Projects complete!

Its been awhile since the last entry but it has also been a pretty busy two weeks. Our respective teams (Brian in Space Traffic Management and myself in On-Orbit Servicing) met over a period of two weeks to research, talk to experts, gather ideas, and write our perspective for a 100-page report that is being published. Like any international body, things dont really run smoothly nor are expedient. So, the last few days have been writing and editing sprees until 7 or 8 in the morning! Only one deliverable remains, the presentation, on Thursday before the closing ceremonies. The projects are likely to gain attention on the international level. Already, some have had media spotlight (Lunar Archive on National Geographic: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/08/070814-lunar-ark.html), or will be briefed at conferences around the World (Space Traffic Management's legal framework for managing debris and spacecraft in orbit to be presented at several locations). I'll try to get the cover art put up here when I get all the project papers.

There have been no strange foods Ive discovered this week...Im even embarrassed to say that the class ordered pizza and McDonalds delivered while we worked!

Here is a photo of our rocket launch contest a couple weeks ago, set off in the soccer field of the university. There were limits on flight time and height and each rocket contained an egg that had to be safely recovered with its parachute. You can see the huge economics and management building behind the field. We had most of our lectures in this impressive building.



That's it! We'll do one more entry and then call it a summer!

New Things Part 1

I was hoping to start this on a week-by-week basis but better late than never!

Weirdest thing I ate this week: turtle. Yes, you heard me. It was delicious. I'd do it again. I swear. Survival of the fittest.



Surreal moment of the week: Happened actually last week...sitting in a baozi shop in a small resort beach town while studying satellite communications links. That was weird when I realized it.

Inspiring moment of the week: There were a lot of them. But I felt very involved in the Space and Education workshop we had, discussing how to educate our populous on science and space matters. Its all about the jobs at the end of the rainbow. You cant expect students to take science and engineering needed for space jobs if there are no jobs waiting for them. There are, however, plenty of jobs in business nowadays and guess what...those degrees are popular right now. The K-12 years get a lot of attention when it comes to space education. Most of the government funded space education efforts are concentrated on them. The thing is, what about their parents? What about the populous that votes and can influence policy makers to increase spending in technologies and space pursuits? How can we educate them?

Culture shock of the week. Old women ramming into me with their shopping carts at Walmart to get ahead in line. And the turtle.

Sleep debt for the week: only 4 hours.

Professional Visits

One of the many highlights at ISU are the professional visits. Just check out some of the places weve been to!

Civil Aviation Data Communication Research Center.
Here we were briefed on how sat comms are used in China's Air traffic Control and Management system.


BUAA Department of Geographical Information Systems (sorry, no pics)
Here we were shown some of the research on-going at the University in GIS software

Inmarsat Telemetry, Tracking, and Control Site
This site was dedicated to the TT&C of Inmarsat satellites in geo-stationary orbit




CRESDA- (China-Brazilian Earth Resources Satellite)
Phenomenal visit: We visited their brand new facility for data download and processing of imagery.


China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT) (sorry, no pics)
Another special visit. We were briefed on the Chinese launch systems and got to view the assembly facility. Afterwards, we went to the Space Museum.

Astronaut Research and Training Center & China Academy of Space Technology (sorry, no pics). Saw the facilities where the Chinese astronauts train.

Mission Control Center
Large mission control center, sat in the gallery overlooking the facility.

Feng Yun Center (Geostationary remote sensing satellite weather system). Was briefed on the meteorological satellite system Feng Yun in the actual control room.



The visits showed the great hospitality given to us. I am still gathering photos and will post them here as soon as I get them!!

Insufficient Sleep University

A lot of the students have taken to calling ISU either Interrupted Sleep University or my personal favorite, Insufficient Sleep University. It's bound to happen when you bring together a whole bunch of 25-35 year olds who want to have fun and party. Keep them busy 12 hours a day with lectures, workshops, and meetings and people are bound to catch a little snooze whenever and wherever they can.

Of course, the TAs and faculty know this. Heck, they even have on person who's job it is to take photos of all the people sleeping in class and post them to the share drive. But nowadays with our modern technology everyone has a camera that can shoot video and you can put together something like the following video. By the way, the Japanese fellow Tomo you see at the end has managed to fall asleep every single day, even during the exam.

Credit for the video editing goes to my buddy Halit from Turkey.

Intercultural

As Charity mentioned in an earlier post, one of the three founding concepts of ISU is Intercultural. Every day we get a chance to interact with fellow students from around the world. In addition, at the end of the last day of each week (Friday or Saturday night) we have Culture Night.

During each culture night, the students from 3 or 4 nations have 15 minutes to give a presentation on what their culture is all about to the rest of the students. This presentation can take any format they wish, and it is encouraged to make it fun and interactive instead of just a boring PowerPoint slidefest.

As an example, here are some of the things that we have learned so far:

• The Belgians do applause with just one single clap of the hands instead of many claps lasting several seconds. This really saves time when trying to thank people yet still get them off the stage.
• The Austrians like to set their chocolate on fire before eating it and are very proud of both "The Sound of Music" and speed metal.
  
• If you ask the Italians for a 15-minute presentation on their culture, they will start 20 minutes late, it will last for over an hour, and will consist of 2 operettas, 8 videos, roses for all the ladies, and lovely little puff pastries with creamy middles.
• Costa Rica is not Puerto Rico and it is not an island.
• Waitresses at Oktoberfest in Germany carry an average of 20 kg (45 lbs) per load of drinks and serve drinks for 10 hours a day for 60 days. They also make 10,000 euros (about $13,000).
  
• The Canadians can build a canoe from cardboard and duct tape in a single night.
• The Norwegians like to celebrate their fertility festival with dancing around a maypole, moonshine, and pickled herring.

For the American culture night produced a video and demonstrated some American dance moves (swing, breakdancing, and YMCA). Here is the video that we showed:

Week 3: Donkey Meat and the Great Wall

Week 4: Donkey meat and the Great Wall

Happy Birthday Dad! And Happy Anniversary to you and Mom!

A lot of firsts this week: 1st dissection of a heart, 1st time eating donkey, 1st time visiting the Great Wall.
Let me start with the academics: Dr Doug Hamilton, a life sciences lecturer, did the impossible: he made physiology (specifically in space) a topic for which I didnt squirm in. Typically, mentioning the word "blood" will make me feel faint. By the end of the week, I had dissected a pig heart (very similar to a human's) and understood the cardiopulmonary, skeletal, and muscular systems. Our special panel this week was with the President of the Chinese Aerospace Corporation (CASC) who outlined China's space program, including its upcoming lunar ambitions.

New food of the week: Donkey sandwich. Yes, we knew it was donkey before we ate it, tasted like ham but in the end it was a little too weird to finish. Also tried sashimi and fish cheeks with a little encouragement :) After the wall, we ate at a restaurant in a small resort town, it was incredible food and all local.


And the finale of the Great Wall. We opted to avoid the organized tourbus and went with a small group to a section that was quite difficult to reach. Unfortunately, Brian wasnt feeling well so it was just me that day but we will be going back. There was about an hour hike up about 2500 ft to the wall. When we arrived, it was fantastic: many of the portions were starting to ruin and the view was fantastic despite the heavy mist. In all, it was a 4-5 hr hike along steep cliffs, crumbling rock, and challenging up and down slopes.

Picts:

Week Two: Busy but Fun

Week 2: Busy but fun.
This week started with a nice dinner for Canada Day in the Olympic Village. Most is still under construction but we got a glimpse of the large infrastructure being built. Heard of the bird's nest? Its the Olympic Coliseum - original architecture - that resembles a bird's nest.


Earlier in the day we were in a street called LiuLi Chang, a very artistic area with calligraphy stores. We got a scroll with a chinese poem about the moon done for us right there. The well-known poem says the moon brings people together (how appropriate :).



This week's expert panel was with 5 astronauts from different agencies. China's first taikonaut, Yang Liwei was there, so the media was quite interested in the event. My question to the panel was on keeping the backlog of astronauts employed and motivated in NASA and the future of governmental human space flight programs. The future isnt really booming in this area: the space shuttle will be retired in 2010 and the space station still only employs 3 out of a possible 6 slots.





The courses this week helped me brush up on satellite communication bandwidth budgeting and there was a really interesting lecture from Jeff Hoffman on the space environment on human beings.

Today (Saturday) was the tour of Tianenmen Square, Forbidden City, a pearl factory, and Temple of Heaven. It was about 36C and humid. I'd like to see the Forbidden City in early spring, perhaps with a bit of snow on the ground. We suffered through the heat and visited the Starbucks within the Forbidden City (as one student put it "they should rename the Starbucks the Temple of Heaven" as she sipped a frappuccino).

Q & A Part 1

Hey! And were back!! I wanted to answer some questions that are likely on your mind (or maybe not..). Welcome to ISU Q & A Part 1.

Have you gone shopping yet? What is it like?
Well, of course I have! And I am totally in my element in bartering.We got familiarized with the silk market - which isnt really a silk market, the street just sounds like the word silk in Chinese. It has 5 levels of mini-stores, one after the other, full of clothes, shoes, and jewelry, and you can really get some bargains. Rule is to start out really low and set a max price for yourself. For instance, I bought a leather (yes, real) "Dolge & Gabbana" purse (note the spelling error, its not me :). I started at 80 RMB (about $10), she wanted 350 RMB. I said that she could definitely give me a deal, why barter with my price, etc etc and eventually I said that the lowest I'll go and that I will walk away at 100 RMB ($12). Sold. Voila.




















What's the food lke?
We all eat in a cafeteria-type setting where chinese and "American" dishes are served. Its okay but Im starting to get daring and just grabbing a small egg sandwich for breakfast at this small shack-like place on the way to class. Must be good if there are half-a-dozen students lined up for the same. We did have Peking Duck the other night, it was fantastic and weve dined at a Japanese place (for $3 or $4, its impossible to spend more than $20 on a meal here). We'll be venturing out a lot more in the coming weeks.






















Have you met any astronauts?
Two. Dr Jeff Hoffman is one of our lecturers here (he was on the mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope and now teaches at MIT) and Leroy Chiao who was on the industry panel last week and owns a space tourism company. Next week is the astronaut panel so there will be several astronauts including the first Chinese Taikonaut available to meet and ask questions. The Canadian astronaut corps will be represented by Dr Bob Thirsk.
















What do you miss the most right now?
Cheese. An herbed goat cheese with a crisp Sauv Blanc. Or an Aged Gouda, or a creamy Blue. Yes, cheese. And a good internet connection.

If you have a question, send us a comment below!!

Opening Ceremony

We have some tough decisions ahead of us; we have to choose a team project. There are four offered and the goal is to choose something we dont know too much about: Space Traffic Management, On-orbit servicing, Lunar Archive, and Earthquake prediction and response using space. Take a guess as to what I'll pick, all of them are in the forefront of the space community and the reports will likely be used internationally in the future. Will let you know later :)

Ok, the afternoon and evening was the most incredible thing I've ever experienced (I have a feeling I am going to say that a lot). It started with the founder of ISU, Dr Richards, welcoming us into the ISU family. Then, in front of what seemed 20 photographers and videocameras, we were led into the hall where 4 rows of Chinese dignataries from Chinese Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) and Beihang University, the ISU president and directors, embassy representatives, and others were present for the opening ceremony. We had a private viewing of the Beijing Opera and traditional singing and dancing routines performed for us. Ohh, but that was just the start! We were hosted at the nearby Plaza Hotel for a reception full of food from around the world, ladies in traditional costume, live traditional music, and a giant ice sculpture of the Chinese Long March rocket.





Four weeks of lectures start today, but we have the afternoon off to explore. Brian wants to get fitted for some suits and I'd like to check out the silk :)

Charity AR

We're here in Vancouver

Here we are on our 2nd day in Vancouver - where the Canadian ISU students and some alumni are gathered to meet and get ready for the summer in Beijing. Yesterday though, we checked out the local great food and found the only Canadian sake makers - excellent stuff! For dinner, we chose the Banana Leaf - Malaysian cuisine, where we had the tasting for two. It had everything: seafood, beef, pineapple, mango, chili, and deep fried bananas. Yum!

Day two - We explore Vancouver's Stanley Park - and the aquarium. The sea otters were adorable and reminded me of South Park for some reason :) New on our list of things to get is a butterfly sanctuary!

After the aquarium, we had lunch at the Savoury Coast, a trendy Mediterranean restaurant on Robson Street. Awesome food on the terrance. Im beginning to think we should do a regular column or podcast on places to eat!

What is ISU

ISU SSP offers its students a unique Core Curriculum covering all disciplines related to space programs and enterprises: space science, space engineering, systems engineering, space policy and law, business and management, and space and society. It consists of students from around the world; only about 1/4 of the students come from North America. This year, the summer session is being held in Beijing, China at the Beihang University. Beihang U is known for aerospace education. It will certainly prove to be an exciting and particularly interesting cultural experience. Check it out at
ISU SSP 2007