Blog #4

I really enjoyed the recent field trip my class had to Aerospace Corporation. My favorite part of the trip was probably the robotics activity as it was fun to play with them. I find what they do there really cool as the projects and launches they are a part of are incredibly interesting.

The lithium-ion battery de-orbiter is one such project that is being worked on by Aerospace Corporation. It works by using battery thermal runaway to add thrust opposite in direction to the orbit. This will decrease the orbit and send the satellite back down to burn up in earth's atmosphere. Battery runaway is a chemical reaction in which the inside of the battery breaks down, almost like combustion. The ejection of these products of chemical reaction exerts a force onto the satellite. It solves the problem by speeding up how fast space junk de-orbits.

1799 - Sir George Cayley invents the concept of the fixed-wing aircraft:

I always wondered how man could propel himself high into the air just as the birds do. I thought that I could somehow simulate the effect of birds flapping their wings in order to lift us off the ground. It has, however, recently occurred to me that perhaps there is another way to do this. We could instead go at a high enough speed and have a wing that takes a certain shape in order for the wind under the wing to force us upwards. In this way, we would be able to fly without the use of moving wings.