eBirdseed.com Wild Bird Feeding Blog

For some time now, I've been swearing that I'd actually write one of these posts and not mention birds. (The great theory was to have the occasional "coffee table chat" that would mull social, political, scientific, and entertainment stuff, and not birds, birds, birds each time every time. Ummm, that hasn't worked out so well...)

So let's have another go at it shall we? How about NASA TV? While I was working on one of the machines today, I tuned in to a couple of ISS folk doing their EVAs (Extra Vehicular Activities) and marveled at the process in real time. Here are a couple of screen shots...

In the first picture, you can clearly see the astronaut (sideways) going about his work. In the next, the earth slides by 220 miles below. Hey! Wanna see how an orbit works? (Yeah, I knew you would.) Check out the drawing to the below left.

Not bad, eh? Okay, to understand orbiting, consider the little stick guy standing on his tiny world in the top diagram of this artistic masterpiece. He's just fired a gun (the square box in his hand) skyward and the bullet has obviously arced but fallen victim to gravity. In the next drawing, more ballistic "oomph" made the bullet fare slightly better, but it still fell from ethereal grace. But the last fella... The last stick man used a gun powerful enough to make the bullet go high enough, fast enough, and on the right trajectory such that it keeps falling as it follows the curvature of the tiny world. Of course, there's a balancing act - too fast and too high, and the bullet shoots off into space... too low and too slow, and the projectile comes crashing down as in the first two attempts.

And that's the trick with the shuttle... We need to launch 4,000,000 pounds (2,000 tons) of fuel, vehicle, and payload, and get it up to 17,000 mph to hit that magic 200+ mile mark. If we do that just right and get the angles perfect... Whee! We're in orbit. Of course, the energy required to pull off this stunt is equal to opening 13 Hoover Dams all at once...

On second thought, I think I'll stick with the birds.

See you by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

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