. Hy is lekkerbek met piesangblokkies beloon as hy instruksie reggekry het en met ligte elektriese skokke aan sy voetsole gestraf as hy die verkeerde hefboom getrek het. Wat hom onderskei van al die vorige diere is dat hy nie bloot ʼn passasier was nie. Sy suksesvolle toetsvlug van 16 minute en 39 sekondes op 31 Januarie 1961, het die pad vir Allan Shepard gebaan, die tweede mens en eerste Amerikaner in die ruimte.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ham_(chimpanzee)

Hierdie dierehelde het die fondament vir menslike ruimtevaart neergelê en ons groot sprong na die volgende avontuur verseker. Ad eundum quo nemo ante iit – to boldly go where no man has gone before – dit het Laika en Ham met lof gedoen.

At Home in the World

Posted on by July 21, 2018

2015-06-04
Joyce-MaynardI think there was one copy of Catcher in the Rye, which belonged to my English Literature teacher, doing the rounds and by the time I left school it hadn’t landed in my lap. I was eighteen with a whole new world out there and I embraced it leaving everything to do with high school behind me – even J.D Salinger. Now I can’t remember if or when I read Catcher in the Rye eventually. It certainly did not leave a lasting impression.

Salinger was the last thing on my mind when I stood in the biography section of our library. I was actually looking for an interesting read for my husband when I came across At Home in the World  by Joyce Maynard. I loved the cover photo and popped the book in my basket. I did not get around to reading it but decided to extend the loan by two weeks.

Who is Joyce Maynard who feels At Home in the World? The library’s info  dockets obscure most of the inside cover and front page photos.There is a nice photo of the good looking author on the back flap. “Joyce Maynard is a well-known journalist and broadcaster in the United States. She is the author of several books, including To Die For (which was made into a film by gus Van Sant starring Nicole Kidman), Baby Love and her memoir Looking Back, which she wrote at the age of eighteen”

There are family photos- one has become my favourite: a young girl sitting on steps. There are also a few sketches that accompany a letter: “Dear Jerry” Now I’ll have to read the book because I can’t find my magnifying glasses to read the letter!

OK, but maybe I could save some time. The front flap seems to have quite a lot of info. “Maynard wrote a cover story for the New York Times Magazine called An Eighteen Year Old Looks Back on Life. Among the hundreds of letters she received in response was one from the famously reclusive author J.D. Salinger” Goodness gracious, Salinger after all this time.

I have read this book from cover to cover. Now there are two more books lying on my table: Catcher in the Rye and Franny and Zooey.

Looking back on life, I remember eighteen and I remember Salinger but all of that has taken on a new dimension and I  can’t really decide whether or not to  like Salinger.

I should have spent more time writing about Joyce Maynard’s Memoir but I feel the need to publish this today. In any case, it is her memoir and everyone  should read it in her own words.

And on remembering being eighteen, who could forget the lyrics in the song, I’m Eighteen? If we had Facebook in those days this would have deserved a smiley.

Lines form on my face and hands
Lines form from the ups and downs
I’m eighteen ,eighteen, eighteen
and I like it, like it..
I’m Eighteen © Copyright Writers– A.Cooper/M.Bruce/G Buxton/D.Dunaway/N.Smith
published by- Bizarre Music/Ezra Music Corp.

To read: An Eighteen Year Old looks back on Life
https://www.nytimes.com/books/98/09/13/specials/maynard-mag.html

Meet Dr Karen Masters and Stargazer Lottie

Posted on by September 28, 2017

Dr-Karen-MastersForget about Barbie and the Disney Princesses. Stargazer Lottie won the Little Scientists category in Space.com’s 2015 Space Age Awards at the 112th annual North American International Toy Fair in New York City (Feb 2015)

The story goes that a five year old from Canada, named Abby, came up with the idea for Stargazer Lottie to join a line-up of super cool dolls.

Arklu Ltd had already produced Pirate Queen Lottie, Kawaii Karate Lottie, Robot Girl Lottie and Fossil Hunter Lottie. Creative designer of Arklu Ltd and co-founder of Lottie Dolls, Lucy Follet,  worked in collaboration with the European Space Agency to produce Stargazer Lottie.

As Abby had suggested, Stargazer Lottie would have her own telescope and constellation charts, posters of the Earth, the Moon and Venus as well as stars on her clothing. Lucy Follet called on astrophysicist, Karen Masters, senior lecturer in the Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation at the University of Portsmouth in the United Kingdom, to advise on all things astronomical. Now Stargazer Lottie’s box also includes a sheet with the biographies of famous women astronomers.

If Lottie Dolls catch on big time, little girls will toss away their make-up, high heels and jewellery, wear sensible clothing, stand firmly on there own two feet and aspire to become the future’s great scientists.

Lottie Dolls website: http://www.lottie.com/
Watch Lottie: www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnLaTXMfrhA

In 2014 Dr Karen Masters won the Women of the Future Award in the science category.
“This category recognises a group of truly remarkable young female scientists, forging new ground in research and scientific achievement”
On receiving the award Dr Masters said: “It’s a real honour to be recognised alongside this group of extraordinary women. I’m delighted that the Women of the Future Awards include this science category; it highlights how important it is for women to be part of our scientific culture.
I’m passionate about demonstrating that science is for everyone. I do this through my work with the citizen science project, Galaxy Zoo, in which more than 400,000 people help my research on galaxies, and through helping to encourage young women (as well as men) to consider science as an exciting, creative and important area to study.”
Women of the Future awards: https://www.ras.org.uk/news-and-press/news-archive/254-news-2014/2527

Dr Karen Masters Website :http://icg.port.ac.uk/~mastersk/