augustmarsblog

  Student and Teacher One effect that the creation of NASA had on me was that it inspired me to enter briefly into experimental work, and thereby lose my fruitful relationship with Dr. Katzoff. It was years later that I looked back and realized that I had not expressed to him the gratitude that he was due because of what he had taught me. Perhaps “taught” is not the precise term because it was not so much direct instruction as “causing me to learn”. He told me which books and papers to study in order to develop an understanding of theoretical aerodynamics and fluid mechanics. And it was, in a way, a remarkable learning process. I was pleasantly surprised to discover the amazing relationships between math and physical processes. I had worked simple textbook problems relating to problems like particle motions, and that eternal algebra bugaboo about two men digging a ditch. But now, in studying far more complex problems, I began to s...

  Ode to Math Mathematics, as such, does not exist in nature. At its basic, simplest level the relationship between arithmetic and natural phenomena seems obvious. For example, if a farmer has two cows in one field and three in another, then he can see how many he has altogether. If he wants to convey this information to another person, he can establish a one-to-one correspondence between his fingers and the cows, holding up two fingers and then another three, to produce a result for the total, symbolically represented by the five fingers. When he runs out of fingers, he has to start over, while keeping in mind the ten that he has already counted. If he wants to record this calculation, he can make two marks on papyrus to represent the two cows, or fingers, etc. When he gets tired of making all of those marks, it's natural that he will adopt a different symbol for two marks (ll - 2), (lll - 3), etc. So, we can see how the development of the simplest math wa...

  NASA Takes Over The incorporation of NACA into NASA had a massive effect on the structure and activity of LRC. However, we were not just a space agency, but an aeronautics and space agency, and so authorized to conduct all manner of basic research related both to aeronautical and space engineering. Those first few years were exciting years filled with new basic research possibilities that we attacked with energy and enthusiasm. For example, it was obvious that outer space is an extremely unfriendly environment for human existence. That fact opened the door to research into robotics. But there would have to be a way to control the robots remotely, which should lead to developments in remote control, which would also lead to advances in pilotless, remotely guided aircraft development. The concept of using a moving magnetic field to propel charged particles could be adapted to the use of such a moving field to accelerate a projectile to a h...

  Experimental   Research During those few early years of NASA I made a foray into experimental work. I don't intend to describe in detail all of this work, because the technical aspects of the research, while fascinating to me, would have little meaning to someone without an engineering degree. However, I am going to tell the story of the first project because it demonstrates attitudes of NASA engineers in the face of successful, innovative work. My first project was in the area of magnetohydrodynamics (the interaction of electric and magnetic fields with a fluid in motion). The motion of vehicles in the upper reaches of the atmosphere initiated an enhanced interest in low density fluid dynamics and even free-molecule flows. The possibility of designing hypersonic military and commercial airplanes for flight at these altitudes would require a propulsion system that could be used at speeds beyond the practical limits of jet engines. The concept that seemed to fulfill thi...

  Applied Science and Engineering Altogether, our little research team successfully completed four major projects. The first was described in the previous post. It solved the problem of driving a gas at a useful pressure by the Lorentz force alone. The second project solved the problem of driving a gas by electromagnetic induction; that is, without electrodes which become a problem for certain fluids, such as oxygen and seawater. The third project was a device that simulated a sonic boom signature (an N-wave) on a laboratory scale, by using a helium gun to fire a tiny projectile through a box containing a stratified atmosphere. Schlieren pictures clearly showed the curving of the trailing shock due to the atmosphere gradient. This device could show such effects without the enormous expense of full-scale tests that required a far-ranging distribution of microphones, as well as a supersonic fighter plane and pilot. The fourth project used a condenser generated spark to gene...

Joe Our little team of experimentalists was soon to be disbanded, but it would be thoughtless of me to omit some words about the members of the team. My two primary colleagues were Joe Brooks and Bill Beasley. Joe had been at NACA for about ten years when I arrived. His career had not been impressive because he didn’t have the background for theoretical research and his wind tunnel work suffered from a lack of analytical insight into the significance of the data. H owever, in our lab he blossomed. His enthusiasm for high-tech equipment was unmatched. When we bought the most up-to-date Tektronix oscilloscope model, he took the operating manual home over the weekend and came in on Monday, bubbling over with knowledge of the amazing things that we could do with it. And he was that way throughout our years in the lab, whether he was working with custom made generators or power supplies, or micro-projectiles, or a “home-made” helium gun, he could make it yield its optimum perfo...

  Bill Bill Beasley was the third charter member of our lab research team. He was raised in Big Stone Gap, Virginia, and he never lost his native accent. He was the kind of person that you just had to like. You would have to work hard to find anything bad to say about him. Actually, his family doctor did get upset with him one time. Bill was so devoted to his family (he had a wife and two young daughters) that his doctor complained that he needed to stop bringing his children for an office visit for every minor complaint, such as a common cold. Bill had a degree in Nuclear Engineering from VPI, but so little background in courses relevant to NASA’s needs that he would never have been hired if LRC had not been desperate to fill the drain of personnel to private industry and to Arnold Engineering. He was a dedicated worker with tremendous metabolism. I would watch with awe while he munched down enough sandwiches and cookies to fill his lunch...