Thursday 14 March 2024

where is starman

Where is Starman Now ?


Where is Starman and Falcon Heavy now ?

It was hard to find where Starman was so here is the best link I have found so far - this is a simulations and is not live, as there is no power left onboard, all the batteries have been used and there is no Solar Panels. So it is not easy to actively track it - hence the simulation.

Starman is designated number 2018-017A. 

Click HERE to go to a Simulator that shows Where Starman is.


Starman is the Green orbit, on the left you can turn Names on, which makes it easier to see where it is.

This image below, shows where Starman will be May 1, 2018, Midday Australia (EAST), which highlights how close starman goes to Mars (which was the original intention was for it to orbit Mars, but now it will orbit the Sun, as it missed the gravity well of Mars.



Where is Starman
Starman location May 1, 2018



Click here for a larger image of the orbit of Starman.





Starman's last image
Starman's last image, before the battery went flat. 


It is exciting to see a Race in Space starting again, as I missed the last one, I look forward to the other exciting things that Elon Musk (SpaceX) and Jeff Bezos (Blue Origin).






Thursday 15 June 2023

Loneliness at University : Covid and online classes

I read a lot of subreddits from Australian universities and try to help where I can, as I have done a lot of university and had a lot of unusual circumstances happen to me as Student and Staff of universities. It also gives me an insight into what is happening on Australian students minds. 
Many of these students are lonely especially those having mainly online courses. I saw a recent poll where 1 in 3 students said that they didn't have a single friend from University, I always take these anonymous polls with a grain of salt, but it gives an indication, there are many students with no one to reach out to. 

I had the opposite experience at university. I met my first person at university within a few minutes of arriving. I was looking around for the administration office of my residential college with a pile of luggage. This guy called to me and said "are you looking for the office? "

I said "yep". We introduced ourselves to each other and he invited me out for a beer that night and explained to me how lunch worked so that once I got my key I knew where to go. We went out and had a few beers that night,  my first night out as a uni student. 

I signed in to college, got given my key, dropped my bag in my room and went to get  something to eat. 

I got some food and was pretty excited by the quality, quantity and selection of food. I looked around for the guy I had met earlier but couldn't find him so I sat at a random table. 

I was feeling excited and very free as I was no longer in a small country town where everyone knew me and my parents. My first steps into the new world where no one knew me. I sat down to start eating, this girl sitting across from me looked at me and said 'Do your parents have a beach house at ... Very specific location'. 

Me. Uh Yes they do.... How do you know. She then introduces herself and then I recognised and remembered her. She was my second cousin. We didn't meet at that many events as her family lived a long way away.

I had now been at University for about one hour. I have already been invited for a night out drinking, made a mate, moved into my first home, had lunch and run into a family member, and it was only 1:30 in the Afternoon and technically University didn't officially start for another four days when O-Week starts on Monday.

I have spoken with some of the students that say they are very lonely and many of them state that they started university in 2020, so got a few weeks of normal campus life and then before they could meet too many people all forced into isolation and online classes. Many of these students have graduated and feel that they missed out on the university experience, which I can understand. 

I am sure that in my day, there was some lonely students that didn't meet people or find their friend group, but it would have been a much smaller percentage that it was now. Some of my first year classes only had about 100 people in them, so it would have been pretty obvious if one third of them didn't have friends. 

This social isolation caused by so many online classes, definitely seems to be having an impact on the mental health of the more introverted. We need to look for long term solutions to this problem, what this solution is - I am not sure. There will always be some lonely people in a society, but when it is approaching 33% that is when we need to do something. 

Sunday 20 December 2020

to the Edge of Space and Beyond

 Edge Space Research Interest. 


I have never explained the name behind the blog, so I thought that I would now. 


I would like before I die to get an Object to the Edge of Space.


So far the highest rocket I have launched reached about 4,000 feet, as part of my rocketry level 1 certification, so I have a fair way to go.



Wednesday 25 November 2015

Blue origin made it to the Edge of Space today

Congratulations Blue Origin, on making it to the edge of space and returning to earth, in a controlled manner.

The Edge of Space is an arbitrary number, that has been classified as 100 kilometers high, Blue origins ship New Shepard reached a height of 100.5 km.




 The really interesting part of the video for me starts at around 1:52 where you can see the gimbals on the rocket, trying to stableize the trajectory and slow the rocket down,

This is different from what SpaceX is trying to do, they are going about twice as high, with a rocket that is designed to put satellites into orbit, so its longer and thinner, it travels at about twice the speed. But it is still an impressive feat that Blue origin did today.


Wednesday 14 October 2015

GIS Day 2015


Its that time of year again, where the Jacarandas have started to flower and GIS Day is nearly upon us.


GIS Day is a Free technology event held all over the world, the Brisbane day is one of the largest events. GIS Day is organised by GISPeople






When

Wednesday 18th November 2015


Where

Royal on The Park Hotel,
152 Alice Street, Brisbane CBD


Why

GIS Day is always a fun day with lots of interesting technology on display, there was over 2, 000 people attended last year, A good chance to network with your fellow spatial enthusiasts.


More information


For more information see http://www.gisday.com.au/ 

Thursday 16 October 2014

GO2Asset at Brisbane GIS DAY 2014

GIS DAY 2014 Brisbane


GIS Day 2014 Brisbane

I attended the GIS DAY 2013 as an Exhibitor and will be attending this year as an exhibitor again. For 2013, I was exhibiting Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV's), this year we will be exhibiting Go2Asset next version of our Permit to Work software. 


When:

Wednesday 19th November 
9am – 4pm, drop in.

Where:

Queensland University of Technology
Gardens Point Campus
Brisbane CBD

Why:

See UAV demonstrations
Learn all about Satellites
Win high tech prizes
Try Google Glass