I am a human.  I am an advocate.

I am the type of person whose personality traits may seem to contradict, but end up working together in the end.  I am a soft-spoken person, but I will defend my opinions very tirelessly and meticulously. My will is strong once I have decided, and my actions are filled with imagination and creativity, but I always try to keep my expectations tempered and logical.  I am one of those people who see the bigger picture, the matrix of how the system works together.

Most prominently, I am a decisive person.  Once I have made up my mind on what I want to do, I will be dedicated to doing it.  It’s like an airplane taking off. Once it has reached velocity, it is committed to the takeoff, there is no stopping it in time.  In my life, this shows up in my career choice, which is in aerospace engineering. I decided almost 3 years ago that I wanted to work in aerospace, and I have meticulously inched myself closer and closer to that goal.  

I am a person in which it can be hard for people to understand my reasoning behind my logic.  It is of course very important for me to understand the bigger picture of an entire system. I am a big lover of thought experiments as it helps me sharpen my skills with such understanding of a bigger picture, the complex matrix of how everything goes together.  All it takes is a systematic approach to reaching an understanding of the topic. It’s like Sudoku, piecing the clues together and eliminating red flags.

I am also a deep thinker kind of person where I am quick to come up with ideas, but I often take a lot of time to temper and explain to myself the logic behind my ideas and also how realistic they might be.  This is a sort of double edged sword as in one hand, it helps me to articulate my words better, but as a downside, it makes the process of talking/writing in general take longer.

In conclusion, my skill set is one in which time is at the utmost value.  It takes time to think through my own logic, and it’s that time that I stand to lose in the long run.  Time itself is very important for being accomplished. How much time you have and how you manage it is the very way that dictates what is possible in that time.  It sounds easy but is actually very hard because in the end, wasting things is easier than saving them.

Matthew Nguyen 09-27-18

Atoms & Art

Bohrium

My element for this project was Bohrium, with the atomic number of 107 and atomic symbol of Bh.  Bohrium was first discovered in 1976 at the Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia by Yuri Oganessian, and the element was confirmed in 1981 by Peter Armbruster and Gottfried Münzenber at the GSI particle  accelerator (Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung) in Darmstadt, Germany. It was created by bombarding Bismuth with Chromium in both labs, but since the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) said that GSI’s discovery claim was more credible than JINR, GSI were awarded the discovery despite JINR likely discovering it first.  The element was named after Niels Bohr, a danish physicist and Nobel prize receiver in 1922 for physics, who made contributions to our knowledge on atomic structure and quantum theory. Bohrium does not have any real life uses and it has only been produced in minute quantities in particle accelerators. Little is actually known about what Bohrium other than it is a highly radioactive metal and it is solid at room temperature,  as its half-life is only a few seconds long.

The idea I got for the imagery of my element came from the knowledge that it was created in a particle accelerator, so I decided to sketch up an image of two particles colliding and creating many new particles and elements.  To print the sketch, I first needed to trace the original sketch on tracing paper, then transfer that over to the foam board backwards and essentially etching the positive space. I would then roll the paint onto the brayer and roll it onto the foam board.  Then I would place a piece of paper on top of it and apply even pressure on the paper to transfer the ink. I would occasionally lift up the corner or the side of the paper to see where more pressure was needed to be applied and then the paper was removed and left to dry.  If I were to make the print a second time, I would’ve put more texture onto the motion trails of the particles as on the print, it is just solid color. I would’ve also printed multiple colors if I wasn’t already past the printing stage by that point. I enjoyed doing the printing the most, and specifically rolling out the paint as it was satisfying to do and it was the most hands on step of the process.  

SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch. https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/03/01/rideshare-mission-for-u-s-military-confirmed-as-second-falcon-heavy-launch/

“Side booster ignition! 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, and liftoff of Falcon Heavy, building on the history of Saturn V Apollo, returning pad 39A to interplanetary space!”  Since the cancellation of the constellation program, NASA has struggled to put anything onto the table when it comes to manned spaceflight.  It has stuck with the SLS program, which has fell very far behind its goals of a 2017 launch despite reusing old shuttle technology.

In the private sector however, SpaceX has quickly made progress with the Falcon series of rockets, including the Falcon Heavy, the most powerful rocket in use currently, doubling the possible payload to space of the next most powerful rocket, the Delta IV heavy, with the added benefit of being reusable, which saves money.  In my previous blog post here, I talked about SpaceX being able to save money, which they have already before even reusing the rockets, and they have also proven that they could launch the world’s most powerful rocket, however, they still need NASA to reach their goals as they do receive funding from NASA for the commercial crew program.  

For my agent of change,  I have decided to spread awareness of NASA’s funding.  I created a petition on Change.org which can be found here.  I also created 2 posters with the phrase “This is our future.  Make it happen”.

The first one has a Falcon heavy rocket during launch.  The idea behind that one is showing what SpaceX is doing and how they are going revolutionize space travel by first, making the largest rocket flying today, and second, make it reusable. They are already on their way to that goal with the Falcon 9 block 5 and the Falcon heavy rocket, but they plan to go one step  further with an even larger rocket called the BFR.  However, the BFR is an absolutely massive rocket, with obscene payload capabilities.  So what will the BFR be used for exactly?

The second poster is an image of “Occupy Mars” logo, which depicts Mars in it’s phases of being terraformed into a life supporting planet.  Again, SpaceX is at the forefront of this innovation with a plan to colonize Mars using their within the next century, with the first cargo missions launching on BFR around 2022.  

Something that I have learned via my agent of change was to never underestimate a human’s ability to procrastinate.  My petition I created only amounted up to 18 signatures as of May 18, however, change is already happening in the industry around us with such minds as Elon Musk.  Rather than working at the question of how NASA can get more money, he is achieving more through having the space industry spend less to do the same thing. Although the change that I pushed for in particular is not happening, there is definitely change happening in the industry of space exploration as a whole, and it seems like it is for the better, and I think we should leave it at that and see what the future has in store for us.  

Negative Space in layman's terms is what is in the background of an image.  Negative space is generally what isn’t what needs to be seen in an image, while the positive space is all that does need to be seen.  More simply put, positive space tends to be closer while negative space tends to be further back. When negative and positive space are drawn as only single colors rather than the range of colors or with outlines, it appears to be as if it is a silhouette of the image.  

In the cutout, I found the negative space to be what is not the tree and that on the drawing was what was already white, and the positive space was in grey.  However, that only gave me defines between negative and positive space. To actually see what is negative and positive space, it took looking at the image and seeing “aha!” this is a tree and this figure is the positive space, so thus the rest must be negative space.  

It helps an artist to see in negative and as it shows them what to focus on and what parts are more important in an image.  It allows them to split up and comprehend the image based on certain figures. Seeing in negative space ultimately enhances drawings as it gives a more realistic effect to drawings as it allows people to contrast between background and foreground and see what is supposed to be seen in an image.  

Script

Alaska’s mom’s death Scene:
Cindy: Welcome back to MNCC News. I am Cindy. Today’s breaking news is a mother of a 9 year old child, Alaska Young has passed away from aneurysm. We have Carol at the scene, take it away.  

Carol:  

As you can see I’m at the Young house where Ms. Young passed away late last night.  Sources say that Ms. Young was feeling fine later that day but passed away because of an aneurysm at January 10,1997.  Her daughter Alaska Young found her passed out on the kitchen floor. In shock she could only stay still as she watched her mother passed away before her eyes.

Cindy: Thank you Carol and that would be today’s news. I am Cindy and you were  watching MNCC News.

Night at the barn Scene:

Alaska: You won that round. Now what’s your worst day?

Pudge: My worst day was in seventh, grade when Tommy Hewitt pissed on my gym clothes and then the gym teacher said I had to wear my uniform or I’d fail the class.

Alaska: The day after my mom took me to the zoo where she liked the monkeys and I liked the bears, it was a Friday. I went to my room, and she sat down at the kitchen table, I guess, and then she screamed, and I ran out, and she had fallen over. She was lying on the floor, holding her head and jerking. And I freaked out. I should have called 911. But I just started screaming and crying.

Car Accident Scene:

Cindy: Breaking News. Today, a young girl from Culver Creek Boarding School has died from a car accident. Now we have Carol on the scene. Take it away.

Carol: I am on set of the car accident. Moments ago, a junior at Culver Creek High School, student Alaska Young had passed away from driving under the influence. We are on scene with the cop that Alaska Young ran into

Police: I seen plenty, but I ain’t never seen that. She didn’t tarn. She didn’t brake. She jest hit it.  I wasn’t more than ten feet from the cruiser when she hit it. I thought I’d die, but here ah am.

Obituary

Carol: Thank you police officers, Back to you Cindy

Cindy: Thank you Carol for the intense story.That would be all for today’s news. I am Cindy and you were watching MNCC News.

The Eagle talks about the Alaska’s death at the auditorium Scene:

Cindy: Welcome back to MNCC News. I am Cindy. Today, we have another story on the death of student Alaska Young from Culver Creek Boarding School.  On the scene is Eagle Martin, talking on the life of Alaska Young.

Carol: Is everyone here?  

Nickell: No, Alaska isn’t here.

Carol: Is everyone else here?

Nickell: Alaska Isn’t here.  We can’t start without Alaska.

Carol: Last night, Alaska Young was killed in a terrible accident.  And then she was killed. Alaska has passed away. She was on I-65 just south of downtown.  She hit the cop car without swerving. The police said they smelled alcohol.

Artist’s rendering of NASA’s SLS on the launchpad.  Credit: SpaceNews.com: http://spacenews.com/nasa-sets-december-2019-date-for-first-sls-launch/

“All three engines up and burning.  3, 2, 1, 0, and liftoff! The final liftoff of Atlantis.  On the shoulders of the Space Shuttle, America will continue the dream!”  Since the end of the Space Shuttle program, NASA has aimed for the much more ambitious goal of sending a man to Mars.  Currently, they plan to launch man to Mars by the mid 2030’s In the last blog post, I talked about how NASA’s funding has declined since its apex in the 60’s 70’s and the moon landings.  Since then, the Space Shuttle has expanded knowledge of living within space but it can travel no further than low earth orbit.  To do that, they need to build a new Space Launch System or SLS. However, it is already much more expensive than the proposed BFR from SpaceX who plan to launch more to Mars at just a fraction of the cost.  One possible reason for this is the change of power in the United States meaning change in plans for NASA’s programs, leading to progress taking a long time to be done with constantly changing goals.  

After having collected surveys from students at SLA, I would like to share my results, but before that, I will state the goals of my survey.  My plan for the survey was to ask people how much they believed that NASA receives, along with whether they should receive more or less funding.  As I continued my research, I began to add more questions based on companies like SpaceX competing with NASA. When it came to the answers, the common answer to “how much money do you think NASA receives?” was around the ballpark of 2-5 Billion, with some saying in the range of millions, and one answer saying trillions, but the trend is showing that people think NASA receives less money than they actually do,

which is around 18 Billion.

The majority of people believed that NASA should receive more funding, and they said that the money for that should come from the budget for Government or Military for the reasons of it being important for them to combat global warming and advance technology on earth with endless possibilities.  The people who said that NASA should receive less funding said that it should go to education, citing the reason that our school system is falling apart and would need the funding.

Another question that was added was on the topic of NASA’s manned Mars mission, which to me, would show the people’s faith in NASA to send humans to Mars within a decent time frame.  The majority had faith in NASA to land a man on Mars before their planned date timeframe of the 2030’s

For the next series of questions had to do with NASA versus private companies when it comes to landing a man on Mars first.  NASA plans to use the SLS to launch humans to Mars while a likely rival is SpaceX with their Big Falcon Rocket or BFR, who plans to get to Mars cheaper than NASA, but a timeframe isn’t clear yet.  This question was more split with slightly more than half believing that NASA would send humans to Mars first, citing that these private companies might not be reliable and the rest saying that Private companies will send humans to Mars first, with one reason being as they are cheaper than NASA.  

Annotated Bibliography here.

Apollo 11 Launch: https://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/about/history/50thgallery/1969-07-16-5.html

“Ignition sequence start! 5. . 4. . 3. . 2. .  1. . 0. . All engines running!  Liftoff!”  The Apollo program was the pinnacle of the American space program and the moon landing exhilarated the nation.  However, since then, NASA, or the National Aeronautics and Space Administration fell from grace.   Currently, NASA receives about 0.5% of the US National budget, or to put it in a different light, about $10 of your individual income tax dollars goes to NASA each year.  In this chart describing the 2015 national budget, NASA is included in the sciences section, but still only received about .5% of the total budget.

Discretionary Spending 2015. National Priorities project. https://www.nationalpriorities.org/budget-basics/federal-budget-101/spending/

 NASA’s peak funding occured in the 1960’s, when the US landed a man on the moon.  During that era, NASA received a max of 4.41% of the US budget.  Currently, NASA is managing a variety of programs pertaining to space and aeronautics, such as satellite imagery, commercial satellites in space, and the International Space Station.  This chart shows how NASA’s budget was allocated in 2014.

NASA Budget allocations.  Sarah Scoles http://cs.astronomy.com/asy/b/astronomy/archive/2013/04/11/nasa-publishes-its-proposed-2014-budget.aspx

 They’ve been tasked with managing more programs in space than ever before, but their funding slowly decreased from the 70’s and 80’s, when they developed the Space Shuttle, and despite it being a very expensive vehicle, NASA was forced to borrow most of the money for it from the Department of Defense, the most funded sector in the US Budget.

This topic is important because every dollar spent on NASA adds $10 to the economy.  Most of this comes from technological innovation and new companies formed to make this new technology from NASA spaceflight.  Some of these technologies include ATMs, GPS, dialysis machines, and CAT scanners.  All together, NASA technologies have accounted for over 1400 products created.  One example of a technology indirectly helping populations is a satellite named SMAP, which monitors soil moisture levels on earth.

Artist’s depiction of SMAP:  https://www.nasa.gov/smap/overview/

It costed $900 million to build and launch, but if that money was used as a direct donation, it could feed the entire continent of Africa for less than one day.  SMAP on the other hand helps its population by improving crop yields and allowing the global population as a whole sustain themselves at a higher level for as long as the satellite is in service, which may be decades even.

Despite this, many people believe that NASA should receive less funding than it already does.  They don’t believe that money should be wasted on outer space and should directly be spent here, on earth, or they believe that NASA gets more funding than it actually does.  Some people may believe that NASA is not capable of going to space anymore and is too entangled with politics to do space exploration.  After doing research on this topic, I feel like I have a better understanding of the “why?” of the issue of funding in the space program, but I am still wondering what kind of role private companies are playing and how that would affect funding if they are successful.  I hope to learn more about the growing private sector of space, along with other people’s opinion on the topic and how much of a problem it may be.  

Annotated bibliography Here

SpaceX, short for Space Exploration Technologies is the future of space exploration and is a major interest of mine.  Future astronauts will, to quote Star Trek,  will boldly go where no man has gone before.  They will start first with the Falcon 9 with the dragon capsule bound for low earth orbit to the International Space Station.  Then they will go manned with Dragon V2 to the ISS.  The final step is to set up a permanent Mars colony using the Falcon Heavy These aren’t just astronauts that will go to Mars, but rather paying customers.  Just like the Airplane age of decades ago, space travel will be available to most rather than just the governments of a few nations.  

The design itself of the slide involves few words for quick reading as people do not like to deal with large walls of text on a poster or anything along those lines.  The Background is not filled with an image but rather just negative space for further simplicity and it is a dark color to contrast with the colors of the rockets and the text.  The rockets bleed beyond the slide, which is another important design decision for grabbing people’s attention.

1. My local area network mostly consists of wireless devices, such as a couple phones, televisions, and computers. The xbox 360 and Omen gaming Laptop however are both connected via ethernet along with an internet extender downstairs.  The Omen laptop’ connections to both the Samsung TV and the Router are not permanent and are only connected when at home.  

2. I have learned a bit about my network through this.  I finally found where the cable actually comes into the house, along with where the modem is.  I also learned that my internet comes in via coax rather than fiber despite having very low ping, 50/50 down and up, and my ISP being FIOS.  I also learned that my dad’s Dell Inspiron desktop is not connected via ethernet and is connected via wireless.

3. Something that I would tell people about ISPs are that they’ll probably lie to you.  They’ll create the image of something, but not exactly.  Also having a home network also requires both 2.4 and 5GHz connections as sometimes one may be too far or too slow.