Austin Physics for Fun

This event is managed by Nature Nerds Austin -- https://www.meetup.com/nature-nerds-of-austin/

This is the monthly design status and update meeting. Participation is both in person and online.

The meeting will be held at a private makerspace, Diogenes. It is located in the same building as the adult club Colette Austin. The door is at the left end of the building, Suite C. Go to the back of the first floor workspace and head upstairs.

If you have questions please feel free to submit them in the comments below or send them to me directly.

Zoom meeting details will be posted about a half hour before the meeting begins.

HABEX - High Altitude Balloon Experiments

The reference to experiments is two-fold. The first is in regard to the actual balloon construction and flight processes. The second is a reference to the payload and what it does during the flight (e.g. images, environmental measurements, etc.). To be clear, there will be two design processes going on in parallel, the balloon proper and the payload. This initial flight is really focusing on the balloon to get that process pinned down and clearly defined. The initial payload should be simple (e.g. digital camera taking pictures).

One of the primary design considerations will be the use of CanSat techniques in the design and construction process. We may need to build a technology demonstrator for this (i.e. dummy payload) before the actual flight process.

CanSat -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CanSat

Design Process:

Design/Buy > Assemble > Test > Loop (Will it fly?) > Flight Plan

Meeting Sequence:

Pilot - Initial meeting (possibly two) to gauge interest and get first round of participants.

Design - Group responsible for the first four stages of the Design Process. - Multiple meetings.

Pre-Flight - Review process to date and verify readiness - Set the date of launch - Possibly two meetings

Launch - Two teams (Launch and Recovery)

Clean up - Launch team cleans up launch site and transitions to tracking and telemetry

Recovery - Recovery team (possibly several groups) chases the balloon and tries to stay ahead of it.

Post-Flight - Review, analysis, and release of flight report (including experimental results if any).

Flight Plan:

• Pre-Flight
• Schedule
• Assembly
• Launch
• Tracking
• Recovery
• Review/Release Results

Constraints:

• COVID 19
• Budget
• Resources/Tools/Facilities
• Legal (e.g. FAA rules about weight and number of modules)
• People
• Transportation

Spark Talks is a fun series of short talks on all kinds of STEM topics, shared by members of our community. It's a chance give a talk, hear something new, gain new insights, get inspired by what others are working on, and maybe even find a new hobby to explore!

Come join us for some interesting short talks. Please reach out to Abhir by email at abhirjoshi@live.com or via Meetup messages if you want to give a short talk. The talks could be as short as 10-15 minutes.

Talk topics:

1. Abhir will show the geometric interpretation of (x-1)^2, (x-1)^3, (a+b)^2, etc. which provides a much more satisfactory understanding of their algebraic expansion.
2. Abhir will show a system and method he came up with to visualize a timeline of scientists & people of significance. It helps understand who was whose contemporary, in addition to important events that happened during their lifetime.

We encourage small group discussions of 3-4 people following the presentations, though participation is optional. This will give everyone a chance to share their interests and what they are up to these days.

During the meetup, remember to follow these guidelines:
* Be courteous to your conversation partners.
* Don't monopolize time. Give your partners a fair share of speaking time.

This is a Citizen Science project just getting off the ground in Florida. You do NOT need to sign up for this event. It is a placeholder only.

You DO need to visit this site for more information -- https://titanobservatory.org/

Titan Astronomical Observatory has this to say...

A couple of weeks ago I posted here, jokingly asking who wanted to pitch in to buy this $70k telescope off Facebook Marketplace. The amount of genuine support I got—both in the comments and in DMs—along with how awesome it would be to run this thing, made me seriously research whether it was possible to turn this into a telescope anyone could use. Well, it’s time to find out!

The Titan Astronomical Observatory is a nonprofit based in Lakeland, Florida, with the goal of purchasing, relocating, and modernizing this telescope; creating a web interface that allows students, amateur astronomers, and citizen scientists to reserve observing time; and designing a pipeline to automatically deliver calibrated data. We’re an officially incorporated nonprofit (501(c)(3) pending) with a four-member board, a potential site secured, an option contract granting us the exclusive right to buy the telescope, and a core team planning for the future.

If you’re interested in supporting the project by volunteering time or expertise—or you simply want to follow along—join our community on Discord!

We’re currently accepting donations via PayPal, and a full GoFundMe campaign is on the horizon!