Big Space News

This has been a big weekend for space events, but due to the election, debate, and financial crisis, it's gotten pretty buried in the news. Here's my quick synopsis of the two big stories.

Space-X Successfully Launched the Falcon 1
Space-X is a private company that has designed and built a series of rocket called the Falcon 1. Space-X is a topic of much debate in the space world. All other launch technology has been government funded, so a private launch company is a big change for this industry, and some people feel it cannot be successful. Space-X launches are advertised to be much cheaper than other launches available. The main competitor is Lockheed Martin and Boeing's combined United Launch Alliance (ULA). Some feel that ULA is too entrenched in the industry and inefficient. Some people, particularly those who have been in the industry a long time feel that Space-X is impractical and unlikely to succeed.

Space-X has previously had three unsuccessful launch attempts, with failures at various stages in flight. This has caused many who had doubts in the first place to feel they were right, and some who were hoping for Space-X to succeed to begin to give up hope. So Space-X really needed a successful launch. And, as you can see in the title, they got one! Now we'll see if they can continue to repeat this success and watch the industry react.

China's 3-Day Manned Space Mission Succeeded
At the end of last week, China launched their Shenzhou 7 spacecraft, with a 3-man crew. During the three-day mission, they completed a space walk (went outside the spacecraft into space), and used Chinese-designed spacesuits. Yesterday, they landed safely back on Earth. China's space program is advancing rapidly - in only three flights, they've accomplished much of what the United States did in its first 10 years. China's space program causes some concern among American leaders. The U.S. relationship with China is somewhat tense. Even in the area of space, where cooperation sometimes is possible despite other political issues, there is residual tension due to China's ASAT (anti-satellite) test in January 2007. China's space program is run by the People's Liberation Army, and the goals are not always as transparent as the United States would like. Regardless, the successful mission is very exciting and marks China as one of the few space powers in the world.

201st Post

This is the 201st post on my blog! I'm going to use it to write about two movies I saw recently.

Dr. Strangelove
This movie was made in 1964 by Stanley Kubrick, and is a dark comedy about a semi-accidental nuclear strike against Russia during the cold war. It's a little bit slow getting started, but once you're into it, it's very funny. I especially loved when the president talks to the Russian head of state, Dimitri. "I am as sorry as you are, Dmitri! Don't say that you're more sorry than I am, because I'm capable of being just as sorry as you are... So we're both sorry, all right?"

Burn After Reading

This is the newest Coen brothers movie - starring Brad Pitt, George Clooney, John Malcovich, and a bunch of other hilarious and talented actors and actresses. It's about two people who work at a gym who find the memoirs of an ex-CIA agent, and basically bungle the situation. Also pretty funny, this movie is reminiscent of Fargo. The plot wouldn't sound that funny if you just heard it, but somehow you're laughing throughout.

After Hours

I have to admit, part of the reason we wanted to go to the Alumni Conference was to have an excuse to spend a long weekend in Boston. Jeff and I tried to make the most of it and see our friends.

On Thursday, when I arrived, I met up with Patrick in Downtown Crossing and took the T with him to see his and Craig's new house the west side of Malden. It was a beautiful place, and they're doing some painting and decorating that's going to make it look pretty spectacular when it's finished. Patrick then made a home-cooked meal of meat loaf, mashed potatoes, and veggies. I helped out by making (instant) brownies afterwards. Then Craig, Patrick, and I hung out and watched TV - kind of like the old days when we lived in Medford!

On Friday, Jeff was in town, and we went to his old fraternity house to visit friends there. He and I grabbed dinner at Bertucci's, which shares a back alley with his house, and where we've eaten more times than I could count.

After dinner, we went back to the house where our friends were having a "Miracle Berry Party". Featured in the New York Times, this is a new fad in which you eat these berries that have a particular protein that binds to the taste receptors and makes sour foods taste sweet. After eating this berry, you eat other foods, which now have completely different tastes. Biting into a lemon just tastes like a class of lemonade or a lemon jolly rancher - no tartness, just sweet and lemony. Other foods are similarly altered. Bit of an odd thing to do on a Friday night, but that's pretty reminicent of our days at school.

Saturday, Jeff and I planned a big-ish dinner with friends at Vinny T's. We met up with Matt Herman, Matt Carvey, Andrew, Helen, Sunita, and Deepa. The food was great (as always) and dinner was lots of fun. Afterwards we walked over to Kendall Square to stop by Irene's housewarming party. Jeff and I had a pretty long day, so we caught a ride home with Craig and Patrick as they left the Farm Aid concert around 11pm. We hung out a bit at their house and then called it an early night.

Sunday, we didn't have anything planned, so we slept in and spent the morning on the couch. Carvey came and picked us up and we went for brunch at the Ball Square Cafe & Breakfast. The food was amazing. I had the Multigrain Delight - a multigrain waffle covered in fruit.

After brunch, we headed back to Carvey's house, where Andrew, Helen, and Dan Lopuch also live. I played Wii Fit for the first time ever. The games last about 2 minutes each, so you feel like you've done a lot even though you've only been exercising for 10 minutes. Then it was time for Star Trek Voyager - I just got Carvey to start watching this (he loves TNG), and he likes it a lot, so we though we'd watch a few episodes.

After that, Jeff and I headed into Cambridge to meet up with Brice and Dyani for dinner and a movie. We had dinner at B-Sides - which I had never been to before. Then we went to the Kendall Square Cinema and saw "Burn After Reading", which we all liked.

From there, it was back to Somerville, where Jeff and I met up with Jess for a drink at Orleans in Davis Square. We stopped by Jess and Sam's new house and hung out with them a bit. It's very cool to see where people are living, especially now that they own places and are doing all the designing.

Monday morning, we woke up, did a bit of work, and then headed to the airport. Great Boston trip!

MIT Alumni Conference

I spent Friday and Saturday attending the MIT Alumni Leadership Conference and here's what it was all about:

Friday, September 19, 2008
K-12 Initiatives
This series of speakers and panels was about K-12 Initiatives at MIT - things MIT is doing as an institution, things MIT Alumni have done as individuals, and ideas on how to get involved.

The keynote speaker talked about the importance of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics) education and noted that the portion of STEM graduates in the U.S. is declining. They're hoping to create an MIT Alumni volunteer program that trains thousands of volunteers to work in high school classrooms by 2011. Through this, they hope to make an impact on children's education.

Q. You know that a tree starts out as just a seed. As a tree is growing from a seed into a tree, where is most of the material coming from? (i.e. when you look at a tree, where did all the 'stuff' that makes up the tree come from?)

Q. When you burn something, there are only ashes left, and the ashes take up much less space than the object did before you burnt it. Where did all that stuff go?

The second speaker was Jo Ellen Rosemen, who works with the AAAS 2061 Program. The program started in 1985, and is named for the 2061 return of Halley's Comet. The program investigates what is necessary to be science literate. They found through their research that there is a very low proportion of the public, and even more surprisingly, of recent college graduates, that are science literate. The two questions above were used as examples of things that are considered necessary to be science literate, but which many college grads struggle to answer correctly. The program helps to develop standards and work with teachers on how to better teach the concepts.

The third speaker talked about MIT Open Courseware (OCW), which is a really cool program. MIT basically decided to digitize the course materials for as many courses as possible and put them online for free. You can access lecture notes, problem sets, tests, sometimes even video lectures, for hundreds of classes. These can be used by teachers for AP classes, or by students in other places for studying or just learning for fun.

The last panel was a group of alums who were very involved in volunteering for the K-12 group, and talked about their experiences. It was interesting to hear their unique perspective on how much time is required and what tactics to use to help students learn.

Saturday, September 20, 2008
Innovation @ MIT
The first talk was about innovation at MIT. The Dean of Engineering talked about the importance of innovation in general, coupled with the decline of federal funding for basic research. At MIT they are encouraging multi-disciplinary research. They have the advantage that almost all the schools, even the business school and school of humanities, are Science and Technology savvy. This helps facilitate interaction between those students and engineering students.

Synthetic Biology - iGEM
Another speaker talked about the new field of Biological Engineering (now course 20 at MIT). The field looks at building biological parts just like you build computer parts. This also means being able to manipulate biological systems. They hold a yearly contest (called iGEM) for high school and college students, the rules for which are basically to "do something cool" in biological engineering. And teams have stepped up to the plate. Students created an easy test to find out how much arsenic is in the water in wells in Bangladesh. Other students developed a way to make e. coli bacteria smell like bananas (less useful, but still pretty cool).

Leadership
There was a talk on leadership, and how to get others to take the lead. It gave four main steps. Sensemaking was about collecting data, and using this as well as trial and error to understand the situation. Relating was understanding other people's positiongs and clearly explaining your own views and reasoning. Visioning included coming up with a purpose for everything you're doing and having specific goals. Inventing was turning the vision into action and engaging others in the planning stages.

Behind the Scences of Admissions @ MIT
The last talk we went to was about how MIT runs admissions - how they choose the incoming undergraduate class. Though this isn't really something Jeff and I need to know for practical reasons, its always interesting to hear. One of the first things they tell you when you come to campus is that "It wasn't a mistake."

They gave some statistics, including that the number of highschool graduates is increasing, and that more women are now attending college than men and that this divide is growing. Then they went inot a bit more detail about how they choose. As you might expect, it isn't based solely on scores or on impressive resumes, but on accomplishments mapped to opportunities. They look for initiative, energy, and engagement, particularly in S&T. They like to see evidence of personal skills - being a good citizen, and extracurricular interests. They try to find the kids whose personalities seem best-matched to the MIT community. Despite popular lore at MIT, they denied any purposeful alternating between a "well-rounded" class and a "nerdy" class each year.

Overall the conference was a lot of fun - there didn't seem to be that many other young alums, but Jeff and I were glad to have gone, and would probably go again in the future!

I love MIT!

I just arrived for my first day at the MIT alumni conference, and completed my first walk from Kendall Square T Stop to the Student Center in quite a while, and it definitely spurred some nostalgia. Here's how it went:

First, I got off the T at the Kendall/MIT stop, thinking, "Yay, MIT". I took the stairs instead of the escalator, remembering that the stairs turn a corner, allowing you to exit facing the right direction, slightly decreasing the amount of time you'll be late to class.

Immediately, I can see the MIT Press Bookstore, above which I had some of my international studies classes, and where I went to see about doing an internship in another country. Past the bookstore, I cut through MIT Medical. (Which you basically have to do, since its a big building to walk around.) MIT Medical, the location of more than one nervous visit, either for me or for friends - like when Carvey hurt his leg, and Craig and I took him in the next day, concerned by the mysterious colors that it was turning.

When you exit, the media center is there to great you - covered in big white tiles, like a giant bathroom floor. I see the 'MIT' built into the design - if you look just right, you see it spelled out in giant letters by the pillars at the entrance and over the stairs.

On, past the media center, and down the stairs, I cross Ames street and notice that crazy building that comes to point, and also East Campus. East Campus is a dorm, made up of two buildings with a courtyard in between. East Campus was famous for being home to some of the creative, wild, and eccentric at MIT. In the beginning of the year they used to have naked pool parties in the courtyard. I never partook personally, but I do remember hearing about it during orientation, and thinking, "Wow, I really am in college now..." Suddenly, there were no rules - it was just a bunch of 18-year-olds running around, in charge of themselves.

Through a gap in the buildings, I see the Stata Center - the building of brick and metal that looks like its falling down. It opened while I was here, I helped run games of lazer tag in the basement at the official opening. I also took (and then TA-ed) the 8.02T class that drew ire from so many students. (People hated that attendance mattered, and that it was an interactive method of learning, with tabletop experiments and in-class problem solving, rather than a 300-person lecture hall...) I was in that building spring of my senior year as well, TAing the Intro to Aero/Astro course taught by Jeff Hoffman.

Ok, let's keep moving. Past the green building - the tallest building in Cambridge. (Which coincidently is not green at all - just a very normal shade of light-brown.) It's open on the first floor (so it looks like it's on stilts), and has revolving doors to get to stairs up to classrooms and offices. The story is that, when they first built it, the wind would come off the river and whip through that opening, spinning the revolving doors at light speed. They had to intall a piece of art (The Great Sail) in the courtyard to alter the air flow.

On my left is the building where Jeff took one of his IAP classes his freshman year - and also the place where he and I would find a corner to sit and chat for a few minutes before he had to go back to the house for his 24/7 participation in Help Week at his fraternity.

And then there's the building where the Concourse classroom is located - that's where I took most of my freshman classes. It's right next door to the Concourse lounge, which had a couch and a blanket that I used many times to take much-needed naps to make it through the first of my four sleep-deprived years.

Then its up the stairs and into the Infinite Corridor. The infinite corridor is the long hallway (you can see one end to the other) which connects all of MIT's main buildings. I walked down this hallway almost every day while I was here. Along the walk, I pass the Building 4 Cafe. There was a period when I used to stop there for fruit and yogurt parfait almost every day. I pass by the space that used to be the registrar's office, marked a huge dollar bill painted the size of the wall, where I used to pick up checks while working as a student researcher. It's since been turned into a lounge (thanks to direct deposit, I guess) and the dollar-bill wall has been replaced by glass.

Then I'm in Lobby 10, looking out through the glass doors at Killian Court, where we used to play ultimate frisbee with the FAP kids that were there a day early. (I used to be a counselor for the Freshman Art Preorientation Program every year.) It's also where we held graduation. Framed by the old white stone buildings, with green grass, the Charles River, and Boston in the distance, Killian is one of the nicest views on campus. Also, I know that above me is the Great Dome, now illuminated at night, which is the location of many of the famous MIT hacks. At one point, students managed to put a police car on top of it - complete with donuts on the seat.

Now I was past the half-way point in the infinite. I walk past the stairs to 10-250, one of the most famous lecture halls at MIT, where I actually never had a lecture. Though I did camp out there for the Chorallaries Bad Taste Concert a few years in a row. (That's an acapella group at MIT that puts on a concert at midnight once a year.)

Past Student Services (ah, so many forms and waiting in line!), and into Lobby 7. I've spent lots of time putting up posters here, advertising for Model United Nations, or whatever other group I was in. I helped the Intro Aero/Astro club test their parachutes, as they dropped them from the third floor. There is a cafe in the corner, which opened while I was an undergrad, and where I got coffee many mornings during my senior year.

I don't go visit now, but I know that just down the hall is building 33, home to the Aero/Astro labs and many of the classrooms. My sophomore year, I spent three hours a day, five days a week, sitting in the Unified Engineering classroom - an intense class with lecture 9am-11am daily, in which you learn about all fields of engineering in relation to aerospace. In the labs, I built airplanes, low-pressure boxes, and even 3D printed a human leg for spacesuit testing.

Out of Lobby 7, down the stairs, and across 77 Mass Ave - which I think of as the official address of MIT. I see Bexley - the dorm that has anti-rush - they try to scare potential freshman off, so that rooms in the old apartment building are not crowded, and they're pretty effective. On the right is the student center.

The Student Center has Anna's Taqueria - my favorite burrito place in the world (even better than Chipotle!). Anna's was famous even before it came to campus, and when we could get our hands on a car, we used to drive out to Brookline to get it. It moved into the student center just after my junior year, and then I ate it for lunch almost every single day my senior year - sometimes twice a day, if I was still on campus at dinner time. LaVerde's - where I've bought a million late night snacks and sandwhiches. Up on the floors above, I'd done hours of studying. And now I'm sitting in the Alpine Bagel place - which housed a wide variety of food establishments - constantly changing since I came here. At the moment, there's a Dunkin Donuts. Yay, coffee!

Kresge's out the window, opposite the MIT Chapel - surrounded by its moat. I know that dorm row is just down the street - maybe I'll make a stop over to Burton-Conner, my home for my first two years at MIT. And I'll definitely make a trek across the Harvard Bridge (ask me the story of why it's called that, even though it's right on MIT campus) over to Boston, despite the biting wind.

Alright, that was quite a long walk down memory-lane, and I've only been on campus for an hour. I'm really looking forward to the Alumni Conference!

My life is becoming a series of crazy coincidences...

On Monday night, tired from sitting in my house all day, Jeff and I make a last-minute decision to see the 10pm show of Vicky Christina Barcelona at the E Street Cinema. We decide to bike there, and leave later than we meant to, but miraculously arrive 20 minutes early. (I love those bikes!) With all this extra time on our hands, we decide to fill out the form to join the E Street Cinema Movie Club. Then we got snacks and went to our movie.

And then, today, I received this message facebook:

Hey Mariel!

Remember how we used to work together at a movie theater and hang out a bunch eight years ago? Well, it just so happens that my current job is managing the E-Street Cinema in Washington DC. It was a bit of a shock to see your name staring me in the face when I went to collect the film club sign-up cards last night. It can't be the same Mariel John, I thought. I quickly looked you up on Facebook and saw that you do, in fact, live in DC. Then I spent the next 30 minutes in the lobby watching all the people come out of the movies, thinking that maybe I'd see you. No such luck. You must have been at an earlier show. Anyway, the point here is...THIS IS AN INSANE COINCIDENCE!

I won't post the whole message, but that's the gist of it. The message was from Tom Beddow, who I had worked with at Marcus Cinema while I was in high school. We'd hung out all the time during those years. Then, he'd moved to Michigan, and I'd moved to Boston, and we'd lost touch over the years. Now, through a completely random series of events, we've run into each other again! So we're now planning on getting together and catching up, and I'm really looking forward to seeing an old friend again! Still, after the ring-finding thing the other day, another huge coincidence is so surprising - who knows what will happen next?

In the News!

First thing this morning, I headed to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) building in DC, to give a presenation on our ISU Team Project - Spaceports - with Emma, Stephanie, and Eric. The presentation went really well. People seemed to enjoy it, and we had some interesting questions. We even made it onto the FAA website, where they posted an article about our presentation.

After lunch, I went in for my first few hours working at The Space Foundation. I am a research analyst, and will be in charge of collecting daily news clips about space issues, helping with events, and researching and writing white papers about the space industry.