Quantum Rocketry

• Point to the enemy’s gate
• Somersault
• Bring some space Legos to float around in front of me
• Bring a Nalgene of water and turn it upside-down

1. “What is the answer to the Ultimate Question?”
2. “What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?”
3. “How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?”

1. Passed my A exam! Now I get an M.S. in rocket science!
2. Only one final paper left in the semester.
3. Moved into some awesome new lab space!
4. Getting together with new friends.
5. The new Star Trek movie. Woah! J.J. Abrams must have been watching a lot of Galactica, I think, from the intense first fifteen minutes. Really like some of the cinematic and editing choices, too. “This year’s Iron Man,” indeed.
6. The Red Sox now lead the AL East.
7. Ithaca’s weather these days – it’s so green out there!
8. NASA.
9. Got to fly the glider recently!
10. My general emotional state right now.

Ranges depend on whether you measure from the first or last flight of a program that was active over some time period.

Past achievements in space exploration:

• First US satellite in orbit to first man in space: 3 years
• First US satellite in orbit to first man in orbit: 4 years
• First man in orbit to first Moon landing: 8 years
• Moon landings to LEO space station: 1-4 years
• Moon landings to LEO Space Shuttle: 9-11 years
• Pioneer 10 to Voyager 1 and 2: 5 years

Current vision of space exploration:

• First LEO Space Shuttle to LEO space station completion: 19 years
• From LEO Space Shuttle to Moon landing: 10-29 years
• From LEO Space Shuttle to Mars landing: 17-36+ years
• Cassini to Europa Jupiter System Mission: ~10 years

Where did the ambition go?! Maybe I will help re-inject some this summer.