Adventuneering

Posted on July 20, 2011 by kaan

My motorbike is not “reliable” in the classical sense. Or any sense actually. I usually travel with a full complement of tools to maintain hope I will get through any journey. Rarely, if ever, does the “expectation to arrive” exceed 80%. It is all part of the adventure on the old beast.

On the Canada Day long weekend I went for a ride out to Slocan (for the Engineers Without Borders Western Retreat). I brought many tools and a variety of equipment to be ready to face whatever might come my way. I was not disappointed by the magnitude of the adventure.

The journey began on Wednesday night. It was sunny in Vancouver as I left. There was a sprinkling fo rain in Abbotsford and I could see the clouds getting darker so I stopped and put on my rain gear. This consists of a rain coat, bib-style rain pants, and gaiters. I reached Chilliwack just as the road washed away. I did a U-turn and went zipping down the freeway the wrong direction (on the shoulder) to the last exit. My intent was to cross the bridge in Chilliwack over to highway 7 near Agassi. Apparently the slide was making news radio and the evening commuters were already being diverted. More lane splitting and shoulder riding eventually got me to the bridge. The torrential rain was not letting up.

As I maneuvered my way through traffic one of the bolts on my windshield worked its way loose. It came off and hit me as I was darting around. I managed to straighten and secure the windshield without stopping (the remaining bolt held strong). The ~45 km from Chilliwack to Hope took me about two hours. By this time my rain gear had given up and I was drenched from the waist down. My boots were full. I nearly ran out of gas despite my time-saving driving tactics. I rolled into the fuel station in Hope having been running on the reserve portion of the tank for some time and the engine having just begun to sputter.

I stepped into the tim hortons for some hot chilli to warm the bones. I did not bother taking off any of my wet gear as the rain showed no signs of letting up. While in line I overheard two men talking to each other (but directed at me I think) about the illegal activities of motorbikers. My only thought was “if you were stuck in a convertible with the top down, you would improvise too.” I kept my mouth shut.

The rain stopped shortly before Merrit. As I ascended into the mountains I even climbed high enough for the sun to rise again. Watching the sun rise in the west is pretty cool. I used to see it all the time during late evening plane rides headed out for a skydive. I forgot how beautiful it is.

In Merrit I found an empty parking lot and stripped down to my undies. The warmth radiating out of the pavement reinvigorated me. About 15 minutes later I put on dry woolies and got back on the road. I reached the home of Gunner near Vernon sometime after dark.

Thursday morning I resumed my cruise out to the Kootneys. This day made the whole trip worthwhile. Gorgeous open roads and beautiful scenery. I stopped in Cherryville at the Triple Island Cheese Farm. Next fuel stop and mobile phone coverage is in Nakusp, 140 km away, with a ferry ride at Needles, 80 km away. I made it 50 km before the bike died.

The engine just stopped. The headlight would not even come on suggesting that it was an electrical issue. I unloaded the bike and went straight to the fuse box. Indeed one had blown. I swapped it for a spare and turned the key. The gauges lit up and everything looked good. Before starting the bike I proceeded to do a systems check: high beam, signals, brakes. Everything went dead again and I began the trouble shooting process. Usually troubleshooting means you try something and then see if things got better or not (or worse). In this case every time I was “wrong” in cost me a fuse. I quickly found myself sacrificing unnecessary systems to scavenge the fuse from that circuit. I managed to narrow the problem down to a specific part of the brake wiring just as I ran out of fuses. I decided that if I was truly confident I had found the problem and it had been eliminated, I didn’t need a fuse – I needed power. I broke off a piece of the cotter pin from the rear axle bolt and fashioned it into a “fuse”. I bent it around the contacts in the now nearly vacant fuse box and turned the key. Smoke. Turn key back.

I guess that is why you are not supposed to replace fuses with chunks of metal. I stood and contemplated for a moment and had another idea. Another quick adjustment to my jury-rigged wiring gave me renewed confidence. I turned the key again. No smoke. Gauge lights on. Systems check out. The bike starts! I am filled with smug glee. I grab a fist full of throttle continue the journey to the ferry. Fortunately the hardware store in Nakusp had fuses that were adequately compatible.

Riding the needles ferry

At the fire base in Nakusp I was able to do a more professional job of my re-wiring, replace the cotter pin for my rear axle and procure a new bolt for the windshield. (Thanks Tess!) The next few days in Slocan were fabulous. Other than some issues with the drivetrain that have resulted in me taking the bike off the road permanently, there were no other problems on the trip and I got back to Vancouver that Sunday unscathed.

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A Victorian Adventure

Posted on July 19, 2011 by kaan

I had a marvelous weekend in Victoria packed with adventure.

As soon as I arrived on Friday I met up with Annelies for a scrumptious chocolate tart. They were so good I think she may have laced them with unicorn tears. (This is impressive because, as she and I have learned, tear collection is a tricky business.)

We hopped on our bicycles to rendezvous with Kristina at the lovely Cornerstone Cafe for some open mike excellence. I heard a great (read: moody) Velvet Underground cover. Unfortunately I think this means the performer is likely bearing angst similar to that which tormented Lou Reed. At least he was expressing himself musically. He only knocked over some of the stage equipment.

The next morning we trotted off to the annual Moss St Art Festival (along with 30,000 other people). I was glad to be using the sleek power of a bicycle rather than crawling around in a clumsy automobile. We co-produced some art of our own.

I added the green polka dots to bambi.

I abandoned the art extravaganza to get to my sister’s wedding in beacon hill park. Having anticipated that I would be making a few changes of clothing in public (back and forth between cycling-geek and wedding-classy) I strategically chose my best looking undies for those who would have the pleasure of watching me change. (Last time they came out was in Skaha.)

My sister, Ame, newly married and in a tree.

In what is becoming an exhausting tradition, I did not get any sleep the night of the wedding. Well, actually, I got 15 minutes of sleep on Kristina’s porch at around 8:45 am. Then we made pancakes.

Kristina’s hand lit on fire just as I was taking the photo

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we be jammin’

Posted on July 15, 2011 by kaan

I have been a bit unwell the last few days. This has given me plenty of time for reading and other indoor activities that don’t take me too far from bed.

Yesterday I made one jar of jam. It was super simple and inspired by a post on my favourite food blog. I used raspberries I had purchased from the UBC farm and chia seeds I had in the cupboard here at home. I blended up the raspberries and added one heaping table-spoon of chia seeds. Then it went into the fridge overnight. The chia causes the juice to gelatinize. Today I ate it on toast with peanut butter.

In my down time I read an article in the October ’81 National Geographic my mum recently gave me. That issue highlights the recent (at publication) first space shuttle launch, STS-1,  and the associated rebirth of manned space flight. I was wowed by one particular stat. The mission commander, John Young (who I wrote about in a post a few days ago), did not have his heart rate go over 85 beats per minute during the launch sequence. “Holy shit” is all I can say. I think my heart rate goes over 85 out of fear my head will explode when I sneeze.

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Running some numbers

Posted on July 12, 2011 by kaan

I had a comment to yesterdays post highlighting the official NASA line they “intend to rent Russian seats to get to space until a private shuttle is ready.” Rather than crafting a reaction inline I thought I might make a more thorough response.

I perceive it will be more expensive and less flexible. There is no active private shuttle project that is officially beyond the concept phase.

The average shuttle mission costs $450 million all in [1]. Lift and return as many as 8 (but more often 7) people along with 25 metric tons in the payload bay [2]. One way to do the math is to say 7 people at $64 million each, you get the payload for free, and could launch up to 12 times per year (using all three orbiters) if demand called for it.

The NASA deal with RFSA over 2013-14 calls for only 6 seats at $56 million and then only 12 seats in 2014-15 at $63 million each [3]. A 50 kg payload per person is included in that price.

Being as the NASA Ares I rocket was cancelled earlier last year [4] they must now “outsource” that too. They can always buy a RFSA Proton rocket at $85 million each (not including launch costs) as that has a similar payload launch capability as the shuttle (but without the payload return capability). The European Ariane 5 rocket also has a similar launch capability at a slightly higher price [5]. And NASA currently has no capsule to put at the top of either of these options [4].

Any way you look at it human space flight is taking a drastic decline. I suppose it did from 1972 to 1981 as well. I imagine nerds like me were sad then too. At least they knew the shuttle was being built.

[1] http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/about/information/shuttle_faq.html#10
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_orbiter#Shuttle_Orbiter_Specifications
[3] http://www.space.com/11125-nasa-russia-soyuz-deal-spaceflights.html
[4] http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/space/nasa/4343791
[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_heavy_lift_launch_systems

Some more numbers as an afterthought:

USA bank bail out = $700 billion [6] (equivalent to 1555 shuttle launches)
EU bank bailout = $2.8 trillion [7] (equivalent to 62,222 shuttle launches)
GM USA bailout =$50 billion [8] (equivalent to 111 shuttle launches)
GM Canada bailout = $10.5 billion [9] (equivalent to 23 shuttle launches)

I am absolutely convinced NASA exhibits a better and more innovative “trickle down effect” than big banks or stagnating car companies.

[6] http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/01/31/us-usa-economy-bailout-idUSTRE60U09L20100131
[7] http://www.financialriskstoday.com/EU-bank-bill.php
[8] http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/06/10/truth-about-gm-bailout/
[9] http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/bailout-keeps-gm-canada-alive-46706887.html

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Launch Day

Posted on July 11, 2011 by kaan

Mum and I spent all day on Thursday July 7th traveling to Florida in anticipation of the launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis at 11:26 am on Friday the 8th. This was the 135th and final launch of the space shuttle program. There is no replacement program.

We checked into our hotel in Palm Bay around midnight Thursday (eastern time zone). Friday we awoke at 4:30 am. Our tickets and parking pass indicated we were to arrive by 7 am. Unsure how traffic would be, we wanted to leave an ample buffer for our google maps prediction of 45 minutes travel to be grossly wrong. After a shower, some breakfast in our room, and packing for the day, we were on the road. We arrived at the Kennedy Space Centre Astronaut Hall of Fame around 6:30 we set ourselves up in the north-east corner of the viewing grounds and had a pretty much clear line of sight to launch pad 39A. The weather was sketchy and though it did not rain on us, the pad had intermittent rain all morning. Everything was looking good and all parameters were “go” except the weather. There must be no rain showers within a 20 mile radius of the pad in order for the crew to be able to make a clear Return To Launch Site (RTLS) landing in case of emergency. The forecast reading gave an official prediction of 30% likelihood of launch appropriate weather.

At this point the shuttle is nearly done being fueled with almost 1.9 million liters of liquid hydrogen and oxygen. In short order we are watching the final pre-launch inspections being done as the close out crew arrives to prepare for the arrival of the crew. The crew begins making its way to the shuttle shortly after 8 am. They travel in an ’83 Airstream Astrovan.

Over the next two hours the shuttle crew is helped into the orbiter the close out crew ensures everything and everyone within the cockpit is ready for launch. They then very meticulously seal the hatch and do a pressure test to ensure there are no leaks. During this time launch weather compliance likelihood officially increased to 60%.

At T minus 9 minutes the official GO/NO-GO for launch is conducted but there is still intermittent rain! A waiver is given for the weather; even though there are occasional showers, they are clearing and will be gone by the time an RTLS event would occur.

Less than a minute to go and the tension builds! At about T-45 the main tank Gaseous Oxygen Vent Arm retracts from the top of the main tank. At T-31 everything then stops! The vent arm was not reading as fully retracted! From our location at the we could hear the radio chatter being broadcast live as Launch Control tried to get a visual confirmation that the arm was retracted. After two minutes of checks and double checks, everything was deemed safe for launch and the countdown resumed.

At T-6 the main engines start (the three middle ones that feed off the big orange tank). The shuttle is still clamped to the ground at the solid rocket boosters. The shuttle rocks forward and then backwards under the strain of its main engines. At time “T”, 11:29:03.9 am, we have SRB Start (Solid Rocket Booster, the ones on the side), the clamps release,  and moments later, “Lift off!”

STS-135 launch as seen from the KSC Astronaut Hall of Fame

The shuttle is traveling over 100 km/h by the time it clears the tower. A few seconds later when it broke the sound barrier I could feel and hear the shockwave. Once it had disappeared, I had spots in my vision from the intensity of the light from the rocket engines. What a sight. Worth all the anticipation.

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Intro to quantum mechanics and wave-particle harmonics

Posted on July 10, 2011 by kaan

For anyone interested in my research at UBC, here is a good introduction…

If a rocket was projected as a wave pattern, setting up harmonics such that they reconstitute the original relationship at another point of space/time, any variations could be sorted by a ‘key’ included to ensure the reconstruction was identical. If so, a flight to our nearest star, being only four and a half light years away, would effectively only take 4.5 years. Harmonic travel is impossible and I am making it up as I go along but if we did land on new planets, I would like there to be sexy girl aliens.

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nerd humour

Posted on July 8, 2011 by kaan

Did you know Johannes Kepler had a part-time job as janitor?
Each day he would sweep out equal areas.

I am soooooooo excited for the launch.

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r2ep photos

Posted on July 7, 2011 by kaan

Some photos from R2EP!

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More photos of me are here along with a rather anticlimactic video of me crossing the finish line.

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try SCE to ‘Aux’

Posted on July 5, 2011 by kaan

Friday I will be in Florida.

I have long been a keen learner of all things related to human spaceflight. No technological accomplishments in my lifetime have been more spectacular to me than the 134 NASA Space Shuttle launches and the RSCE Buran launch. So many of the people involved in all levels of both programs have been inspirational at various times in my life. Here is a taste of it.

The first shuttle pilot, John Young, was a quite the test pilot. He is one of only twelve people to have been to the surface of the moon, one of only three to have travelled to the moon twice, and the only person to have piloted four unique spacecraft. Young was the pilot on the first Gemini mission in 1965. In 1966 he commanded Gemini X demonstrating for the first time docking with two separate objects in orbit and travelled higher than had been done before. In 1969 he piloted the Command/Service Module (CSM) on Apollo X and was the first to fly around the moon alone as the Lunar Module crew simulated a landing by descending to within 47,400 feet of the lunar surface. He still holds the record for fastest speed in a manned vehicle after brining the CSM up to 39,897 km/h (11.08 km/s) during the return flight to earth. He set another speed record in 1972 when on the surface of the moon as the commander of Apollo 16; he took the lunar rover up to a “blazing” 18 km/h. During his first day on the moon the US House of Representatives approved funding for the Space Shuttle program. In 1981 Young was the commander of STS-1, the first manned space shuttle. His final space flight was STS-9 where he led a crew of six, the largest single crew complement of a space vehicle at that time. Just before re-entry he decided to “delay” and let the orbiter drift after some anomalous readings during a thruster maneuver. It was later discovered that had he not made his decision to delay, “loss of vehicle and crew would have resulted.” Holy balls. This guy is enough to make any kid want to be an astronaut.

Astronauts are cool, but I have always been even more intrigued by the ultra-nerds who make it all possible. During the launch of Apollo 12, the rocket was struck by lightning twice within a minute of liftoff. Telemetry went wild. On board altitude readings were erratic and mission control could not tell what was going on. Nearly every warning light was on and the mission was about to be aborted when an electronics engineer named John Aaron had an idea. If the signal conditioning equipment (SCE) were damaged then everything could be functional but the readouts would still be wrong. His words, “try SCE to ‘Aux'” baffled most people in mission control and two of the three astronauts but saved the mission. The first time ground staff really made headlines was during the calamity of the infamous Apollo 13 mission. Most people have seen the film and know the gist of the episode. In the film, astronaut Ken Mattingly is portrayed as leading the on-earth group figuring out a way to power-up the CSM for earth re-entry without collapsing the remaining battery power. The aforementioned John Aaron was also the one who actually sorted that out. These guys do a pretty good job of opening your eyes to the ass-kicking done from the ground.

People such as the two mentioned above (and I could list more!) were definitely key influencers in the path that lead me into engineering. I have wanted to personally take in a shuttle launch for as long as I can remember.

I will be in Florida on Friday to watch the 135th and final NASA Space Shuttle launch.

Posted in Inspiration, People, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

wrinkle cream and assisted living

Posted on July 2, 2011 by kaan

I’m sure I’m not alone feeling that modern marketing is frustrating and annoying. The content usually suggests my life is lacking in love or happiness. It seems these problems could be solved if I took the latest pill, lost a few pounds, and bought a new car. The psychology of advertising seems bent on convincing me that I am inadequate, inferior, and unhappy but one more gadget will solve the problem.

Reducing  my exposure to advertising is not always easy. I don’t have a TV – that helps. I stream nearly all shows or movies that I watch and manage to avoid a good deal of advertising that way. I tend to listen to CBC or satellite radio avoiding another big chuck of brainwashing.

On the internet avoiding advertising is a bit more tricky. Google is pretty crafty by using your search terms to promote relevent ads. Maybe this is actually useful? Other webpages blast me with a litany of needs I didn’t even know I had. E-mail spam is my favourite. Here I am frequently offered the opportunity to earn millions helping the banker for a dead Nigerian prince or address my need to acquire a 14 inch penis that will remain erect for more than 4 hours. Spam filters are getting pretty good at catching that stuff.

Facebook tries to inundate me with all sorts of products and services too. That, I am pleased to report, I have substantially avoided by setting my birth year to 1928 and my gender as female. As a result, I get “targeted” with advertisements for wrinkle cream and assisted living.

Posted in Ramble, Technology | 3 Comments