omega tau - English only

omega tau - English only https://omegataupodcast.net How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Mon, 03 Jun 2024 09:23:35 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/omegatau_enus_2048x2048-1.pngomega tau science & engineering podcasthttps://omegataupodcast.net Podlove Podcast Publisher v3.8.1 (c) 2008 - 2022 Markus Voelter and Nora Ludewig Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig episodic How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Markus Voelter voelter@acm.org Science and Engineering in your Headphones no no 398 - Surroundings https://omegataupodcast.net/398-surroundings/ Fri, 16 Jun 2023 09:08:08 +0000 podlove-2023-06-16t08:58:43+00:00-0330c3e02b21dfe 01:16:00 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Surroundings 398 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Host: Nora Ludewig Shownoter: Jochen Spalding Gast: Etienne Benson

I wanted to make an episode on a topic from the history of science for a long time, finally it happened. This is an interview with Etienne Benson, professor of the history of science and technology, on the history of how people of the western world have been seeing, studying and explaining their environment. We talk mostly about his book, Surroundings, but also briefly about his current field of study.

Introduction of Todays Guest Dr. Etienne Benson

00:02:55

Dr. Etienne Benson | Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

Dr. Etienne Benson's Book

00:15:11

Surroundings: A History of Environments and Environmentalisms First Edition by Etienne S. Benson | Wired Wilderness: Technologies of Tracking and the Making of Modern Wildlife (Animals, History, Culture) by Etienne S. Benson | Darwinism | Epigenetics | Jean-Baptiste Lamarck | Lamarckism | Milieu | Jane Addams | W. E. B. Du Bois

How Did The Term Environment Evolve?

00:37:00

Environmentalism | Environmental Defense Fund | United Nations Conference on the Human Environment | Ozone depletion | How Nuclear Tests Spawned Environmentalism | Murray Bookchin | Rachel Carson

]]> Update 2023 English https://omegataupodcast.net/update-2023/ Mon, 20 Feb 2023 20:02:46 +0000 podlove-2023-02-20t19:59:16+00:00-5e0d1c2dfaeff06 00:11:51 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Update 2023 English 383 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. A quick update on why there’s so few episodes from Markus and Nora. In English and German.

]]> 392 - Helicopter Flight Test https://omegataupodcast.net/392-helicopter-flight-test/ Thu, 01 Sep 2022 18:59:04 +0000 podlove-2022-09-01t18:53:01+00:00-28c47b5deedfa6e 00:00:00 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones 392 - Helicopter Flight Test 392 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Antoine van Gent Host: Markus Völter Shownoter: Pascal Becker

In July I visited the Airbus Helicopters factory in Donauwörth and spent time with Antoine van Gent, the Head of Development Flight and Ground testing for Germany. We talked about the helicopter flight testing process, some of the cultural aspects, the collaboration between pilots and the flight test engineer as well as his participation in a landing of an H145 on top of the Aconcagua mountain.

Introduction Antoine Van Gent

00:02:28

(Head of Development Flight- and Ground Test @ Airbus Helicopters) | General Dynamics F-16 | Boeing AH-64 | Boeing CH-47D | Bell 412 | Bölkow Bo 105 | Aerospatiale AS 332

Flight Test Organization

00:06:03

Sikorsky CH-53 | Airbus H120 | Reciprocating engine | Iron Bird (Omega Tau 210 - A350 Flight Testing) | Situation Awareness | Fly-by-wire | VoloCopter | Interview with Billie Flynn F-35: Capabilities, Missions, Kinematics, Role In Ukrainian Crisis And Beyond. Interview With Billie Flynn

Test Pilot Education and Testing Facilities

00:40:42

Wright Brothers | Empire Test Pilots' School | U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School (EPNER - Ecole du personnel navigant d'essais et de reception)

Evolution and Innovation in Helicopters

00:47:14

Bell UH-1

Aconcagua Story

01:28:54

Airbus H145 lands on top of the andes

Becoming a Test Pilot

01:46:56

End of Interview and Bonus: Walk through the Assembly Line

02:05:51

]]> 387 - Direct Air Capture https://omegataupodcast.net/387-direct-air-capture/ Fri, 20 May 2022 09:36:59 +0000 podlove-2022-05-20t07:25:06+00:00-b10c6b7884b2705 00:00:00 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones 387 - Direct Air Capture 387 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Peter Psarras Host: Markus Völter Shownoter: Simon Bretschneider

The climate situatation is getting more and more dire, and in order to reach the goals the international community has set for themselves, engineering solutions seem increasingly necessary. After talking about solar geoengineering in episode 385, we will look at direct air capture in this episode. Direct Air Capture is a family of technologies that allow the extraction of CO2 from the atmosphere. My guest Peter Psarras explains the technology, the economics and also the political and moral challenges associated with the technology.

Peter Psarras is introducing himself

00:02:10

Peter Psarras | Carbon Direct

DAC

00:03:56

DAC (direct air capture) | CCS (carbon capture and storage) | Point source capture | CO2 | Lithosphere | Life cycle emission | Carbon neutral | Climate crisis

How does it work? Physical mechanism, chemical processes

00:11:15

Concentration of CO2 in air | Physisorption | Desorption | Energy demand for DAC | Sorbent for CO2 capture

Representative Example of chemical/physical processes to bind CO2 in the sorbent

00:19:12

Climeworks | Amine absorber CO2 | TRL (Technology readiness level) | LCA (Life cycle analysis) | Carbon engineering | Solvent based carbon capture approach | Overview absorber materials | Direct air mineralization | IPCC Report | Reforestation | Orca plant | Electric swing approach

Economics of CO2

00:56:30

Regenerative agriculture | Ocean alkalinity enhancement | Heirloom CO2 DAC | Advanced market commitment for CO2 | Cost Curve DAC | Carbon Credit | X Price Carbon Removal | Carbon Storage in Concrete: | Moral hazard | Scaling of carbon removal | Short and longterm cost of climate change

Other solutions

01:24:52

BECCS (Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage) | Biomass | Waste biomass | Carbon mineralization | Enhanced weathering | Ocean acidification | Carbonate and bicarbonate cycle | Blue carbon | CO2 concentration in seawater | Electrochemical CO2 capture

Wrap up and conclusion

01:34:41

]]> 385 - Solar Geoengineering https://omegataupodcast.net/385-solar-geoengineering/ Fri, 18 Mar 2022 11:15:02 +0000 podlove-2022-03-18t08:19:43+00:00-5dd47658a2f763d 01:01:45 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones 385 - Solar Geoengineering 385 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Gast: David Keith Host: Markus Völter Shownoter: Alexander Grote

The root cause of global warming is that more and more of the energy supplied by the sun is captured by the atmosphere because of increased amounts of CO2 and other climate gases. One way of fixing this is to make sure that more of that energy is reflected and never even penetrates the lower atmosphere. Solar geoengineering proposes to put particles into the upper atmosphere to increase its reflectivity and thereby reduce the temperature. In the episode I talk with Harvard’s David Keith about some of the technical aspects, which role this technique can play in the overall fight against climate change, some of the political challenges as well as current avenues of research.

]]> 383 - The LHC Beam Dump https://omegataupodcast.net/383-the-lhc-beam-dump/ Sun, 06 Feb 2022 12:29:12 +0000 podlove-2022-02-06t10:23:39+00:00-1624c1b6a21e23d 01:30:55 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones The LHC Beam Dump 383 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Gast: Marco Calviani Host: Markus Völter Shownoter: Kolja Dummann

The beam dump is a large graphite block used to take up the energy stored in the LHC beam in case the beam needs to be shut down. Since the energy in the beam can be as high as the kinetic energy of a landing 747-400, designing and operating the dump is challenging. In this episode, Marco Calviani, who heads the group that is responsible for this and other beam dumps at CERN, tells us about how the dump works, and what they have recently changed in order to cope with the higher luminosity in future configurations of the LHC.

Intro

00:04:24

Faster-than-light neutrino anomaly | CERN Neutrinos to Gran Sasso | Simon van der Meer | Fermilab | Graphite (omega tau 344 – History and Development of ATLAS) | Compact Muon Solenoid

The LHC Beam Dump

00:16:09

(Beam Intercepting Devices at CERN – Types, Challenges, Design, R&D and Operation (1/2) | Beam Intercepting Devices at CERN – Types, Challenges, Design, R&D and Operation (2/2)) | Proton Synchrotron Booster (PSB) | High-Luminosity LHC

Kicker Magnets

00:42:21

(omgea tau 096 – Controlling the LHC Beam) | LHC Abort Gap Monitoring and Cleaning (Chapter 17 - Beam Dumping System)

Enhancing the Beam Dump

00:51:29

The SPS & PS Dump

01:06:54

Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) | Proton Synchrotron

FCC Beam Dump

01:17:00

]]> 378 - Flying the F-18 Classic Hornet https://omegataupodcast.net/378-flying-the-f-18-classic-hornet/ Fri, 22 Oct 2021 06:52:28 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=5279 03:40:04 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Flying the F-18 Classic Hornet 378 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guests: Jerry Deren, Nick Anderson
Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Bastian Hundt

It’s been 377 episodes and we have not yet dedicated one to the F-18. This changes now. In the episode we first talk with Jerry Deren, a former US Navy Hornet pilot who also flew with the Blue Angels; we cover both aspects of his career. In part two we chat with Nick Anderson, former RAAF F-18 pilot (and co-host of the Airline Pilot Guy podcast). We chat about his experience flying the Hornet Down Under, focussing on quirks and funny stories.

There’s also a nice F-18 walkaround on Youtube with Jerry. Check it out!

Introduction of Jerry Deren

00:02:08

Basics of the F/A-18 Hornet

00:03:48

F/A-18 Hornet | F/A-18E/F Super Hornet | A-6 Intruder | A-7 Corsair II | F-14 Tomcat | YF-17 | F-16 Fighting Falcon | Aircraft Carrier | Fly-by-Wire | Flight Controls | Arresting Gear | Folgind Wing | Stabilator | Angle of Attack (AOA) | Leading-edge extension | Dogfight | Basic Fighter Maneuvers | Episode OT-376 (German) about Air-to-Air Combat | Falling Leaf

Landing and Handling the F/A-18

00:27:38

Head-up Display | Autothrottle | Aircraft Catapult | Glide Slope | Optical Landing System | Indicated Airspeed (IAS) | Tailhook | Trim | Jettison | Aerial Refueling

Cockpit, Sensors, Avionics

00:56:00

Operational History

01:00:33

USS Enterprise | Operational Deployment | C-2 Greyhound | S-3 Viking | Touch and Go | Operation Southern Watch | Night-Vision-Goggle | NATO | MIG-29 | SU-27 | Operation Desert Fox | Landing Signal Officer (LSO) | T-45 Goshawk

Lost-Wing Incident

01:16:13

Flying with the Blue-Angels

01:21:28

Blue Angels | Aerobatics | Thunderbirds | Diamond Formation | g-suit | Traffic Pattern | Aerobatic Maneuver

Nick Introduction and Exchange Tour

01:55:50

Airline Pilot Guy Podcast | Plane Tales | Mirage III | RAF Weapons School | Sunderland Flying Boat | Pom | F-16 | F-18 | F-18 in Australia

Anecdotes from Australia

02:03:10

AIM-7 M Sparrow | P-3 Orion | Episode with Maz | OCU | Carbon Fiber | Cu Nim | HOTAS | Doll's Eye | Hypoxia | Probe and Drogue | INS | Laser Ring Gyro | Launch Bar | Ayres Rock | Pine Gap | Williamtown | F-111 | LEX

Life after the Hornet

03:32:15

Tornado F.3 | Eurofighter | A-330 | A-340

]]> 374 - Flying the F-22 https://omegataupodcast.net/374-flying-the-f-22/ Sun, 01 Aug 2021 18:58:08 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=5250 01:47:35 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Flying the F-22 374 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Dan “Animal” Javorsek Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Bastian Hundt

The main part of this episode is about flying the F-22 Raptor, the most modern air superiority fighter in the inventory of the USAF. Our guest is Dan Javorsek, callsign Animal, who has previously flown the Raptor in operational test. Dan has also been the initiator of the Alpha Dogfight trials, where an AI was tested against a real pilot in a simulator air-to-air engagement. Dan also flew the F-117 and the F-35, so we cover those airplanes as well.

Introduction of Dan "Animal" Javorsek

00:03:56

Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center | DARPA | F-35 Lightning_II | Aerial Refueling

Flight Simulation and Airforce

00:11:36

Flight Simulator | Flight Controls | Hardware in the Loop | Aerodynamic Instability

Testing World

00:15:21

U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School | A-10 Thunderbolt II | Multirole Combat Aircraft

Flying the F-22

01:07:16

Thrust Vectoring | Dogfight | Beyond Visual Range | B-52 Stratofortress | Angle of Attack

Supercruise

01:17:58

Afterburner | Supercruise | Drag Curve | Mach Number | G-Suit | Automatic Ground Avoidance System

Flying the F-117

01:27:56

F-117 Nighthawk

AI in Air Combat

01:30:21

AlphaDogfight | Radio Jamming | Lethal Autonomous Weapon | Military Robot | Situational Awareness

End and Outlook

01:43:36

]]> 370 - Nixus, the Fly-by-Wire Glider https://omegataupodcast.net/370-nixus/ Fri, 04 Jun 2021 18:13:53 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=5208 01:42:07 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Nixus, the Fly-by-Wire Glider 370 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Paulo Iscold Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Kolja Dummann

In this episode I talk with Paulo Iscold, a professor or aeronautical engineering at Cal Poly about Nixus Nixus, his most recent project. Nixus is one of the most fascinating and ground-breaking research efforts in the space of gliding. It uses advanced manufacturing techniques to support a very thing wing, plus a fly-by-wire system to control the ailerons and the flaps; the latter are automatically adjusted to the current speed.

Here is the Idaflieg presentation I mentioned in the intro.

]]> 368 - Nuclear Waste Disposal and Storage https://omegataupodcast.net/368-nuclear-waste-disposal-and-storage/ Sat, 01 May 2021 08:09:38 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=5191 03:15:43 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Nuclear Waste Disposal and Storage 368 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Gareth Law, Heini Reijonen, Sophie Haapalehto
Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Pascal Becker

In this episode we cover the final storage of nuclear waste in underground facilities. We start out with a conversation about the basic process and the chemistry and physics of nuclear waste with Gareth Law, a professor of radiochemistry at the university of Helsinki. We then discuss geological issues with Heini Reijonen of the Geological Survey of Finland. Our third conversation is about the Onkalo storage facility in Finland with Sophie Haapalehto, who works for Posiva, the operator of the site.

Here are a few additional links you might want to check out:

Design and Performance of Engineered Barrier Systems for the Finnish Deep Geological Repository (Presentation, PDF)
A Novel Adaptation Mechanism Underpinning Algal Colonization of a Nuclear Fuel Storage Pond (Paper, PDF)
Discharges and Environmental Monitoring Annual Report 2019 (Sellafield) (HTML)
Monitoring beaches near Sellafield for radioactive material (Report, HTML)
Estimation of Global Inventories of Radioactive Waste and Other Radioactive Materials (Report, PDF)

Introduction Gareth Law and Nuclear Power

00:02:44

Gareth Law | Radiochemistry | Pressurized water reactor | Uranium-235 | Plutonium-239 | Activation product | Nuclear reprocessing | Yellowcake

Waste in Nuclear Power Plants and Short-Term Storage

00:25:11

Radioactive waste (The World Nuclear Waste Report 2019 - Focus Europe)

Long-Term Storage of Nuclear Waste

00:50:21

Nuclear transmutation | Deep borehole disposal | Bentonite | Pictogram by International Atomic Energy Agency to warn future generations (OmegaTau 359 - Modern Fission Reactors)

Introduction Heini Reijonen and Geological Stable Regions for Nuclear Waste

01:36:34

Geological Survey of Finland | Integrated Water Flow Model (IWFM) (OmegaTau 81 - Geophysical Modeling in Oil Exploration)

Storages in the Future

02:13:46

Voyager Golden Record

Introduction Sophie Haapalehto and Posiva Waste Repository

02:27:14

Posiva Oy | Onkalo spent nuclear fuel repository | Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plant | KBS-3

]]> 366 - The Viper Gliding Club https://omegataupodcast.net/366-the-viper-gliding-club/ Fri, 02 Apr 2021 16:40:44 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=5169 01:36:38 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones The Viper Gliding Club 366 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Jens Trabolt Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Tim Jurik

Image Credit for the Air-to-Air Foto: @JacekSiminski and @DawidKamizela, DefensePhoto.com

My guest Jens and I have two things in common: we both fly gliders, and we both got to fly in an F-16. Which is why we form the Viper Gliding Club :-) Jens is a Danish journalist and got to fly with the Danish Air Force in one of their F-16Bs. In this episode we compare notes on our experiences, appreciate the commonalities and discuss the differences.

Note: In the intro I say that Jens flew with the Dutch Air Force. That is of course wrong, he flew with the Danish Air Force. I knew that, obviously, but the words are so similar that I messed them up.

Introduction - Jens Trabolt

00:01:47

Nordic Gliding | Jens' Flight at Nordic Gliding

Background of flight opportunity

00:07:31

Pre-flight Training and Preparation

00:12:57

ACES II seat | Fouga CM.170 Magister

Aircraft and Flight Discussion

00:38:27

General Dynamics F-16 | North American X-15 | Valsalva maneuver

Dreams to Reality - Taking the controls

01:05:07

What's next after going supersonic?

01:18:07

]]> 364 - Physics beyond the Standard Model https://omegataupodcast.net/364-physics-beyond-the-standard-model/ Sat, 06 Mar 2021 19:06:01 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=5157 01:42:17 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Physics beyond the Standard Model 364 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Valerie Domcke Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Andy Joiner

A while ago we had a whole series about LHC, ATLAS and particle physics in general. Despite all we know about what our world is made of and the explanatory power of the standard model, there is also a variety of open questions and currently unexplained phenomena. These include dark matter, dark energy, the neutrino mass, the CP violation, the hierarchy problem, and of course the unification of the standard model with gravitation. In this episode, CERN’s Valerie Domcke explains what it’s all about.

Introduction

00:03:11

Physics Beyond the Standard Model | Valerie Domcke | CERN | Particle Physics | Cosmology | Standard Model

Dark Energy

00:22:20

Dark Energy | Accelerated Expansion of the Universe | Red Shift | Cosmological Constant | Einstein's Biggest Blunder | Vacuum Energy | Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) | Opaque Universe | Quintessence | Multiverse | String Theory

Neutrino Mass

00:39:45

Neutrino Mass | Left Handed/Right Handed Particles | Quantum Charge | Generation | KATRIN Experiment

CP Violation

00:47:47

CP Violation | Antimatter | Hydrodynamics Equations | Annihilate | Electrogenesis | Antiparticle | Yukawa Coupling | Baryon number | Leptogenesis | Baryogenesis | Higgs Field | C-Symmetry | Parity | Quantum Field Theory | Grand Unified Theory

Hierarchy Problem 01:08:45

Hierarchy Problem | Fermion | Gauge Boson | Loop Corrections | Planck Scale | Supersymmetry | Slepton | LEP Experiment | WIMP Miracle

Unification with Gravitation

01:24:16

Graviton | Classical Theory | Discretized | String Theory | Local Minimum

Close

01:30:59

Mathematica | Analytical Analysis | Differential Equations | Simulation

]]> 359 - Modern Fission Reactors https://omegataupodcast.net/359-modern-fission-reactors/ Mon, 04 Jan 2021 19:43:42 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=5106 01:54:33 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Modern Fission Reactors 359 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Jacopo Buongiorno Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Andy Joiner

In this episode we take a look at newer generations of fission reactors, those that are currently being developed or researched. Our guest is Jacopo Buongiorno of MIT. We discuss some of the high-level goals of these new reactors, such as increased safety and efficiency, and then look at a few of the interesting new designs and how they realize these goals. We also briefly cover some of the policy arguments around keeping fission in the mix for combatting climate change.

Existing Reactors

00:20:28

Light-Water Reactor | Pressurized Water Reactor | Boiling Water Reactor | Radioactive Waste | Decommissioning | Lifecycle Cost | Final Repository | Dry Casks | Energy Mix | Renewables | CO2 Emissions

Small Modular Reactors

00:37:39

Small Modular Reactors | Mass Production | Neutron Spectrum | Thermal Neutrons | Moderator | Uranium Dioxide Pellets in Rods | AP1000 | Common Cause Failure | Previous German Episode on Nuclear Power Plants

]]> 355 - Supercomputing for COVID-19 https://omegataupodcast.net/355-supercomputing-for-covid-19/ Thu, 29 Oct 2020 19:08:29 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=5083 02:28:47 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Supercomputing for COVID-19 355 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guests: Andrew Emerson, Daniel Jacobson
Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Andy Joiner

In this episode we look at how supercomputers are used to help with managing the pandemic. It’s a double-header with two guests. We start with Cineca‘s Andrew Emerson. As part of the EXSCALATE 4 COV EU-funded research project, he works of virtual screening of existing drugs regarding their potential efficacy against SARS-CoV-2. In part two we talk with Dan Jacobson of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He and his team used a big data analysis to understand how the virus “works”, and they figured out very interesting mechanisms and pathways.

Introduction

00:03:14

Andrew Emerson | Cineca Supercomputer Center | Exscalate4Cov Project | Computer Aided Drug Design | Simulation | Modelling | Synthesize | Side Effects | Active Ingredient | COVID-19 | SARS-CoV-2 | Virus | Drug Repurposing/Drug Repositioning | Toxicology | Virtual Screening | Protein | Enzyme | Cell | Replication | Inhibit | DNA | Cell Membranes | Amino Acid | RNA | Gene | Gene Expression | Genome | Lock and Key Model | Screening | Virtual Screening | Dompé | Parallel Process | Abstraction (PDB - Protein Data Bank) | Bonding | Experimental data (Proteins - accurate 3d data | Drug molecules - basic data) | X-Ray Diffraction | NMR | Cryogenic Electron Microscopy | Electromagnetic Force | Van der Waals Force | Electrostatic Interaction | LiGen | Molecular Docking | Toxicology | Few seconds per molecule for virtual screening

Molecular Dynamics Simulation

00:31:06

Molecular Dynamics Simulation | Thermal effects | Stable State | Statistical techniques | Numerical Simulation | Newton's Laws of Motion | Bond vibration | Coulomb's law | Multi-Body Problem | Unfold | Molecular dynamics simulation can take about a week | Clustering | Degrees of Freedom | Energy Surface | Boltzmann Distribution | Virtual screening filtered ~400,000 possible drugs to ~7000 to go to the laboratory | Vaccine | Immune Response | ~100 of ~7000 screened molecules were interesting | In Vitro Tests | 40 effective molecules limited virus replication | Antiviral | Cortisone

Computer Software and Hardware

01:09:44

GROMACS | Open Source | GPU | Homology Model | C++ | CUDA | Marconi 100 | Galileo Linux Cluster | Eni | HPC5 | Nvidia V100 | Scheduling

Results

01:20:24

Raloxifene | Clinical Trials | Dimer | Protease | Physical Chemistry | Computational Chemistry | Vector (Biology) | Vector (Mathematics)

Bradykinin Storm Analysis

01:30:59

Dan Jacobson | Computational Systems Biologist | Oak Ridge National Laboratory (OLCF - Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility) | Evolution | Pathogenicity | 3D Structure | Human pathogenesis | Demographic factors | Bradykinin Storm Paper | 17000 samples across 57 different tissues | Regulatory circuits | Bronchoalveolar Lavage fluid | Bronchoscope | Terminal Bronchioles | Luminal surface | Gas Exchange | Pathways (RAS - Renin-Angiotensin System) | Blood Pressure | Inflaitory RResponses | ACE2 | Cell Entry | ACE | Proteolytic Enzyme | Proteolytic cleavage | Peptide | Hypertensive | Upregulated (Ang-(1-9) - Angiotensin (1-9)) | AGTR2 receptor | Receptor | Bind | Kallikrein Kinin Pathway | C1-Inhibitor Protein | Biosynthesis | Vasodilation | Hyperpermeability | Plasma | Capillaries | Immune Cells | Transcription | Hyaluronic Acid | Hydrogel | Tropism | Renin | Vitamin D | Catabolise | Metabolite | Expression | Calcifediol | Icatibant | Dexamethasone | Phospholipase A2 | Arachidonic Acid | Cascade | Chemotaxis | Combinatorial Therapies

]]> 350 - Existential Risk https://omegataupodcast.net/350-existential-risk/ Sat, 22 Aug 2020 07:32:24 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=5047 02:40:06 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Existential Risk 350 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guests: Toby Ord Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Jochen Spalding

Humanity has always been exposed to potentially catastrophic risks that might endanger the continued existence of humanity. Asteroid impacts or supervolcano eruptions come to mind. But since about the invention of the atomic bomb, humanity has been able to wipe itself out, adding self-made existential risks to the natural ones. Oxford philosopher Toby Ord argues in his book The Precipice that those risks are much more likely than the natural ones. In this episode we explore this idea with him, and also discuss what we should do about this realization.

Concrete Risks

00:47:20

Dissolution of the Soviet Union <Dissolution of the Soviet Union> | Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty | Free-rider problem | Positive feedback loop | Methane Feedbacks to the Global Climate System in a Warmer World | Runaway greenhouse effect | The moist greenhouse limit | Increased insolation threshold for runaway greenhouse processes on Earth-like planets | Biotechnology | Pandemic | Killer rabbit virus on the loose | 1978 smallpox outbreak in the United Kingdom | Biosafety level | Faulty pipe blamed for UK foot and mouth outbreak | Tokyo subway sarin attack | Bioterrorism | Synthetic genomics | CRISPR | Gene drive | Artificial intelligence

Why do we care?

01:21:48

Utilitarianism | Special relativity | Nihilism | International organizations | The Chronicles of Narnia (C. S. Lewis - The Chronicles of Narnia)

Epilog mit Markus und Nora

02:02:18

]]> 348 - ATLAS Computing https://omegataupodcast.net/348-atlas-computing/ Mon, 27 Jul 2020 14:35:06 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=4998 02:46:06 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones ATLAS Computing 348 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guests: Frank Berghaus Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Bastian Hundt

To conclude our detailed look at the ATLAS experiment, this episode looks at the computing infrastructure. We start out with the trigger systems that decide, very quickly, whether the data from a particular collision is worth keeping. We then discuss the reconstruction of the event, the simulation needed to understand the background as well as the LHC Grid used distribute data and computation over the whole planet. Our guest is CERN’n Frank Berghaus.

Introduction of Frank Berghaus

00:03:45

Frank Berghaus | omega tau about the History of ATLAS | omega tau about Science at ATLAS | CERN | The Atlas Experiment | LHC

Basic Structure of LHC/Atlas and the Computing Infrastructure

00:05:25

Particle Physics | Particle Accelerator | Particle Detector | Beamline | Magnetig Field | Calorimeter | Atlas Calorimeter | Energy | Muon | Analog to Digital Converter | Particle Collision | Atlas-Trigger | In-Memory-Cache | Resistive Plate Chambers | Photomultiplier Tube

Terminology

00:17:05

Reconstruction / Reduction | Data Processing | Online vs. Offline | Cern Datacenter | Bias

After Event-Trigger Data Processing

00:23:10

Electron Shower | Network Switch | Cryostat | Round-Robin Schedueling | Distributed Storage | Event Horizon Telescope

Data Processing after Storage of Events

00:42:45

Particle Jets | Momentum | Abstraction

Jet Reconstruction

00:51:25

Topological Clustering | Cone Algorithm

Processing and Reprocessing / CERN Computing Infrastructure

01:03:55

Luminosity | High Luminosity LHC | Vertex Detector

LHC Computing Grid

01:12:40

Worldwide LHC Computing Grid

Analysis of Events and Computing Infrastructure

01:24:05

Simulation | Field Theory | Differential Equations | Photon | ROOT Particle Physics Software | Machine Learning | GPU | Multithreading | Supercomputer

Data Organization and End

02:00:25

Relational Database | Namespace | Tape Storage | Cloud Computing | Distributed Computing | Standard Model

CERN File System

02:18:45

]]> 345 - ATLAS Science https://omegataupodcast.net/345-atlas-science/ Tue, 16 Jun 2020 08:16:58 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=4967 03:02:57 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones ATLAS Science 345 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guests: Philipp Windischhofer Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Andy Joiner

After understanding the history and development of ATLAS (and covering the LHC and particle physics in general) in previous episodes, we are now at the point where we can try to understand how a scientist uses the data produced by one of these large detectors and make sense of it. This is what we’ll do in this episode with physicist (and listener) Philipp Windischhofer. If you want to learn even more, you can check out these links provided by Philipp or read the last chapter of the book :-)

Some additional material supplied by Philipp:

All ATLAS physics papers
The Higgs analysis paper we spoke about in the episode
The press release that goes with it
Public lecture by my favourite physicist on “why the Higgs has to exist”
On the hierarchy problem
ROOT data analysis framework

Introduction

00:03:23

Philipp Windischhofer | Particle Physics | University of Oxford | Atlas Collaboration | Atlas Detector (Episode 030 – The Large Hadron Collider) | Large Hadron Collider (LHC) | CERN | Higgs Boson (Episode 093 - Standard Model) | Other episodes on particle physics

Physics in ATLAS

01:55:28

Decay | Decay Rate | Boosted | Associated Production | Candidates | ROOT file | Degrees of Freedom | Plot/Histogram | Distribution | Maximum Likelihood Fit | Discretize | Artificial Neural Networks | Boosted Decision Tree | Discriminant | Distance Metric | Blinded | Athena | C++ | Python | Effective Theory

]]> 344 - History and Development of ATLAS https://omegataupodcast.net/344-history-and-development-of-atlas/ Tue, 02 Jun 2020 16:29:21 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=4959 02:39:31 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones History and Development of ATLAS 344 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guests: Peter Jenni Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Alexander Grote

ATLAS is one of the two general-purpose experiments at the LHC. It has been conceived, designed, and built over decades by hundreds of scientists and engineers from dozens of countries and hundreds of organizations. My guest, Peter Jenni, has been the head of the ATLAS collaboration for most of this time. In this episode we talk about science and engineering, but mostly about organizational aspects and the “community management” necessary to get such a magnificent machine off the ground.

Introduction Peter Jenni

00:02:55

Peter Jenni | LHC | CERN | Atlas | University of Bern | ETH Zürich | SLAC | Fabiola Gianotti | LEP | Intensity | electrons | positrons | protons

Design Decisions in Atlas

01:39:39

Tracking Detector | Atlas Tracker | Decay | Decay length (Lecture Particle Decay Slide 9) | Superconductivity | Atlas Technical Design Report

Outlook

02:08:15

LS2 | HL-LHC | LHC Quench | European Strategy for Particle Physics | ILC

]]> 343 - Flying and Testing the F-35 https://omegataupodcast.net/343-flying-and-testing-the-f-35/ Wed, 20 May 2020 16:46:05 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=4953 01:14:56 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Flying and Testing the F-35 343 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guests: Tucker Hamilton Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Thomas Machowinski

The Lockheed F-35 Lightning II is going to be more or less what the F-16 and F-18 are today: the backbone of the US and NATO land and sea-based air forces. It is a multi-role fighter, and one of its versions has the capability to take off with a very short roll and land vertically. Tucker “Cinco” Hamilton is a test pilot who has flown all three versions of the jet. In this episode we talk about flying this fifth-gen fighter and about some aspects of the testing program. For more F-35 and Cinco check out episode 78 of the Fighter Pilot Podcast.

Introduction with Tucker Hamilton

00:01:56

Lockheed Martin F-35 | F-35A -> Conventional CTOL | F-35B -> Short takeoff and vertical landing | F-35C -> Carrier-based

Flying the F35

00:11:23

Fully Fly-by-wire | HOTAS "hands on throttle-and-stick" | F-35 Cockpit from simulator | Distributed Aperture System (DAS) | ILS Instrument Landign System | Radius fight

Testing the F-35

00:36:53

Testing at Wikipedia | Edwards Air Force Base | CAS Calibrated Airspeed | Probe-and-drouge Air Refueling

Noble Eagle Mission

01:03:57

Operation Noble Eagle | Temporary Flight Restriction | Cessna 172 | Tail Number

]]> 341 - Emergency and Intensive Care, Ventilation https://omegataupodcast.net/341-emergency-and-intensive-care-ventilation/ Wed, 29 Apr 2020 14:12:59 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=4939 01:47:32 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Emergency and Intensive Care, Ventilation 341 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guests: Kimon L. H. Ioannides, Junad Chowdhury Host: Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig
Shownoter: Jochen Spalding

In light of the current situation, we have decided to record a couple of episodes that cover some of the relevant background in terms of biology, medicine and healthcare. In this first episode we discuss emergency care and intensive care with a special focus on ventilation. We discuss these topics in general, and also specifically to COVID-19. Our guest, Kimon and Junad, are both practicing doctors and have practical experience with these topics.

Introduction of the Guests

00:03:28

Dr. Kimon L.H. Ioannides | Dr. Kimon L.H. Ioannides (Twitter) | Junad Chowdhury

Basics of Emergency and Intensive Care

00:04:24

Airway-Breathing-Circulation (ABC) | Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) | Monitoring | CT scan | Shock (circulatory) | Psychological trauma | Distributive shock | Sepsis | Anaphylaxis | Hypovolemic shock | Cardiogenic shock | Obstructive shock | Covid-19 | Personal protective equipment (PPE) | Ebola virus disease | Hypoglycemia

Ventilation

00:39:56

Sympathetic nervous system | Post-intensive care syndrome | Nasal cannula | Non-invasive ventilation | Negative pressure ventilator | Oxygen toxicity | Pneumonia | Pulmonary function testing | Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) | Continuous mandatory ventilation | Patient-ventilator asynchrony | Pulmonary alveolus | Adrenaline | Central venous catheter (Central line) | Acute respiratory distress syndrome | Tracheotomy | Ventilator-associated pneumonia | Parenteral nutrition

]]> 340 - Plasma Wakefield Acceleration with AWAKE https://omegataupodcast.net/340-plasma-wakefield-acceleration-with-awake/ Wed, 22 Apr 2020 09:45:34 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=4935 01:07:11 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Plasma Wakefield Acceleration with AWAKE 340 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Edda Gschwendtner Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Fabian Zeisberger

A major component of particle accelerators like the LHC are the actual accelerators; the current approach relies on radio frequency cavities. However, their acceleration gradient, measured in Volts per meter, is limited. This means that future accelerators, especially linear ones, will become longer and longer to reach the desired energies. A new approach to particle acceleration relies on plasma wakefields, this technology can deliver orders of magnitude more acceleration per distance. AWAKE is a proof of concept experiment at CERN that uses proton beams to produce the wake field. In this episode we chat with Edda Gschwendtner, the leader of this project.

Functionality and Purpose of AWAKE

00:18:15

Plasma acceleration | Plasma | Ion | Nucleus

Goal of AWAKE

00:28:33

John Dawson | Super Proton Synchrotron

Current state and challenges of AWAKE

00:35:50

Self-phase modulation

Future of the Project

00:44:38

Dark photon | Antimatter

]]> Special - Once You Start Asking https://omegataupodcast.net/special-once-you-start-asking/ Sat, 11 Apr 2020 08:47:29 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=4929 00:41:22 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Special - Once You Start Asking 0 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Hosts: Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig

Over the last two years, Markus wrote a book about some of the repeated topic covered on omega tau: SOFIA, Enterprise, Aerospace, Gravitational Waves, Telescopes, Models and Particle Physics. The book, called Once You Start Asking is now available as an ebook, with the softcover edition forthcoming. In this episode, Nora and Markus discuss the book and its history.

]]> 150.5 - Controlling the ELT https://omegataupodcast.net/150-5-controlling-the-elt/ Fri, 14 Feb 2020 15:14:02 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=4885 01:07:12 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones .5 - Controlling the ELT 150 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Thomas Pfrommer Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Pascal Becker

Six years ago, in episode 150, Jochen Liske of ESO told us about the Extremely Large Telescope that is currently being built in Chile. This episode is a continuation (which is why this is a kind of bonus episode labelled as 150.5) in which Thomas Pfrommer tells us about how to control the optical path of this monster telescope: the 39 meter, 798-segment main mirror, plus the four additional mirrors involved in bringing the light to a stable and sharp focus. I recorded this episode mainly to fill in some “gaps” I needed for the book chapter on telescopes.

Here is the paper I read, which triggered this episode: MELT – An optomechanical emulation testbench for ELT wavefront control and phasing strategy. You should read it before you listen. Just kidding (sort of :-)).

E-ELT Telescope Setup

00:04:09

Ligth's five-mirror Journey through the E-ELT | 3 Mirros Design | Anastigmat | TMT (Thirty Meter Telescope) Hawaii | GTC (Gran Telescopio Canarias) | Wavefront | Adaptive Optics | Active Optics | LBT (Large Binocular Telescope) | VLT (Very Large Telescope) | Lookup Table | Open-Loop Control (omega tau 111 - Optical Astronomy and the Large Binocular Telescope)

Interaction between control and adaptive optics

00:47:08

Atmospheric distortion

Mini E-ELT

00:52:50

]]> 333 - (Flying and Simulating) The F-14 Tomcat https://omegataupodcast.net/333-flying-and-simulating-the-f-14-tomcat/ Fri, 03 Jan 2020 10:35:01 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=4857 04:15:28 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones (Flying and Simulating) The F-14 Tomcat 333 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guests: Nick Pirnia, Okie Nance, the Heatblur development team
Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Alexander Grote

The F-14 Tomcat is one of the most iconic fighters, certainly among its generation. In this episode we talk with Nick Pirnia about the aircraft’s development and history as well as about flying it with former pilot Okie Nance. The aircraft is also available in the DCS flight simulator and the third part of this episode is a conversation with the development team from Heatblur about how to implement the F-14 in DCS; if you haven’t yet, check out some of their videos, this thing looks unbelievably realistic!

Flying the F14

01:13:36

Fly by Wire | Yaw Divergance | Flat Spin | Engine Stall | Afterburner | Glove Vane | Direct Lift Control | RIO

]]> 332 - Attribution of Extreme Weather Events https://omegataupodcast.net/332-attribution-of-extreme-weather-events/ Sun, 22 Dec 2019 07:12:19 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=4853 01:22:48 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Attribution of Extreme Weather Events 332 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guests: Friederike Otto Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Thomas Machowinski

An important consequence of the warming of the planet due to climate change is that the frequency and/or severity of extreme weather events will increase. But how can we tell whether a particular event can be attributed to the changing climate? Would it have happened in “normal” climate as well, and if so, how would the event have been different? This aspect of climate science is called attribution science, and the guest of this episode, Friederike Otto is a pioneer in the field.

Introduction

00:05:28

Environental Change Institute | Global Warming | Attribution Science | Extreme Weather | Heat Stress | Drought | Hurricane

Attribution

00:18:04

Climate Models | Greenhouse Gas | Probability | Aerosol | Heat Island

Simulation Approaches

00:44:13

weather@home | ECMWF

Development of Attribution Science

01:04:49

]]> 330 - Parabolic Flights at AirZeroG https://omegataupodcast.net/330-parabolic-flights-at-airzerog/ Fri, 29 Nov 2019 07:37:41 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=4840 01:33:38 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Parabolic Flights at AirZeroG 330 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guests: Jean-François Clervoy, Eric Delesalle, Hervé Normand, Nicolas Barbotin
Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Andy Joiner

When I was in Bordeaux with the DLR to report about their science campaign in September, I also talked to the team from AirZeroG/Novespace about the technical and aviation aspects of parabolic flights. These interviews are in this episode. I chat with Jean-François Clervoy about the history of the company, with Eric Delesalle about piloting the parabolas, with Hervé Normand about the reasons for the potential sickness, and with Nicolas Barbotin about cabin safety. At the end of the episode I also provide some details about the technical problem that prevented parabolas during my own flight with the A-310 ZeroG.

Overview of Novespace

00:02:02

Jean-François Clervoy | Atlantis | Discovery | European Space Agency (ESA) | ISS Resupply Ship | Novespace | Airbus A310 | Air Zero-G | Flight Test Engineer | Parabolic Flight | Attitude | Velocity | Initial G | Pitch Angle | Ballistic | Alpha Jet | Mirage 2000 | Caravelle | DLR | NASA | ATV Resupply Ship | Fly-by-wire | Maneuver Margin | Limit Margin | Indicated Velocity | Airbus 300B | Airbus A310 | Supercritical | Trim | Accelerometers | Big City Beats Concert

Aircraft and Flying

00:23:38

Eric Delesalle | Experimental Test Pilot | ATR 42 | Flight Engineer | Basic Law | Range -0.5 to +2.5 G | Target -0.05 to +0.05 G | Angle of Attack | Orbit | Elevator | Ground Control | Buffet Zone | Injection | Hydraulic Control (Episode 324 – Air Traffic Control at Heathrow and RIAT) | Preventive Maintenance

Medical Aspects

00:57:22

Hervé Normand | Professor of Physiology | Université de Caen | Functional Testing | Cardiovascular Deconditioning | Vestibular System | Semicircular Canals | Position of head | Hypergravity | Intracranial Pressure | Scopolamine

Safety

01:07:34

Nicolas Barbotin | Chief of Safety (Episode 251 – Flying the F-16 Viper) | Loadmaster | Weight imbalance | Flight Envelope

Markus Experience in Bordeaux

01:23:45

]]> 328 - Flying the P-3 Orion (and some other aircraft) https://omegataupodcast.net/328-flying-the-p-3-orion-and-some-other-aircraft/ Tue, 12 Nov 2019 19:45:49 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=4826 02:15:18 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Flying the P-3 Orion (and some other aircraft) 328 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guests: Marija “Maz” Jovanovich
Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Bastian Hundt

Marija Jovanovich is a pilot for the Royal Australian Air Force where she has been flying the P-3 Orion. We discuss the aircraft, the missions, and some anecdotes. Marija then also attended the USAF Experimental Test Pilot School, and we talk a bit about the experience of flying a wide range of different aircraft.

Introduction of Marija 'Maz' Jovanovich

00:01:58

Marija on Twitter | Royal Australian Air-Force | Lockheed P-3 Orion | Boeing P-8 Poseidon

The P-3 Orion

00:04:03

Anti-submarine warfare | Search and Rescue | Electronic Warfare | Lockheed Electra | TV-Series "Ice Pilots" | Hurrican Chaser | DC-3 | C-47 | Buffalo Airways | Turboprop Engine | T-56 Engine | Blown Wing | Direct Lift Control | Airbus A400M | V speeds | Fly-by-wire | Boeing KC-135 | Flight Engineer | RIAT | P-3 Variants

Sensors on the P3

00:26:28

Magnetic anomaly detector | RADAR | AIS | Electro-optics | FLIR | Minimum Visibilty Approach | SONAR | Sonobuoy

A typical Crew on the P-3 and Anti Submarine Warfare

00:36:58

Sensor fusion | Visual flight conditions | Radar Altimeter | Torpedo | Naval mine | Anti-ship missile

P-3 Missions

00:47:43

(OT-306 - Flying the RC-135S Cobra Ball) | Autopilot | Northrop T-38 Talon | Anti piracy mission | Cyclone | Turbulence | Thrust reverser

Testpilot School

01:15:53

Edwards Air Force Base | F-15 | T-38 | MIG-15 | F-16 | Beechcraft C-12 | ASK 21 | Lift to drag ratio | Angle of attack | Extra 300 | g-force | HU-16 | Vista F-16 | Aerodynamic instability

Aircraft Research and Development Unit

01:50:48

The Research Unit | Pilatus PC-9 | Resonance

In the Air Force as a Woman

02:00:18

The Private Plane of Maz

02:09:58

Pipistrel Virus

]]> 326 - Weather Forecasting at the ECMWF https://omegataupodcast.net/326-weather-forecasting-at-the-ecmwf/ Sat, 19 Oct 2019 13:36:55 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=4812 03:05:25 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Weather Forecasting at the ECMWF 326 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guests: Hilda Carr, Peter Bauer, Tony McNally
Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Thomas Machowinski

Earlier this year I visited the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, a European organization that produces global weather forecasts and performs research on how to improve those. The episode has three parts. First, Hilda Carr gives us an overview of the organization, its purpose and its history. Then I talk with Peter Bauer about weather and climate modeling and about encoding these models efficiently in software programs that run on supercomputers. Part three is a conversation with Tony McNally about where the ECMWF gets its data and how it is continuously fed into the “running” model.

Introduction

00:05:18

Hilda Carr | European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecast | European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecast | ECMWF Twitter Account | 350 People are working at ECMWF (Medium Range Forecast - Seasonal Forecast) | Meteoblue <meteoblue.com>

Modeling

00:26:17

Peter Bauer | Overturning Circulation (James Gleick - Chaos: Making a New Science) | Ensemble Forecasting | Machine Learning | Climate Model | Trace Gas

Computational Aspects

01:33:29

Top 500 Supercomputer List | Cray CX40 | Fortran

Observation Integration

02:06:38

Tony McNally | Earth Observation | Data Assimilation in Weather Forecasting | Chart Viewer at ECMWF Website

]]> 324 - Air Traffic Control at Heathrow and RIAT https://omegataupodcast.net/324-air-traffic-control-at-heathrow-and-riat/ Fri, 27 Sep 2019 10:38:52 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=4729 02:34:07 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Air Traffic Control at Heathrow and RIAT 324 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Adam Spink Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Andy Joiner

In July I visited the NATS tower at Heathrow Airport to interview my guest Adam Spink. We chatted about some of the mechanics of air traffic control at Heathrow and the unique ways of optimizing throughput. A few days later we met again on the tower of Fairford during RIAT 2019 and chatted about the specifics of ATC’ing during an airshow.

Introduction

00:01:33

Adam Spink (Episode 314 – London Air Ambulance) | Heathrow | ATC | Tower | Taxi | Clearance Delivery | Approach | Runway | Wake Turbulence | Wake Categories | Wake Vortex | Eurocontrol | PA | Airspace | Slot Times | A-CDM | Target Startup Approval Times | Tug | Jet Bridge | TSA | Maintenance Hangars

Tools

00:19:56

Electronic Strips | Paper Strip | A-SMGCS (Episode 266 – Secondary Surveillance Radar) | Ground Radar | Primary Radar | Triangulate | Symbology | Go-around | Radar Separation | Landing Clearance | Flight Crew | Time Based Separation | Distance Based Separation | Nautical Mile | Knot | Headwind | Approach | SESAR | CAA | NATS | Tower Controller | Radar Controller | Cloud Base | ICAO | Visibility Condition | ATC Low Visibility Procedures | Transmissometer | Follow The Greens | Lighting Operator | Ground Movement Control | Preventative Maintenance | Departures Runway Controller | Arrivals Runway | Swanwick | Mayday | Airport Fire Service Emergency | Rendezvous Point | Mnemonic | ETA (APG - Airline Pilot Guy Podcast) | Part 1 | Part 2 | RAF Northolt | Cumulonimbus | Missed Approach | Wind Shear

Operations

01:04:53

Tower and Ground Frequencies | Area Control | En Route Control | Terminal Control | Vectoring | Onto Base (Base Leg) | Final Approach | Approach Charts | Holding Stacks | Touchdown | Continuous Descent | Air Brakes | Westerly Preference

Develop Procedures

01:19:52

Manual of Air Traffic Services Part 1 | Bow-Tie Safety Analysis | TCAS | Red Team | RECAT | Pairwise Separation | Airport Collaborative Decision Making (Best Planned - Best Served) | Approach Funnel | Apron | NLR | Microwave Landing System | GPS | RNAV | Black Box | MH370 | GBAS

Equipment Development

01:47:54

Augmented Reality | VOR Beacon

Air Show

01:58:59

Royal International Air Tattoo | RAF Fairford | Hunter Crash | AIP Supplement | Arrival Procedure Charts | Standard Instrument Departure (Episode 318 – (The USAF Thunderbirds)) | Harrier | Director Krennic | Reno Air Races

]]> 321 - Societal Change and the Climate https://omegataupodcast.net/321-societal-change-and-the-climate/ Thu, 29 Aug 2019 11:30:55 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=4714 00:58:41 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Societal Change and the Climate 321 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Maja Göpel Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Markus Voelter

I am interested in societal change: how can a complex society with lots of emergent (perhaps unintended) behaviors make a conscious change, such as transitioning to a more sustainable economy? We discussed this from an engineering perspective in the episode on Modeling Socio-Technical Systems, and we’ve looked at it historically in the episode on Societal Complexity and Collapse. In this episode we look at the topic more from the perspective of civil society and politics. Our guest ist Maja Göpel; she heads the German government’s Advisory Council on Global Change and has also written a book called The Great Mindshift on the topic.

Maja Göpel | Wissenschaftlicher Beirat der Bundesregierung Globale Umweltveränderungen | Great Mindshift (book) | Panarchy | Loss Aversion | Tainter, Collapse of Complex Societies | Colletive Action Problem | Homo Oeconomicus | Tipping Point | Antropocene | Brundland report | Antonio Gramsci | Adjacent Possible | Radical Incrementalism | Window of Opportunity | Just transitions | Transition policies | Transtion Hub | Community Fora | Scientists4Future

]]> 320 - The Event Horizon Telescope https://omegataupodcast.net/320-the-event-horizon-telescope/ Fri, 16 Aug 2019 17:35:57 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=4709 01:30:14 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones The Event Horizon Telescope 320 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Heino Falcke Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Kolja Dummann

A few months ago, a collaboration called the Event Horizon Telescope presented the first direct image of a black hole; or more specifically, of the radiation created by accelerated particles at its event horizon. The EHT is a Very Large Baseline Interferometer, in which radio telescopes all over the world are computationally connected to obtain resolutions that are not possible with one telescope. In the episode I chat with Heino Falcke, the chair of the EHT science committee, about the science, the telescope, what it took to get it going, and image reconstruction.

Introduction

00:02:47

Heino Falcke | Very Long Baseline Interferometry | Five hundred meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) | Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) | Very Large Array (VLA) | Paranal Observatory | BlackHoleCam

The EHT

00:29:54

A book about the EHT | Heinrich Hertz Submillimeter Telescope | Submillimeter Array (SMA) | Greenland Telescope | Thule Air Base | National Science Foundation | Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX)

Image reconstruction

01:05:59

Fourier transform | CLEAN

]]> 318 - (My Flight with) The USAF Thunderbirds https://omegataupodcast.net/318-my-flight-with-the-usaf-thunderbirds/ Fri, 19 Jul 2019 16:13:57 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=4651 03:33:39 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones (My Flight with) The USAF Thunderbirds 318 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Jason Markzon, Jafet Ojeda Host: Markus Voelter
Shownoter: Bastian Hundt, Jochen Spalding

In June 2019 I had the pleasure and honor to fly in an F-16D with the USAF Thunderbirds. The episode covers the medical briefing about how to prevent motion sickness and how to deal with Gs, suiting up with flight suit, g-suit, harness, helmet and mask, the briefing with my pilot Maj. Jason Markzon, the flight itself with commentary, an interview about the Thunderbirds with Jason, as well as a reflection on what the flight meant to me, recorded together with Nora.

A small correction: I suspected wrong regarding the code word TIMBER SWEET. In fact, it means that the Link16 data link between the two F-16s works. It’s great to have competent listeners :-)

Videos and pictures are available at omegataupodcast.net/thunderbirds.

Introduction

00:00:20

Medical Briefing

00:03:45

United States Air Force Thunderbirds | Medical certifications for pilots | Flight Surgeon | Motion sickness | G-Force | G-Suit | Tunnel vision | G-force induced loss of consciousness (G-LOC) | Ejection seat | General Dynamics F-16

Aircrew Flight Equipment

00:24:50

Flight suite | Nomex | G-Suit | Parachute | Survival pack | Flight Helmet | Foreign object damage

Flight Briefing

00:33:52

Afterburner | Formation flying | Aerobatic maneuvers | F-16 Cockpit | Side-stick | Throttle | Intercom | Ejection seat | Multi-function display | Side-stick | Coordinated flight

The Flight

01:51:00

General Dynamics F-16 | Hero shot of Markus | Aero surfaces | TACAN | ATIS | Clearance Delivery | Transponder Code | OmegaTau Episode about flying the F-16 | Military operations area | Aerobatic maneuver | Separation | Tanker | Glider | Final approach | Crew chief

Takeaways from the Flight

02:01:05

The Interview with Maj. Jason Markzon

02:08:40

Colored smoke (Smoke oil) | Thunderbirds Diamond Roll | Thunderbird Delta Roll | USAF Thunderbirds Website | U.S. Navy Blue Angels

Thanks and Reflections (with Nora)

03:09:45

]]> 317 - The ALICE Detector https://omegataupodcast.net/317-the-alice-detector/ Tue, 09 Jul 2019 10:30:00 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=4624 02:02:26 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones The ALICE Detector 317 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Despina Hatzifotiadou Host: Markus Voelter
Shownoter: Kolja Dummann

In May I visited ALICE, one of the four large experiments at the LHC and talked with Despina Hatzifotiadou. We briefly discussed the science that ALICE is interested in, and then spent the majority of the time dissecting the detector to understand its components and how they detect the various products of particle collisions.

]]> 315 - Modeling Socio-Technical Systems https://omegataupodcast.net/315-modeling-socio-technical-systems/ Fri, 14 Jun 2019 10:02:48 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=4606 02:42:51 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Modeling Socio-Technical Systems 315 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guests: Igor Nikolic Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Mario Winkler

Socio-technical systems are systems where (groups of) humans interact with (non-trivial) technical systems; an example is the power grid. The people, the technical system and the combination might easily lead to complex behavior that is hard to predict and control over the long term. However, as illustrated by, for example, the need to transition our energy infrastructure to a more sustainable structure, it is necessary for society to “control” such systems. Igor Nikolic is a professor at the TU Delft where he uses agent-based modeling approach to try to understand, and thus help control and evolve such systems. We discuss the systems, the challenges as well as the modeling approaches.

Introduction

00:02:45

Igor Nikolic TU Delft | Private website | Twitter | TU Delft, Department Multi-Actor Systems | Sociotechnical system | Complexity | Complexity | Sante Fe Institute Home | Sante Fe Institute Wikipedia | Cell Automata | Joshua M. Epstein | Anasazi model | Agent-based model | Swarm behaviour | Boids | Flocks, Herds, and Schools: A Distributed Behavioral Model by Craig Reynolds | Inverse problem | Emergence | Socio-technical systems | Thomas P. Hughes | Social technology | Path dependency | Path dependency | Nonholonomic system | Foucault pendulum | Evolution | Laryngeal nerve | Richard Dawkins video | Dunbar's number (Steve Jobs - Computers Are Bicycles For The Mind) | Stephen Hawking quote | Wicket problem | Market (economics) | Privatisation of British Rail | 34C3 Talk | Neoclassical economics | Grigore Roșu | K Framework

Sustainable problem

01:00:40

Steam engine | Capitalism | Circular economy | Rachel Carson "Silent Spring" | DDT | The Blue Marble | CO2 in Earth's atmosphere | Economic globalization | Attractor | Chaos theory | Wallace and Gromit (Train Chase)

Multi-Modelling

01:57:09

Scott Page "The Difference" | Scott Page "The Model" Thinker | Ontology alignment | Propagation of uncertainty | Genetic algorithm | High Level Architecture | Publish–subscribe pattern | Data Distribution Service, DDS | SIM0MQ | MQTT | MATPOWER

TEDx Talk Insights, Simplicity, Complexity

02:05:15

(Igor Nikolic - TEDxRotterdam 2010) | Intractability | YOLO | Allen, Tainter, Hoekstra "Supply-Side Sustainability" | omegatau 184 "Societal Complexity and Collapse" | Orthogonality | Post-normal science | MAIA framework | Baby boomers | Lawrence Lessig

]]> 314 - London Air Ambulance https://omegataupodcast.net/314-london-air-ambulance/ Sat, 01 Jun 2019 07:32:26 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=4589 02:13:57 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones London Air Ambulance 314 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guests: Neil Jeffers, Adam Spink Host: Markus Voelter
Shownoter: Bastian Hundt

Earlier this year I visited the London Air Ambulance, a charity organization that flies two MD-902 helicopters over the UK’s capital. I chatted with their chief pilot Neil Jeffers about the flying and some of the medical aspects. My recorder then joined Neil on a short flight to their hangar at RAF Northolt. There, we met Adam Spink, a NATS air traffic controller at Heathrow, and the three of us chatted about the ATC perspective of flying helicopters (sometimes) in Heathrows’s approach.

If you want to donate to the charity, see this link.

Introduction of Neil Jeffers

00:02:05

London Air Ambulance | Royal London Hospital | RAF Northolt | Major Trauma

The Helicopters and the History of London Air Ambulance

00:04:35

Fire Grenfell | ADAC | Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe | Air Medical Service | AS-365 | MD-902 | NOTAR | Performance Class (PDF) | Glass Cockpit | Biggin Hill Airport | London Heliport | Trauma Center | Airbus Helicopters H135 | BO-105 | Airbus Helicopters H145 | Venturi Effect | Coandă Effect

Flying a NOTAR Helicopter

00:20:40

Helicopter Flight Controls | Dutch Role | Airbus Helicopters H120 | JetRanger | Robinson R-44 | Visual Flight Rules | Instrument Flight Rules | Night Vision Device | Avionics | Traffic Avoidance System | Weather Radar

The Medical Side

00:31:15

Major Trauma | Trauma Team | Air Traffic Control | HEMS | "Stay and play" | "Scoop and run" | General anaesthesia | Blood transfusion | Open Chest Surgery | Resuscitative endovascular balloon occlusion of the aorta | European Aviation Safety Agency | Foreign object damage

Airspace in London

00:52:10

M25 Motorway | Heathrow Airport | London City Airport | Biggin Hill Airport | Air Traffic Control Tower | Runway | London Helicopter Routes (PDF) | Flight Transponder

Training, Risks and the Crew

00:57:20

Threat and Error Management | Checklist | Aircraft Flight Manual | Single Point of Failure | Go Around | Instrument Rating | Crew Resource Management | Multi Crew Coordination

Flight from Royal London Hospital to RAF Northolt

01:17:55

Air Traffic Control in London and a typical Mission with Adam Spink

01:27:10

Heathrow Terminal 4 | Follow-Me | Taxiway | Airspace Class

]]> 312 - The Wendelstein 7-X Fusion Experiment https://omegataupodcast.net/312-the-wendelstein-7-x-fusion-experiment/ Sat, 11 May 2019 09:29:26 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=4577 03:27:50 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones The Wendelstein 7-X Fusion Experiment 312 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Ralf Kleiber, Matthias Hirsch Host: Markus Voelter
Shownoter: Alexander Grote

In our never-ending quest to understand fusion and its potential use in energy production, I visited the Wendelstein 7-X fusion experiment in Greifswald run by the Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik. We started out with a visit to the experiment hall, while experimentalist Matthias Hirsch gave us an overview over the machine. Next we discussed theory and modeling with Ralf Kleiber. Finally, I returned to Matthias Hirsch, and we chatted about more experimental aspects of Wendelstein. It is probably best to listen to our previous fusion episodes (22, 157 and 304) before listening to this one.

Vorstellung von Matthias Hirsch

00:02:58

Wendelstein 7X | Plasma | Black Body Radiation

Inside the Control Room

00:08:58

Inside the Experiment Hall

00:21:20

Stellarator | Torus | Magnetic Fields | Tokamak | Fusion Reactor | Power Plant | Electron Scattering | cryostat | coil | microwave | Deuterium | Black Hole | Elementary Particle | Fusion | Kinetic Energy | Fission Energy | Half life | Neutron activation | Nulear Waste

In the Office (Theory with Ralf Kleiber)

00:46:46

Wendelstein | Transformer | Current | Noether's theorem | Conservation | Quantum Computer | Lorentz Force | Magnetohydrodynamics | Gyrokinetic ElectroMagnetic | Maxwell's equations | Fortran | Eurofusion

Back with Matthias Hirsch

01:54:58

waveguide | magnetic confinement | impurity

]]> 309 - Forensic Engineering https://omegataupodcast.net/309-forensic-engineering/ Tue, 09 Apr 2019 19:55:59 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=4554 02:04:59 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Forensic Engineering 309 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Sean Brady Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Stefaan Rillaert

In this episode I chat with Sean Brady about structural failures in civil engineering. We first discuss the technical and organzational causes for such failures. We then look at Sean’s specialty, forensic engineering, which is about analyzing failures to determine the root cause. Sean also has his own podcast in which he delves into much more detail about engineering failures, not just in construction.

Introduction

00:02:12

Sean Brady | Forensic structural engineering | Root cause analysis

Structural engineering

00:05:07

Structural engineer | Technical standard | Factor of safety | Structural engineering quote | Computer-aided design (CAD) | Building code

Failures

00:18:23

Types of failure | Hydraulic action | Tacoma Narrows Bridge (1940) | Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse on youtube | Why the Tacoma Narrows Bridge Collapsed | Brooklyn Bridge | Virgin Galactic crash | National Transportation Safety Board | Karel Terwels' study on failures, 'Structural safety: Study into critical factors in the design and construction process'

Forensic engineering

01:11:03

Forensic engineering | Brady Heywoord podcast episode 3 on the difference between a forensic engineer and a structural engineer | Sean Brady on 'Why do bridges fail?' | Brady Heywood podcast | Start of the Apollo 13 series

]]> 306 - Flying the RC-135S Cobra Ball https://omegataupodcast.net/306-flying-the-kc-135s-cobra-ball/ Sat, 09 Mar 2019 09:45:06 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=4534 01:33:30 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Flying the RC-135S Cobra Ball 306 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Robert Hopkins Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Bastian Hundt

Throughout the cold war, and til today, the Cobra-codenamed ground, sea and air assets have been used by the US to monitor Soviet/Russian ICBM missile launches and warhead reentries. The air component consists of the RC-135 Cobra Ball/Eye aircraft. Flying from Shemya in the Aleutians they used cameras and other sensors. Our guest, Robert Hopkins has been flying the aircraft in the late 1980s. In this episode he tells us about the mission and the flying — Shemya could be quite challenging.

Robert is also the author of the book on the KC-135, you might want to check it out.

Introduction of Robert Hopkins

00:01:53

Cobra Ball | Cobra Eye | Ballistic Missile (ICBM) | Air Show

Overview of the Missions

00:03:38

Sputnik 1 | Ground Radar | Telemetry | Boeing B-47 | Electronic Warfare | KC-135 | RC-135 | Measurement and Signature Analysis | Shemya | Boost and Terminal Phase | Big Safari Program | Cobra Judi | Cobra Dane | Synthetic Aperture Radar | Reentry Vehicle

The KC-135

00:13:53

Boeing 707 | Infrared Sensor | National Technical Means (NTM) | SALT 2 Treaty | SS-20 | Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile | B-52 | Nuclear Verification | Rivot Joint | ELINT | COMINT | Desert Storm | Burning Wind Mission

Difference between Cobra Ball and Cobra Eye

00:23:58

Strategic Defense Initiative | Warhead | Bus / Penetration Aid | Rivot Amber Incident | TC-135 | J-57 Engine | TF-33 Turbofan Engine | CFM-56 / F-108 Engine

Lisa Ann Mission

00:30:33

Ballistic Framing Camera System | Multiple Reentry Vehicles

Flying, Operating and Living at Shemya

00:37:18

Rat Islands | Boeing Stratocruiser | Eielson Airbase | Red Flag | Air Refueling | Wind shear | EB-47 | Precision Approach Radar | Microwave Landing System | King Crab | Queen Match Program | Lockheed Electra | Boeing 727

The Cobra Mission

01:01:56

National Security Agency | SS-18 | Racetrack Pattern | Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty | Stellar Inertial Doppler System | Doppler-Shift | Looking Glas

The Book of Robert Hopkins

00:03:23

The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker: More Than a Tanker | Spyflights and Overflights

The End

01:27:23

Open-Source Information <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_intelligence | OmegaTau Episode about the Sofia Telescope

]]> 304 - The Past, Present and Future of Fusion Energy https://omegataupodcast.net/304-the-past-present-and-future-of-fusion/ Sat, 09 Feb 2019 17:13:02 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=4492 02:15:36 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones The Past, Present and Future of Fusion Energy 304 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Jason Parisi, Justin Ball Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Stefaan Rillaert

Justin and Jason wrote a nice book on fusion called The Future of Fusion Energy, and this episode is based on this book. We start out by revisiting the breakthroughs that drove progress in fusion over the decades, including understanding stars, the tokamak, superconducting magnets, supercomputers and a number of specific aspects of plasma physics. We then look at the current state of fusion research as well as where it might go.

Introduction

00:02:43

Justin Ball | Swiss Plasma Center | Jason Parisi | Nuclear fusion | Joint European Torus | Book "The Future of Fusion Energy" | Jason Parisis' article "From fission to fusion: the need for a quick transition"

Past

00:06:38

History of the Cavendish Laboratory | Francis Aston | Arthur Eddington | Ronald Richter | Lyman Spitzer | Stellarator | James Tuck | Perhapsatron | Tokamak | Ohmic heating | Superconductivity | Episode about superconductivity | Bootstrap current | H-mode | Episode on ASDEX | Plasma shaping | Deuterium-tritium fuel | TFTR (Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor) | Supercomputer

Present

00:56:31

ITER website | ITER | Burning plasma | Fusion ignition | Tritium | Tritium Breeding | JT-60 | MAST Upgrade | Wendelstein 7-X | National Ignition Facility | Inertial confinement fusion | Lockheed Martin Skunk Works' Fusion Reactor | Cold fusion | Commonwealth Fusion Systems | Tokamak Energy

Future

01:33:19

Superconducting magnet | Magnetic confinement fusion | Materials science | Nuclear proliferation | Distributed generation | Grid base load | Pumped-storage hydroelectricity | DEMOnstration Power Station | China Fusion Engineering Test Reactor (CFETR)

]]> 300 - How Processors Got So Fast https://omegataupodcast.net/300-how-processors-got-so-fast/ Mon, 17 Dec 2018 13:49:21 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=4453 02:25:01 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones How Processors Got So Fast 300 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Lex Augusteijn Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Stefaan Rillaert

Have you ever wondered how the processor in your phone or computer got so much more faster than what the increase in megahertz suggests? In this episode we talk with Lex Augusteijn about superscalar processors, pipelining, speculative execution, register renaming and the like. We also discuss concerns other than speed, in particular, energy efficiency.

Introduction

00:06:00

Lex Augusteijn | KIM-1 computer | 6502 processor | Functional programming | Philips Research Eindhoven | Compiler | Media processor | DSP | Neuromorphic computing

Speed optimizations in modern processors

00:42:11

Data width | SIMD | Pipeline stall | Intel 8080 | ARM architecture | Branch prediction | Two bit prediction scheme | Memory hierarchy | Clock cycle | CPU cache | Cache line | Write-Through cache line | Operating system | Cache coherence | Voatile keyword in C | Simultaneous multithreading (SMT) | Hyper-threading | Context switch | Single instruction, multiple data (SIMD) | Speculative execution | Register renaming | Very long instruction word (VLIW) | Intel Atom | Abstract interpretation | Static program analysis | Domain-specific language (DSL) | (German) episode about DSLs | C pragma | TriMedia mediaprocessor | Out-of-order execution | Instruction scheduling | Multi-core processor | The Free Lunch Is Over | MMX instruction set

Additional concerns

01:44:44

Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) | Image processor | Dynamic voltage scaling | ARM architecture | Memory management unit (MMU) | Spectre bug | Side-channel attack | CUDA | Convolutional neural network | NXP Semiconductors | Processor design | Intel Tick-tock strategy

]]> 299 - Gravity Storage https://omegataupodcast.net/299-gravity-storage/ Sun, 02 Dec 2018 09:02:16 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=4438 01:40:17 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Gravity Storage 299 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Eduard Heindl Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Fabian Zeisberger

With power generation in the grid becoming more diverse and decentralized, energy storage is becoming more and more important. Eduard Heindl‘s gravity storage is an approach to storing electrical energy as potential energy by lifting huge masses cut out of the ground. While this sounds crazy, there are lots of reasons why this makes sense. In the episode we discuss then need, the general approach, the construction process and some of the engineering challenges. We also look at the innovation process, the path from the idea to something that is ready to be built.

Basic Concept

00:33:36

OT 272 Pumped storage power plant in Kaprun (German) | Basic concept

Construction process

00:52:13

Construction | Wire saw | Goldisthal Pumped Storage Station

Engineering process

01:13:58

World Future Energy Summit | ITER | Zeppelin | Forklift | Geislinger Steige

]]> 297 - Flying the AH-64 Apache https://omegataupodcast.net/297-flying-the-ah-64-apache/ Sun, 18 Nov 2018 07:12:43 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=4420 02:28:50 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Flying the AH-64 Apache 297 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Caleb Marheine Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Alexander Grote

In mid-September I drove to Illesheim Army Airfield to meet with Caleb Marheine who flies the AH-64 Apache helicopter there. We talked about the helicopter’s systems, the cockpit, aspects of flying it as well as some of the missions.

My own Pictures

Jon’s Pictures

Introduction of the helicopter

00:04:50

AH-64D Apache | Engines | Rotor | MD500 | Forward looking infrared | Bell 206 | Weapons | HEDP | Hellfire Rack | Longbow Radar | Airframe | Pitot Tube | Flare | Chaff | Buckets | Tail Rotor | Stabelizer | Roll, Pitch and Yaw | WSO | Ballistic Glass | Kevlar | Self sealing fuel tank | Cable Cutters | Cockpit | Glass cockpit | Ejection Seat | Kamov Ka-50 | AWACS | Flying a helicopter with marcus (german)

Flying the Apache

01:05:30

IFR | Low level flight | Clear air turbulence | Autorotation | Density altitude | Organizational structure | Combat aviation brigade | JAAT | A10 | Laser designator

Missons

01:42:55

Cobra | Tow-Missle | Advanced attack helicopter research programm | Fulda Gap | Medivac

Echo Model

02:10:50

Future Vertical Lift | RAH-66 Comanche

]]> 295 - BepiColombo https://omegataupodcast.net/295-bepicolombo/ Fri, 26 Oct 2018 18:19:59 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=4376 02:12:19 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones BepiColombo 295 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guests: Pablo Munoz, Joe Zender, Roberto Peron, Ajako Matsuoka, Joana Oliveira, Paolo Ferri, Andreas Rudolph, Fabian Luedicke Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Mario Winkler

On October 20, the BepiColombo started its flight to Mercury on an Ariane 5 from Kourou. I was at the launch press event at ESOC in Darmstadt to follow the launch and to record a couple of interviews. The episode consists of three major parts. The first part is an interview with Pablo Munoz about mission analysis and flight dynamics. The second part looks at the science with Joe Zender, Roberto Peron, Ajako Matsuoka and Joana Oliveira. And part three are multiple short takes with Paolo Ferri, Andreas Rudolph and Fabian Luedicke recorded in the middle of the night at ESOC.

Since this episode has been “accelerated”, the shownotes will be delivered later.

Overview by Joe Zender

00:00:30

ESA | Joe Zender | Mercury | Mysteries of Mercury | BepiColombo Wikipedia | BepiColombo ESA Mission Homepage | BepiColombo Spacecraft | BepiColombo DLR contribution | JAXA | Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO) | Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) | Getting to Mercury | Multi-layer insulation (MLI)

Episode Intro

00:06:49

Interview: Flight Dynamics

00:09:13

Pablo Munoz | ESOC | Flight Dynamics | ESA Flight Dynamics Operations | Escape Velocity | Swing-by / Gravity assist manover | Eccentricity of Mercury | LEOP phase | Deep Space maneuvers | Spacecraft propulsion | Electric propulsion | Gravity loss | Albedo | Delta velocity | Doppler effect | Delta-DOR | ESA Deep Space Antennas

Launch: Role Call

01:42:24

ESTRACK | Guiana Space Centre, Kourou | BepiColombo Launch Replay

Launch: Paolo Ferri

01:44:32

Paolo Ferri | Malindi, Kenia | Attitude Control

Launch: Acquisition of Signal

01:52:44

Telemetry | New Norcia station

Launch: Andreas Rudolph

01:55:33

Andreas Rudolph | BepiColombo Solar Array | Images of BepiColombo | CNES

Launch: Altimeter

02:05:26

Fabian Luedicke | DLR | DLR Department Planetary Geodesy | BepiColombo Laser Altimeter (german) | BepiColombo Laser Altimeter (english)

]]> 292 - Gene Editing with CRISPR/Cas https://omegataupodcast.net/292-gene-editing-with-crispr-cas/ Fri, 14 Sep 2018 17:59:39 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=4285 01:31:35 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Gene Editing with CRISPR/Cas 292 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Sam Sternberg Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Thomas Machowinski

CRISPR is a family of DNA sequences in bacteria and archaea that are a part of these organisms’ cellular defense system. A recent discovery showed how this mechanism can be used to edit genes much more easily than legacy methods. In this episode I chat with Sam Sternberg about the naturally occuring CRISPR systems, how they work, and how CRISPR together with its associated enzymes can be used to cut, and subsequently, edit, DNA. We conclude the episode with an outlook on the potential use in medicine.

Check out Sam’s book A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution.

Es gibt außerdem ein Kurz&Knackig Video:

Intro and General

00:02:22

Guest is Samuel Sternberg | CRISPR Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats | CAS9 CRISPR Associated protein 9 | DNA | Gene | RNA | Protein | Enzymes | 2007 Discovery: CRISPR gene sequences stores DNA information from pathogenes / e.g. viruses

Genome Editing with CRISPR/CAS9

00:23:02

Genome Editing | Nucleus | ZFN | TALEN | 23andMe | Homolgy directed repair | Transfection | Off-target effect | GMO | Genome splicing | CRISPR/CAS9 Method in comparsion to traditional genome editing and breeding

Genral Discussion

01:09:45

Patents in Biology | Sam's work in detail | Cas13 edits RNA instead of DNA | Sam's book

]]> 291 - Flying in the Papuan Bush https://omegataupodcast.net/291-flying-in-the-papuan-bush/ Fri, 31 Aug 2018 18:37:06 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=4263 01:44:05 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Flying in the Papuan Bush 291 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Daniel Geaslen Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Mario Winkler

I chat with Daniel Geaslen about bush flying. His (at this time, former) job is to fly Kodiak turbo props for Mission Aviation Fellowship in Papua Indonesia, supplying remote villages. We cover the airplane, the missions, as well as the flying itself, with a particular focus on weather and challenging airfields.

If you want to donate to MAF, check out maf.org/donate.

]]> 289 - Music Production at Sandlane Studios https://omegataupodcast.net/289-music-production-at-sandlane-studios/ Wed, 01 Aug 2018 10:50:58 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=4242 02:06:54 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Music Production at Sandlane Studios 289 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Joost van den Broek Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Bastian Hundt

A few years ago, I interviewed Arjen Lucassen about his wonderful music and how he makes it; obviously, I am a big fan! Recently, his Ayreon universe was performed live on stage and I was blown away. I decided I had to talk the the guy behind the live shows, Joost van den Broek. Luckily he agreed. So I visited him in his studios and we talked about music production and arrangement in general, and specifically for the Ayreon live shows.

You can buy the Ayreon Universe here ar Arjen’s shop and of course at Amazon.

]]> 288 - Flight Research at NASA Armstrong, Part 3: Historic https://omegataupodcast.net/288-flight-research-at-nasa-armstrong-part-3-historic/ Tue, 17 Jul 2018 15:59:05 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=4224 03:00:27 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Flight Research at NASA Armstrong, Part 3: Historic 288 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Al Bowers Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Tim Jurik

In this episode I talk with NASA Armstrong’s chief scientist Al Bowers about the research projects he has been involved in during his long career at NASA. We cover deep stall research with a Schweizer sailplane, high-alpha flight and thrust vectoring with the X-29, X-31 and F-18 HARV, aero-tow of fast jets with the F-106, supercritical wings with the F-8, as well as space related projects using the SR-71 and the X-30. This is one of my favourite episodes of all time, since it is a bit of trip down memory lane for me personally, and Al perfectly hits the sweet spot between recounting facts and telling anecdotes.

I met Al when I was visiting NASA Armstrong in early 2017; this episode is a continuation of the conversations there about full-scale and subscale research there.

Schweizer Deep Stall Project

00:06:45

Schweizer-1-36 | Dutch Roll

F-18 High Alpha Research Vehicle (HARV)

00:17:22

F-18 HARV Phase 2 - Thrust Vectoring

00:30:40

X-15

F-18 HARV Phase 3 - Movable Strakes

00:41:30

X-31 (Enhanced Fighter Maneuverability)

00:46:05

F-15B ACTIVE

00:51:06

Oblique Wing

00:58:40

AD-1 | Robert T. "RT" Jones | Ilan Kroo | Neil Armstrong

F-8 Supercritical Wing

01:16:56

F-8 Supercritical Wing | Richard Whitcomb | Area Rule (German Aerospace Center (DLR) (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V.))

Grumman X-29

01:29:10

X-29 NASA Fact Sheet | X-29 Wikipedia Entry | F-5 | Dynamic Inversion

SR-71

01:41:21

SR-71 | NASA Armstrong Fact Sheet: SR-71 Blackbird | Omega Tau SR-71 Episode | Aerospike

Controlled Impact Demonstration

01:51:50

Crash In the Desert

F-106 Aerotow

02:09:43

Lowering the Cost of Space Launches | Mark "Forger" Stucky | Low Altitude Parachute Extraction

Rockwell X-30

02:34:48

Rockwell X-30 National Aero-Space Plane

Preliminary Research Aerodynamic Design to Lower Drag (Prandtl)

02:47:45

Prandtl-D Aircraft

Conclusion

02:55:35

]]> 286 - Software Analog Effects https://omegataupodcast.net/286-software-analog-effects/ Thu, 21 Jun 2018 18:21:01 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=4092 02:04:24 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Software Analog Effects 286 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Julian Parker Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Jochen Spalding

Effects devices are essential for electric guitars and keyboards because they shape sound and make it interesting; many classic devices exist. However, those are rare and/or expensive, plus, even if they are not, carrying them around on a tour costs money. This is why these hardware devices are simulated in software, and distributed as plugins for audio software. Native Instruments is a manufacturer of such software analog effects packages. In this episode I chat with one of their engineers, Julian Parker, about how this software simulation of the electronic hardware is done.

Introduction Julian Parker And What He Does

00:04:08

Julian Parker | Native Instruments | Perceptual and Numerical Aspects of Spring Reverberation Modeling | DSP | Traktor | Machine | Komplete 11 | Guitar Pedals | Tape based delay | Bucket-brigade device | [Paper] Acoustics and Modeling of Pickups

Black-Box Modeling

00:29:33

Black-box testing | White-box testing | Finite impulse response | Infinite impulse response | Low-pass filter | Fast Fourier transform | [Paper] Subjective and objective quality assessment of audio source separation | Convolution | Linear time-invariant theory | Error metric | Amp cabinet

White-Box Modeling

01:06:34

Digital waveguide synthesis | Digital Waveguides (Julius O. Smith - Physical audio signal processing) | Karplus–Strong string synthesis | Ordinary differential equation | Capacitor | Transistor | Inductor | Resistor | Diode | Kirchhoff's circuit laws | Even and odd harmonics | Don Buchla | Robert Moog | Feature extraction | Mathematica | C++ | Domain-specific language | Compiler | LLVM

]]> 285 - Superconductivity https://omegataupodcast.net/285-superconductivity/ Fri, 08 Jun 2018 16:31:43 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=4062 02:50:50 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Superconductivity 285 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Pierre Bauer Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Kolja Dummann

Superconductivity, the ability of a material to carry electrical current with zero resistance, is a surprising property of nature, which man has been able to exploit in many ways, in particular, for high-performance magnets. Those are used in magnetic resonance imagers, but also in colliders and fusion reactors. In this episode we discuss the basics of superconductivity and its uses with Pierre Bauer, a superconductor engineer at ITER.

Superconductivity and its Discovery

00:03:05

Inversion temperature | Kamerlingh Onnes | James Dewar | Helium | Fritz London | Heinz London | Ohm's law | Energy Gap | Pauli exclusion principle | Cooper pair | Meissner effect

Applications of Superconductors

00:39:08

ITER (omega tau 157 - Fusion at ITER | MRI - Magnetic resonance imaging | LHC - Large Hadron Collider (omega tau 30 – The Large Hadron Collider) | omega tau 96 - Controlling the LHC Beam) | StarTram | Railgun

Materials

00:56:45

Mercury <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_(element) | Niobium | Tin (XFEL - European X-ray free-electron laser | omega tau 197 - The European XFEL | FCC - Future Circular Collider (omega tau 231 – The Future Circular Collider)

Magnet Design

01:14:40

Diffusion barrier <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffusion_barrier

Quench Protection

01:54:30

Fringe Fields (MagLab - National High Magnetic Field Laboratory) | Superfluidity

Conclusion

02:42:27

]]> 283 - The Perlan Project https://omegataupodcast.net/283-the-perlan-project/ Thu, 10 May 2018 10:07:41 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=4035 01:51:20 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones The Perlan Project 283 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Lars Bensch, Jim Payne Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Stefaan Rillaert

The Perlan Project aims to fly gliders into the stratosphere by exploiting mountain waves in order to better understand those waves and to explore the edge of what gliders can do. In fact, last September, they broke the world altitude record for gliders. In this episode we chat about the project, the airplane and the flying with engineer Lars Bensch and pilot Jim Payne.

]]> 279 - Microgravity Research at ZARM Drop Tower https://omegataupodcast.net/279-microgravity-research-at-zarm-drop-tower/ Sat, 10 Mar 2018 15:31:01 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=3920 01:46:56 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Microgravity Research at ZARM Drop Tower 279 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Martin Castillo Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Alexander Grote

During our tour NorthWest 2017 I visited the drop tower at Uni Bremen’s ZARM and talked with Martin Castillo, the head of material science at the facility. We discussed the basics of microgravity research, the technical aspects of the tower, how to set up experiments, and also about his particular work in material science.

Introduction of Dr. Martin Castillo and ZARM Droptower

00:03:00

Microgravity | ZARM | Overview of Experiments at ZARM | Drag | Deceleration Chamber | Capsules | ZARM User Manual

Catapult system

00:20:22

Description of the System | Pneumatics | g-jitter | vaccum quality | Turbo Pump | Ion Pump | Sublimation Pump

Base of the Tower (outside the Vaccum Tube)

00:35:05

center of mass | Infrared Data

Base of the Tower (inside the Vaccum Tube)

00:41:25

Base of the Tower (control room)

00:45:50

To the top of the tower

00:52:00

getting married at the top of the tower ;)

]]> 277 - Life and Work on HMS Enterprise https://omegataupodcast.net/277-life-and-work-on-hms-enterprise/ Wed, 07 Feb 2018 13:09:23 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=3845 08:03:42 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Life and Work on HMS Enterprise 277 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guests: Philip Harper, Kyle O’Regan, Oliver Jessop, Graham Blenkinsop, Ian Sutton, Lee Williams
Shownoter: Jochen Spalding, Fabian Zeisberger, Andy Joiner, Bastian Hundt, Stefaan Rillaert
Host: Markus Voelter

In December 2017 I had the opportunity to spend a few days on board the Royal Navy’s HMS Enterprise on her trip from Limassol, Cyprus to Valetta, Malta. HMS Enterprise is a survey ship, her primary task is to map the sea floor using sonar and feed the data into civilian and military maps. In this detailed episode, we chat about the ship, its mission, the survey equipment, the technical aspects of the propulsion and systems, plus about life on board a ship and nautical issues in general.

Introduction

00:02:20

Commander Philip Harper Commanding Officer of HMS Enterprise | HMS Enterprise | Hydrography | "She is short and fat" | HMS Echo (H87) | Minehunter | Azipod | Executive officer | Commanding officer | Rank Insignia of Navy Commissioned and Warrant Officers | Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 2 | HMS Enterprise tweet

Fastcruise

00:51:02

Sailing from Cyprus

01:28:48

Maritime pilot | Devonport, Plymouth | Advanced Airborne Sensor | Vessel traffic service | Gyrocompass

Bridge Watch

02:04:02

Navigator | Concept of Innocent Passage | Clearing Lines | International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea | Operation Sea Guardian

Working and Living on the Ship

02:45:14

Officer of the deck | Officer of the day | Engineer Officer | Logistics Officer

Man Overboard Exercise

03:01:28

Man Overboard | Life Jacket | Hypothermia (Saltwater Spray - Osmosis) | Wake | Lee Side | Pacific 24 | Jet Powered | Jasons Cradle | Sick Bay | Command by Veto | Swimmer of the Watch | Dry Suit | Muscle Memory

Fire Exercise

04:44:20

Bridge Equipment

05:03:14

Bridge | Electronic Chart Display and Information System | Gyro | Radar | GPS | Echo sounding | Navigation Radar | Automatic Radar Plotting Aid | Bearing | Magnetic Compass | Automatic Identification System | Azipod / Azimuth Thrusters | Quartermaster | Bowthruster | Engine Order Telegraph | Ship Wheel | Kill Cord / Dead Man Switch | Dynamic Positioning | Bilge | Damage Control

Engineering & Systems

05:46:43

Diesel-Electric Propulsion | Electric Bus | Electric Switchboard | Electric Generator | Ballast Tank | Venturi Effect | Eductor | Compartmentalization | Antiroll Tanks | HVAC | Intercom | Speaking Tube | Citadel | Quarterdeck

Wrapup

06:31:50

Malta | HMS Gleaner | HMS Protector ice patrol ship | HMS Scott | USS Enterprise (CVN-65) | Starship Enterprise

Markus' Thanks to Everybody

06:44:38

Space Flight Dynamics with Rainer Kresken | Tweets Bettina Wurche about Enterprise | Twitter account HMS Enterprise

Epilogue: Driving into Valetta

06:47:19

Port of Valletta | Breakwater | Dynamic positioning | Bow thruster | Ship motions | Maritime pilot | Automatic identification system (AIS) | Dynamic positioning (DP)

]]> 276 - Linguistics, Conlangers and Game Of Thrones' Dothraki https://omegataupodcast.net/276-linguistics-conlangers-and-game-of-thrones-dothraki/ Wed, 17 Jan 2018 17:25:36 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=3833 02:11:48 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Linguistics, Conlangers and Game Of Thrones' Dothraki 276 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: David J. Peterson Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Stefaan Rillaert

Conlangers are people who design human languages, either just for fun or for use in works of fiction, often TV series or movies. My guest, David Peterson, has designed several languages, including the the Dothraki language featured prominently in Game Of Thrones. In this episode we use Dothraki (and English, and a bit of German) to introduce the basics of linguistics, i.e., the science behind natural (and in this case, designed) languages. We also discuss a few specific of Dothraki, and how it gets used in Game Of Thrones.

David’s Book (paper, Kindle, audio book)
David’s Google Talk

Introduction

00:01:51

David Peterson | David Petersons' book 'The Art of Language Invention' | Game of Thrones | Dothraki | Linguistics | Esperanto

Dothraki

00:04:36

David Petersons' Dothraki talk at Google | Game of Thrones books | Noun | Grammar | Adjective | Verb | Object | Subject | Preposition and postposition | Inflection | Compound | Language Creation Society | Grammatical case | Article | Actors about Dothraki in Game of Thrones | Dothraki conversation in Game of Thrones

Developing Dothraki

01:50:14

Eskimo words for snow | 'How to invent a language' in Wired | Phonology

]]> 274 - The Shuttle's Achievements for Space Exploration https://omegataupodcast.net/274-the-shuttles-achievements-for-space-exploration/ Mon, 25 Dec 2017 09:03:01 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=3783 02:19:46 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones The Shuttle's Achievements for Space Exploration 274 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Davide Sivolella Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Andy Joiner

This episode is a continuation of the two previous episodes (132, 133) with Davide on the Space Shuttle. Based on his new, second book we talk about the contributions the Space Shuttle made to space exploration in general. These include advances in space suits, the construction of the ISS, satellite servicing, its use as a science platform as well as military operations.

Introduction

00:02:37

Davide Sivolella (Episode 132 - Space Shuttle Systems | Episode 133 - Space Shuttle Operations) | Apollo program | Low Earth orbit | Understand how to work & live in space | Launch platform | Orbital workshop (ISS - International Space Station) | Repair satellites/telescope | Science platform | Falcon/BFR

Achievements

00:09:15

Launch platform | Reusable | Profitable | Approx 50 fights per year for profitability | Commercial satellite market | ~600km ceiling | Geosynchronous orbit | Rocket stage | Telecommunication satellite | Interplanetary mission | Galileo probe (Magellan - Venus | Ulysses - Sun) | Payload assist module (PAM) | Inertial upper stage | Airborne structure equipment | Springs eject the payload | Solid fueled rocket | Liquid fueled rocket | Centaur G (Centaur G prime - interplanetary missions) | STS-61-F | STS-61-G | Challenger disaster | Pressurized for structural strength | STS-61-F | Expendable rocket | Spacewalks (EVA - Extravehicular activity) | Orbiter | External tank | External protection system

Space Suits

00:29:47

Space suit | Grow taller in space | 1/3 atmospheric pressure | Tether (SAFER - Simplified Aid For EVA Rescue) | Nitrogen thruster (MMU - Manned maneuvering unit) | Columbia | SolarMax | Canadarm

Building the ISS

00:42:47

Tether experiment | Skylab | Saturn 5 third stage | STS-8 large mass manipulation | STS-61-B assemble from basic components | James Webb Space Telescope

Satellite servicing

00:54:12

Satellite servicing | Redundancy | Hubble | 5 service missions to Hubble | Rocket based attitude control system | Exhaust might contaminate the lenses | No reboost required at high orbit | Propellant | Deorbit | Telescope never had to face the sun | Outgas | STS-51-A | Incorrect production drawings of satellite | Incomplete orbital communication coverage | STS-49 | Manual capture | STS-51-I

Military

01:59:12

Titan 34D | STS-36 | Misty | STS-38 | Prowler | STS-27 | Vandenberg | Polar orbit

Conclusion

02:10:51

]]> 270 - Nuclear Weapons https://omegataupodcast.net/270-nuclear-weapons/ Sun, 26 Nov 2017 18:34:44 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=3731 02:31:06 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Nuclear Weapons 270 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Alex Wellerstein Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Andy Joiner

In this episode we chat about the science and engineering involved in nuclear weapons. Our guest is Alex Wellerstein of the Stevens Institute of Technology. We talk about atomic bombs as well as hydrogen bombs, how to refine the necessary fuels as well as a little bit of history.

A few specific links, as mentioned on the episode:

Alex’ Blog nuclearsecrecy.com
Alex’ Nukemap
David Baker’s book on nuclear weapons
Eric Schlosser’s book, Command and Control.

And as is almost an unfortunate tradition, I forgot to mention all of those of you who helped me prepare the episode with your input: Patrick Hosford, Daniel Merrlin Rüscher, Christopher Fredette, Sebastian Knapp, Benn Britton, Bernd Hart, MalteJ, Szymon Bartus, and Karsten Schmidt. Thank you :-)

Introduction Alex

00:03:54

Alex Wellerstein | Stevens Institute of Technology | Nukemap

Science Fundamentals

00:06:37

Nuclear weapon | Atom | Nucleus | Proton | Neutron | Electron | Chemical Explosion | Nuclear Energy | Controlled Reaction | Exponential Effect | Fission Reactor | Fission Bomb | Race Condition | Critical Mass | Einstein’s Formula E=MC² | Newton’s Equations | Electrical Repulsion | Nuclear Force | Uranium | Nuclear Stability | Nucleon | Barbell Shape | Particles | Radiation | Thermodynamics | Binding Energy | Mass Defect | Supernova | Electronvolt | Split Atom | Natural Nuclear Fission Reactor | Earth Crust | Control Rods | Neutron Economy | Fission Product | Delayed Neutron | Research Reactor | Self Limiting

Critical Mass

00:19:44

Los Alamos | Critical Assembly | Spontaneous Fission Rates | Fissile Materials | Uranium 235 | Plutonium 238 | Enriched Uranium | Fission Factor, k <ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_chain_reaction#Effective_neutron_multiplication_factor> | TNT | Kiloton and Megaton | Reflector | Beryllium | Density | Bare Sphere Critical Mass

Fusion

00:26:54

Nuclear Fusion | Coulomb Repulsion | Coulomb Barrier | Kinetic Energy | 200MeV Uranium | 14MeV Deuterium/Tritium

Weapons Effects

00:34:02

Pressure, Heat, Radiation, Electromagnetic | Fireball | Blast Wave/Pressure Wave | Thermal Pulse | Blast of Neutrons and Gamma Rays | Fallout | Electromagnetic | Flammability | Hiroshima | Blast Amplification | Ideal Height | Decay | Nagasaki | Detonation | Hydrogen bomb | Cold War | Missile | Yield | ICBM

Atomic Bomb

00:54:19

Manhattan Project | Enriched Uranium | Moderator | Godiva Device | Implosion Method | High Explosive Lenses | Detonation Velocities | Waves Interact | Composite Bomb | Oppenheimer | Plutonium vs Uranium | Rosenbergs | Classified

Hydrogen Bomb

01:18:54

Dial-a-yield | H-Bomb = Thermonuclear | Teller Ulam | Lithium Deuteride | Gamma Radiation | Radiation Pressure | Radiation Implosion | Radiation Engineering (Inertial Confinement Fusion - Lasers) | National Ignition Facility | Ablation | Sparkplug | Fission-Fusion-Fission | Activation | Dirty Bomb | Project Orion | Project Pluto | Cruise Missile | Davey Crocket

Hydrogen Bomb Development

01:50:16

Yeld-to-Weight Ratio | Always/Never Problem | Irradiating | Stockpile Stewardship | B61 | B83 | Warhead | Triad | Centrifuge

North Korea

02:17:52

]]> 267 - The Quantum Tron UAV https://omegataupodcast.net/267-the-quantum-tron-uav/ Sun, 22 Oct 2017 17:42:26 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=3696 01:50:33 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones The Quantum Tron UAV 267 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Florian Seibel Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Bastian Hundt

Quantum Systems designs, builds and sells unmanned air vehicles for professional use. Their particular specialty is VTOL designs, i.e., UAVs that take off and land vertically, but then switch to airplane mode for airplane-like speed and range. In this episode we chat with Quantum’s CEO Florian Seibel about their primary drone, the Tron. We focus on the motivation for developing the aircraft, the use cases, as well as design decisions and technical aspects.

An inflight video. Another one in 360 degrees. The main product page also contains nice videos. Finally, the Lynx landing on a ship video.

Introduction of Florian Seibel

00:05:06

Quantum Systems | VTOL | Harrier Jump-Jet | OT-148 Flying the Harrier | V-22 Osprey | TRON | TRINITY | FLYABILITY | Glide Ratio

Office Walkaround

00:14:29

Autopilot | "Hardware in the loop" | Carbon Fibers | CAD | CNC Milling | Multiplex | Intergeo | 3D-Printer

Usecases & Sensors for the Systems

00:32:59

Agriculture | Pipeline / Power Surveillance | Logistics | Laser Scanner | Multispectral Cameras | CAN Bus | Reynolds Number

VTOL Design

00:47:16

"UAV missing landing net" on YouToube | Sikorsky Blackhawk | Blackhawk successor | Cyclic Rotorhead | Thrust-to-Weight-Ratio | Inertial Measurement Unit | Magnetometer | Kalman Filter | Servomotor | Dual-Use Technology | Bo-105 | STM32 | Lockstep Computing | FAA | LBA

Control of the UAV

01:23:41

Mission Planning | Ground Resolution | Airspace Structure

Flight-Testing & Business Opportunities

01:37:16

Gimbal-System | Electro-Optical-System

End

01:45:24

]]> 266 - Secondary Surveillance Radar https://omegataupodcast.net/266-secondary-surveillance-radar/ Fri, 13 Oct 2017 05:56:59 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=3677 02:14:47 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Secondary Surveillance Radar 266 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Mike Sharples Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Stefan Rillaert

Secondary surveillance radar (SSR) is the radar technology used in aviation to query transponders; it forms the backbone of today’s air traffic control infrastructure. Our guest in this episode is Mike Sharples who has been part of the development of the technology and is intimately familiar with the details. We discuss the importance of SSR today, the details of the protocol, the difference between and evolution from Mode A/C to S as well as the relationship to ADS-B.

Introduction

00:02:31

Michael Sharples | COMSOFT Solutions | Royal Signals and Radar Establishment | Mode S

Overview primary and secondary radar

00:04:56

Radar | Primary radar | Chain Home | Bistatic radar | Multistatic radar | Secondary surveillance radar | Transponder | Identification friend or foe | Aviation transponder interrogation modes | Plot extraction | Signal processing | Garbling/Degarbling | Matched filter | Monopulse radar | Sliding window | Pulse repetition frequency | Side lobe | Side Lobe Suppression

Mode S

00:48:01

(American) history of Mode S | DABS/ADSEL | Mode S 24-bit address | Controller–pilot data link communications (CPDLC) | Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) | Mode S error correction | Mode S Uplink | Mode S Downlink | Mode S Interrogation | FLARM (Episode 143 – Collision Avoidance with FLARM) | Mode S Enhanced Surveillance (EHS)

ADS-B

01:41:21

(Automatic dependent surveillance – broadcast (ADS–B)) | Omnidirectional antenna | Multilateration (MLAT) | Clock synchronization | ADS-B spoofing | ADS-B on Raspberry Pi | Flightradar24 (Automatic dependent surveillance — contract (ADS-C)) | ADS-B receivers on Iridium

]]> 264b - Special Announcement EN https://omegataupodcast.net/264b-special-announcement-en/ Wed, 27 Sep 2017 17:19:32 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=3641 00:04:49 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones b - Special Announcement EN 264 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. A quick special announcement on the long streak of German episodes for our English-speaking listeners. Don’t worry, English-episodes are coming up :-)

]]> 258 - The History and Technology of Spy Satellites https://omegataupodcast.net/258-the-history-and-technology-of-spy-satellites/ Fri, 28 Jul 2017 17:25:51 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=3540 02:05:54 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones The History and Technology of Spy Satellites 258 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: David Baker Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Alexander Grote

In this episode we speak with David Baker, who wrote a fascinating book about spy satellites. We cover the political and military context that drove their development, their (known and suspected) capabilities, methods of recovering the images, as well as typical orbits and the sartellites’ ability to change that orbit for quick repositioning.

Here are the videos I mentioned on the show:

Introduction of David Baker

00:01:53

Spaceflight Magazine and British interplanetary society | Davids books | Davids Spy Satellite Book | Boeing | Lockheed Martin | Northrop Grumman

Spy Satellites

00:08:53

Intelligence | Reconnaissance | Dwight D. Eisenhower | Wehrmacht | Soviet Union | NATO | Open Skies Treaty | V2-rocket | Orbit | International Geophysical Year | Spyplanes | U2-Spyplane | Bomber Gap | Sputnik (1) | ICBM | Wheat supply to Russia

Instrumentation on Satellite

00:29:23

Low Earth Orbit (LEO) | Stationary Orbit | EM-Spectrum | Airy Disk (optical resolution) | Radar | Corona | Kennen | Direct tv broadcast | Film bucket and Bucket recovery | Keyhole designation | Zenit 2 Rocket | Atlas Rocket | Thor Rocket | C119 | C130 | SR71 | SCUD Missle | Neutron Sniffer

Technical Details

00:56:15

Polar Orbit | Cape Canaveral | Stereo Camera | Secundary motor | Early warning satellite | Strategic defense initiative | Kinetic Weapon | Space proliferation treaty | Optical abberation | Dorian | Manned Orbiting Laboratory | Satelite refuelling | Tracking and Data Relay Satellite

Spy Satellites Today

01:49:03

Outro

01:59:25

]]> 257 – Flight Research at NASA Armstrong, Part 2: Fullscale https://omegataupodcast.net/257-flight-research-at-nasa-armstrong-part-2-fullscale/ Fri, 21 Jul 2017 15:59:05 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=3531 02:56:48 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Flight Research at NASA Armstrong, Part 2: Fullscale 257 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Kevin Weinert, Jim Less, Scott Howe, Hernan Posada
Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Bastian Hundt

As part of my trip to the US earlier this year I visited NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base. I conducted six interviews over two days, those concerning full scale (“real”) aircraft are in this episode. We start out with Kevin Weinert, with whom we talk about the Adaptive Compliant Trailing Edge project, essentially a flap made of flexible materials to save fuel and reduce noise. Next up is Jim Less, one of NASA’s F-15 and F-18 pilots; we chat about his flying and various research projects where the jets are utilized (you can see this part as a continuation of Episode 73, where we chatted with Dick Ewers). Finally, we talk about flying the MQ-9 and RQ-4 unmanned aerial vehicles with the pilots Scott Howe and Hernan Posada.

Kevin Weinert and the ACTE Project

00:02:21

Armstrong Flight Research | SCRAT Airplane | Gulfstream III | Adaptive Compliant Trailing Edge | Flaps | Wing Loading | Vortex | Rebound Effect | Load Alleviation Function | Lift-to-Drag Ratio | Spoilers | Computational Fluid Dynamics | Strain Gauge | SOFIA | SOFIA OmegaTau Part 1 | SOFIA OmegaTau Part 2 | McDonnell Douglas YC-15

Jim "Clue" Less and the F-15/F-18

00:42:30

USAF Test Pilot School | Flying the F-15 OmegaTau Episode | Flying the F-16 OmegaTau Episode | Shaped Sonic Boom Demonstration | Restricted Airspace | Mars Surveyor Lander | Adaptive Flight Controls | United Airlines Flight 232 | Schlieren Photography | Distributed Roughness Elements Research | F-35 | X-56 | F-18 | Arrestor Hook | Auxiliary Power Unit | Inertial Navigation System | Moving Map

Scott Howe and Hernan Posada on UAVs

01:55:21

Unmanned Aerial Verhicle | MQ-9 Reaper | RQ-4 Global Hawk | NOAA | Traffic Avoidance Testing of UAVs | Atmospheric Research with UAVs | ER-2 High-Altitude Airborne Science Aircraft | Autoland | Microsoft Flight Simulator | ADS-B | TCAS | Glide ratio | Garrett TPE331 | Head-up-Display | Flight Managment System

]]> 256 - Flight Research at NASA Armstrong, Part 1: Subscale https://omegataupodcast.net/256-flight-research-at-nasa-armstrong-part-1-subscale/ Sun, 16 Jul 2017 18:49:38 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=3527 01:59:50 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Flight Research at NASA Armstrong, Part 1: Subscale 256 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Al Bowers, Cheng Moua, Matt Moholt Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Andy Joiner

As part of my trip to the US earlier this year I visited NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base. I conducted six interviews over two days, the ones concerning subscale research (i.e., on model airplanes) are in this episode. We start with a conversation about flying wings in general and Prandtl-D in particular with Armstrong’s Chief Scientist Al Bowers. Next, we chat about flutter research and the X-56 with project lead Cheng Moua. Finally, we talk to Matt Moholt about his project, the Spanwise Adaptive Wing project.

Prantl-D with Al Bowers

00:02:34

(Al Bowers - Chief Scientist at NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center) | Aerodynamics | Rapid prototyping | Miniaturization | Reynolds number | Mach number | Inviscid fluid | Flight mechanics | Drag | flying body | Flying wing | Northrop_YB-49 | Moment | Dutch roll | Albatross | Reimar and Walter Horten | Ludwig Prandtl | Bell-shaped lift distribution | Elliptical lift distribution | Orville and Wilbur Wright | Downwash | Wingtip vortices | Span load | Upwash | Far field | Vortex | Adverse yaw | Proverse yaw | Artificial damping | Lifting-line | Lift distribution | B-2 | Elevon | Vortex generator | SB-13 | Wingtip spoilers | Control forces | Control surface | Yawing moment due to aileron deflection | Doublets | Fiber optic load detection | Pressure data ports | Centre of gravity (CG) | CubeSat | Ballast | NASA Ames project Exo-Brake | Thermal protection | Fuselage | Sailplane | No transients | Retrimming | Propeller | Airspace separation (Steve Portugal - Ibis - overlapping wings | Jeff Spedding - Falcon gliding) | Neutral buoyancy | Paleontology | Pterosaur | Empennage | Oblique wing | R. T. Jones | Richard T. Whitcomb | X-29 | F-8 Digital fly-by-wire | Thrust vectoring | F-18 HARV | X-31 | F-16 MATV | F-15 | Canard | SR-71 | F-106 | Lifting body | X-15 | XB-70 | Low boom demonstrator | X-57

X-56 with Cheng Muoa

00:53:06

Cheng Moua project manager for X-56 MUTT | X-56 | UAV | Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) | Modular | Aeroelasticity | Active flutter control | Range support | Fixed gear | Avionics | Quality control | Environmental testing | Flexible wings | Hight aspect-ratio | Envelope expansion | Load testing | Ground vibration tests (FEM - finite element) | Simulation | Coupling effects | Instrumentation | Strain gauge | Acceleration sensors | Calibrated | Real-time | Actuator | Trailing edge flaps | Body flaps | Fidelity | Redundancy | Load alleviation | RF link | Parachute | Flight control system | Camber | Fowler flaps | Slats to change camber | Volcanic ash | Eyjafjallajökull | C-17 | Quiet Spike | Sonic boom | X-plane QueST | Stability control | Analysis | Certification | Incremental changes

Spanwise Adaptive Wing with Matt Moholt

01:27:39

(Matt Moholt - Structures Engineer - Aerostructures Branch) | Spanwise adaptive wing project | Folding wings | Shape-memory alloy (SMA) | XB-70 | Wave riding | Supersonic | Winglets | Subsonic | Controls | Data acquisition | Sweep | Thermostat | Heart stent | Training | PTERA | Torque tube | Airfoil

]]> 255 - Aerial Refueling with the KDC-10 https://omegataupodcast.net/255-aerial-refueling-with-the-kdc-10/ Sat, 08 Jul 2017 16:54:05 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=3505 01:09:23 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Aerial Refueling with the KDC-10 255 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Martin and Louis Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Kolja Dummann

In late March 2017 I was participating in the media day of the European Air Refueling Training Exercise, organized by the European Air Transport Command headquartered in Eindhoven. While the planned flight on the Dutch KDC-10 did not work our for technical reasons, I recorded a follow-up interview with tanker captain Martin and boom operator Louis. We discussed a number of details around air-to-air refuelling in general and the KDC-10 in particular. The episode begins with an overview of aerial refueling that I recorded myself.

Here is the page of Matthias Grägel with air-to-air pictures taken during EART 2017.

Refuelling Videos

Pictures KDC-10

These pictures are (c) RNLAF

Pictures KC-135

Pictures KC-767

Pictures A-310

]]> 252 - Red Flag https://omegataupodcast.net/252-red-flag/ Sat, 17 Jun 2017 14:17:26 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=3484 03:09:49 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Red Flag 252 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Jan Stahl, John Traylor, Graham Johnson Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Pascal Becker

On the second day of my visit to Nellis AFB we covered the Red Flag, an advanced aerial combat training exercise hosted multiple times per year at Nellis. We started out with a general overview with Jan Stahl; we also covered the role of the aggressors. I then talked with John Traylor who works as a ground intercept controller for the aggressors. Next is a conversation with Graham Johnson about Red Flag from the perspective of a blue force participant; he flies an F-15C out of Lakenheath. We conclude the episode with a look at the historical context that lead to Red Flag, again with Jan.

Introduction Jan Stahl

00:03:13

Nellis Air Force Base | Omega Tau Episode 251

Red Flag General and Daily schedule

00:03:58

Red Flag | General Dynamics F-16 Aircraft | Rockwell B-1 Aircraft | McDonnell Douglas F-15 Aircraft | Northrop Grumman EA-6B Prowler | US Navy Top Gun Program | Top Gun Movie | Airforce Weapons School | Alenia C-27J Aircraft | Boeing B-52 Aircraft | Airial Refueling

Data Monitoring and Tracking

00:54:13

NATS (Nellis Aircraft tracking systems)

Debriefing and Weapons

00:57:33

PK (Probability of Kill) | Inert weapon | Live weapon (explosive)

Aggressor Flying

01:12:28

Aggressor Squadrons | Air to Air Missiles | Mikoyan MIG-29 Aircraft

Simulation of Training

01:26:03

Northrop T-38 Talon Aircraft | Lockhead Martin F-35 Aircraft | Chaff | Flare

Day schedule of aggressor

01:44:43

Introduction John Traylor - Ground Control

01:55:58

GCI (Ground Control Intercept) | AWACS (Airborne Control Intercept)

AWACS

02:11:10

Bullseye (An established reference point from which the position of an aircraft can be determined.) | BRA (Bearing, Range, Altitude)

Introduction Graham Johnson

02:16:53

Lakenheath Royal Air Force Base | OCA (Offensive Counter Air) | DCA (Defensive Counter Air) | BFM (Basic fighter maneuvers) | EuroFighter Typhoon | FPCD (F-15 Flat Panel Control Display)

Introduction to first week of red flag mission

02:29:23

Escort Mission | Wingman flying | Trust but Verify

History of Red Flag

02:52:03

McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom Aircraft | Mikoyan-Gurevich MIG-15 Aircraft | Mikoyan-Gurevich MIG-17 Aircraft

]]> 251 - Flying the F-16 Viper https://omegataupodcast.net/251-flying-the-f-16-viper/ Fri, 09 Jun 2017 18:15:55 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=3295 03:31:50 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Flying the F-16 Viper 251 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Jan Stahl Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Thomas Machowinski

As part of my US trip 2017 I visited Nellis AFB, where LtCol Jan Stahl flies the F-16 for the 64th Aggressor Squadron. We spent a day around, in and under the F-16. The episode contains five parts. A brief introduction to the F-16 and its development, a discussion about flying it, a walkaround, a look at all the knobs, switches and displays in the cockpit as well as a detailed discussion on the HOTAS system that forms the backbone of the pilot’s interaction with the avionics.

For our discussion on the HOTAS system, please refer to this Google search with pictures of the throttle and stick.

Intro

00:00:30

Introduction to the F-16 by Markus

00:04:34

F16 in the Wikipedia | F16 at af.mil | Aerial view | Lightweight fighter program in the early 70s | first flight 1974 | first military fly by wire system | first airplane that required active regulation (aerodynamically unstable design) | first side stick controller | hand on throttle and stick (HOTAS) | reclined seat (30°) | frameless canopy (fighter-bomber - air-to-air air-to-ground) | several improvements over the years (Versions: A/B - C/D - E/F - N - XL) | is used by 25 countries | around 4500 pcs are produced | production continues

Theory with Jan

00:19:12

Nellis Airbase, Nevada | Reserve Unit as manpower borrower | F-16 is single engine single seat | minimum training is needed | landing gear is narrow and bounces back | total front view on ground | Head Up Display (HUD) | The HUD uses 3 master modes: | navigation | air2air (A-A) | air2ground (A-G) | Helmet mounted sight display | joint helmet mounted cueing system | flight control computer system (flcs) | the f16 is a aerodynamically unstable plane | one engine | roll at power change interaction (engine failure - engine restart procedures) | Engine maintenance | seat reclined | there is no cockpit canopy bow | view of pilot in canopy | some typical maneuvers: | takeoff with afterburner | landing with angle of attack around 11-13 degrees | AOA | speed brakes | „how much rudder“ | winds above 35 knots are not good for ejection seat | avionics and main aircraft systems (very easy to learn - switchology) | main sensors available: | primary: radar | radar warning reciever | RWR | infrared sensors from weapons (eg. aim 9) | AIM 9 Sidewinder | main systems: | electrics | two batterys: primary and standby | one generator | one epu external power unit | hydraulics | two similar systems: System A (main) <-> System B (secondary) | fuel | two internal and external tanks | completely automated center of gravity control | COG | reservoir tanks | kinds of missions and comparison to other fighters | Jan flew the F-15 before | F-15 | tactics manuals | fly by wire controls | available g are limited e.g. by g limits of stores

Walk-around

01:22:30

Engine control panel | crew chief starts the Engine from here | video recorder panel | air intake | different sizes in different versions | variable intake vanes | Nose | AOA sensors | pitot tube | the fuselage has a small diameter compared to other jets —> smaller, more basic radar | antenna | Fuselage right side | emergency power unit (runs on ram air or hydrazine) | about 15 min time on hydrazine | gear bay | delta p indicators | right wing | leading edge of the wings are movable | controlled by | outboard stations | AIM9 infrared seeker | the AIM9 seeker is cooled by cryogenic Argon | leading edge wing | flaps are mechanically connected to the gear | Flaps | back end of the plane | radar warning receiver | missile approach receiver | variable nozzle | five spray rings for afterburner | hook for resting cables (for emergency cases) | F16 lands with a hook | (Engine and intake covers are being installed) | engine start bottles

Cockpit

02:19:09

Cockpit | the stick has no force feedback | a walk thru the cockpit from left to right: | flight control system panel | trim panel | iff control panel | fuel control panel | external / lighting panel | electrical panel | jet fuel starter | radio control panel | aoq2-13 countermeasures / jammers | gear handles / hook switch / landing light / break channels | master arm panel | radar warning receiver panel | left multi function display | upfront control panel | navigation / data entry display | head up display | main engine indicators | compass | fuel indicator | caution and warning panel | LOX for breathing | cabin altimeter | HUD controls | hardpoint power control | internal lighting / environmental controls / oxygen regulator | master avionics controls | ejection seat / emergency oxygen bootle

Hands on throttle and stick

02:46:35

HOTAS | early attempts in the 60s | today integration with other systems (voice recognition) | about 15 switches for more than 100 functions | „there is an ellbow switch in the F15“ | HOTAS keeps eyes out of the cockpit | multi function display layout | two colored multi function display | several display modes can be programmed: | e.g. radar mode | tactical model | targeting pod | stores management system | MFD mode configurations can be programed prior to the mission and stored in the data transfer cartridge | HOTAS switchology | three main switches on the stick (thumb) | stick switches | target management switch (TMS) | display management switch (DMS) | countermeasures management switch (CMS) | one switch on the throttle (thumb) | throttle switches | z-axis switch like a trackball (thumb) | elevation wheel (index finger) | DMS actions: | left-right: scroll thru MFD modes | aft: sensor of interest (SOI) | TMS actions: | select or deselect a target | forward: select target (radar goes to single target lock) | backwards: deselect target (radar breaks target lock) | same combinations for different sensors | CMS actions: | jamming pod modes | chaff / flare dispense | Chaff | Flare

Closing part with Markus

03:24:45

„it only took 35 years from liking the plane to getting in touch with one“

]]> 249 - Plasma Physics https://omegataupodcast.net/249-plasma-physics/ Sat, 20 May 2017 19:29:40 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=3277 02:27:55 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Plasma Physics 249 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guests: Walter Gekelman, Troy Carter Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Andy Joiner

During my trip to the US I also visited the Basic Plasma Science Facility at the UCLA in Los Angeles. I talked with the two professors who run the facility, Walter Gekelman and Troy Carter. We discuss the basics of plasma, the research questions of plasma physics and some of the experimental challenges. I also get (and report on) a tour through the facility, which was very impressive, mainly because the whole system was built by the team around Walter and Troy!

Theory with Walter and Troy

00:01:48

Walter Gekelman | UCLA | Plasma | Troy Carter | Fusion | Tokamak | D3D Tokamak | Astrophysical plasma | Space plasma | Ionization | "A soup of electrons, a soup of charged positive ions" | "There may or may not be neutral particles" | "The hotter the plasma is, the fewer neutral particles there will be" | Collective behaviors | Debye Shielding | Non-linear behavior compared with gas | Memory | Collective response | Waves communicate disturbance | Plasma in manufacturing | Plasma processing | Plasma etching | Plasma implantation | Wafer | Lasers can produce plasma when they hit a solid | Plasma can be as dense as water | Statistical physics | Maxwell–Boltzmann statistics | Numerical analysis | Particle-in-cell | Non-neutral plasmas | Pure ion/pure electron plasma | TFTR 510,000,000°C | Nonthermal plasma | Plasma oscillation | Plasma magnetization | Plasma potential | Coulomb barrier | Solar wind

More theory with Walter

00:38:01

Lightning | Sprite | Magnetic ropes | Plasma is a better electrical conductor than copper | Resistance | Collisionless | Superconductor | Ionosphere | Heliosphere | Plasma cloud | Debye length | Artificial plasmas | Plasma display | Phosphor | Ground state | Ion laser | Sterilization | Plasma scalpel | Plasma cutter

Tour of the Facility

00:57:55

Large Plasma Device (LaPD) | CNC machine | Turbomolecular pump | Airlock | Scripted | Cathode | Busbar | Substation | Heat exchanger | Supercapacitor | Quasi-separatrix layers | Ohm's law | LAPTAG | Residual gas analyzer | Waveguide | Faraday cage | ITER | Electron beam | Ion beam | Alfvén wave

Troy’s Research

01:45:58

MHD turbulence | Accretion disk | Orbital decay | Kelvin–Helmholtz instability | Keplerian rotation | Eddie | Viscosity | Omega tau SOFIA tour | Energy cascade | Reproducibility | Drift waves | Rayleigh–Taylor instability | H-mode | H-mode profile | Stellarator | Edge-localized mode | NIF

]]> 248 - Distant Early Warning, SAGE and the F-106 Delta Dart https://omegataupodcast.net/248-dew-sage-and-the-f-106-delta-dart/ Sat, 13 May 2017 16:11:54 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=3233 03:52:57 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Distant Early Warning, SAGE and the F-106 Delta Dart 248 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Mike Milinkovich, Brian Jeffrey, Richard Embry, Bernd Ulmann
Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Jochen Spalding

In this episode we look back at (aspects of) the North American Air Defense system in the cold war. In particular, we look at the distant early warning line(s), the F-106 interceptor and the SAGE computer system. For DEW, we talk with Mike Milinkovich and Brian Jeffrey who have both worked on the DEW line; Brian also maintains a great website on DEW. For the F-106, we talk with Richard Embry who has flown the interceptor. And for SAGE, we speak with Bernd Ulmann, who has written a very detailed book on SAGE’s underlying AN/FSQ-7 computer system. Bernd has also been a previous guest on Episode 159 on analog computers.

The episode ends with some music from Arjen Lucassen’s new Ayreon Album, The Source. You might remember that Arjen was a guest on Episode 142, and I really love his stuff. The song is called The Day that the World Breaks Down and, together with several other songs of the album, is available on Youtube.

Here are a couple of videos by Brian: Brian’s visit to Hall Beach, 50 years later, the DYE3 Station in Greenland and the The BMEWS system.

Finally, here is some info about the “Skyking” Emergency Action Messages: Skyking Radio Blog, defconwarningsystem.com.

Mike: Introduction

00:03:19

Mike Milinkovich | Early-warning radar | Distant Early Warning Line (DEW-Line) | Mid-Canada Line | Pinetree Line | Photos: The DEW Pinetree Line | Locations of all DEWLine Sites in Canada, Alaska & Greenland | Ryerson Institute of Technology Toronto | Bell Canada | Cold War | Sputnik 1 | North American Aerospace Defense Command | Duck And Cover (1951) Bert The Turtle | John Diefenbaker | Ionospheric scatter | Tropospheric scatter | UHF / VHF / HF Radar | Doppler Radar

Mike: Workspaces

00:16:37

Arctic char | Lake Trout | Speckled trout

Mike: Operation stories

00:30:57

Boeing B-52 Stratofortress | Identification friend or foe (IFF) | Cuban Missile Crisis | North Warning System

Brian: Introduction

00:46:20

Brian Jeffrey | DewLine | Adventures from the Coldest Part of the Cold War | The DEWLine | Mid-Canada Line | Pinetree Line

Richard: Introduction

01:42:34

Lockheed T-33 | Convair F-106 Delta Wing | General Dynamics F-16 (AWACS - Airborne early warning and control) | Dew Line: Distant Early Warning, the miracle of America's first line of defense

Richard: The F-106

01:43:44

Convair F-102 Delta Dagger | Pratt & Whitney J57 | Pratt & Whitney J75 | McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II | Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird | F-106 Speed Record | McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle | AIM-7 Sparrow | AIM-120 AMRAAM

Richard: Role of the interceptor

01:52:34

Distant Early Warning Line | Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 | Electronic counter-countermeasure | Aerospace Defense Command | North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) | Sage | Back-Up Interceptor Control (BUIC) | Area Control Center

Richard: Weapons

02:03:08

AIM-4 Falcon | Beam riding | Infrared homing | HIMARS | AIR-2 Genie | G-Suit | Afterburner | Aerial refueling | Richard: Exercises | OmegaTau Podcast "Chasing Bears with the Phantom" with former RAF pilot Nick Anderson | Boeing B-52 Stratofortress | Wing loading | Flap | Elmendorf Air Force Base

Richard: Dicks time as a controller and some last questions

02:28:00

McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II | List of DEW Line Sites | Light gun | Stabilizer | INS (Inertial navigation system) | FlightSafety International Inc.

Bernd: Introduction

02:44:27

Bernd Ulmann | AN/FSQ-7 Combat Direction Central | Whirlwind I | The Computer Museum, Boston (Bernds Book "AN/FSQ-7 - the computer that shaped the Cold War")

Bernd: SAGE

02:45:42

SAGE (Semi-Automatic Ground Environment) | NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) (MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology) | MIT Lincoln Laboratory (MIT Libraries - Project Whirlwind Reports (OmegaTau Podcast 159 – "Analog Computers" with Bernd Ulmann) | Vacuum tube | Air Defense Direction Center | Bell Telephone Company | Burroughs AN/FST-2 Coordinate Data Transmitting Set | Teletype | Magnetic drum system | Crossbar switch | Light gun | WarGames (1983) | Light pen | Oscilloscope | Grease pencil

Bernd: The computer!

03:10:42

Wirlwind 2 | Semiconductor diods | Transistor | Core memory | IBM | Jay Wright Forrester | Ken Olsen | Digital Equipment Corporation | IBM 650 | Interrupt | Snapshot (computer storage) | Computer cluster

Bernd: How was this thing programmed

03:21:27

Assembly language | Compiler | Subroutine | Recursion (computer science) | Stack (abstract data type) | Instruction set | Reduced instruction set computing | Complex instruction set computing | Cray XD1 | Processor register | Fortran | Waterfall model (Paper: Herbert D Benington - "Production of Large Computer Programs") | Agile software development

Bernd: So, was it useful?

03:28:57

Intercontinental ballistic missile | Air traffic control | Back-Up Interceptor Control | Joint Surveillance System | C (programming language) | Ada (programming language) | Documents Library bitsavers.org | Sage documents bitsavers.org

]]> 247 - Bulk Metallic Glass https://omegataupodcast.net/247-bulk-metallic-glass/ Sun, 07 May 2017 07:44:05 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=3220 01:46:29 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Bulk Metallic Glass 247 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Douglas Hofmann Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Alexander Grote

Dr. Douglas Hofmann works as a scientist in the Metallurgy Lab at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. I visited Doug during my US trip earlier this year, and we chatted about metallic glass. In particular, we discussed its properties, how to create it in bulk, how to test its properties, as well as how and why it is interesting for use in space.

Introduction of Dr. Douglas Hofmann

00:01:21

JPL Metallurgy Facility | Metallurgy | Technology Readiness Level

Metallic Glass

00:06:06

Transparent Aluminum | Alloy | Conductivity | Glass | Vitrification | Fourier Heat Transfer Equation | Crystal | Brittleness | Ductility | Toughness

Properties and applications of Metallic Glasses

00:25:47

Ashby Plot | Elasticity | Yield Strength | Injection Moulding | Corrosion | Corrosion Fatigue | Wear | Impact | Lubrification | Lubrification of Space Systems | Gear | Ball Bearing

Manufacturing of (Bulk) Metallic Glasses

00:58:15

Thermal Conduction | Direct Casting | Blow Molding | Chanel Bottle from Jan Schroers | Arc Melting | Metal Injection Molding | Die Casting | Hardness | Speed of Sound | Strain wave gearing | Phase Diagrams metallic glasses | 3D-Printing Episode OmegaTau (German!)

Outlook

01:32:21

]]> 245 - Glaciology Research at the Darwin Glacier https://omegataupodcast.net/245-glaciology-research-at-the-darwin-glacier/ Sat, 22 Apr 2017 08:37:12 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=3138 01:21:56 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Glaciology Research at the Darwin Glacier 245 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Dana Floricioiu Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Andy Joiner

During my visit to DLR’s Earth Observation Center earlier this year I also talked to Dana Floricioiu about her work in glaciology. We discuss a couple of her recent publications, and then focus on her trip to the Darwin Glacier in Antarctica. Together with a team of fellow scientists, she camped on the glacier for three weeks to conduct various in-situ experiments. We discussed the work, but also life on the glacier.

You can find the blog about the trip here, it contains some interesting pictures as well.

You might also want to make sure you have listened to the episode on Antarctic Sea Ice; we reference it in this episode.

Finally, the film by Werner Herzog mentioned by Dana is available on Youtube. While searching for it, I also found this impressive movie about the break up of a huge iceberg.

Introduction

00:01:28

Dana Floricioiu | DLR | TerraSAR-X | Glacier | Ice sheet dynamics (Synthetic aperture radar - SAR | omega tau 229 - (Ant-)Arctic Sea Ice | omega tau 244 - SAR Satelliten und Satellitendatenarchivierung am EOC) | Passive microwave | Ice stream | Antarctica | Patagonia | Remote sensing | Topography | Ice divide | Climate change | Ice mass changes | Precipitation | Radar penetrates ice and works in dark | 6 months of darkness | Mass balance modelling (Persistent Scatterer Interferometry - PSI) | Coherence | Interferometric synthetic aperture radar | Interferogram | Displacement | Atmospheric effects | Deformation (Grounding line - The boundary between the floating ice shelf and the grounded (resting on bedrock) ice) | Grounding line is evident due to the tide | If the ice is thinning, the grounding line migrates | Archimedes' principle | Sea-level rise (Mass balance - change of ice mass) | Snowfall | Avalanche | Deposition | Melt | Re-freeze | Sublimation | Wind deposition | Calving | Calving video | Pío XI Glacier

Instruments

00:20:58

Geodetic | Surface elevation | SAR | Photogrammetry | Ground surveys | Airborne & spaceborne altimetry | Derive mass change from elevation change over time | Convert volume to mass based on density profile | Assume constant ice density over 10 year study | Mass loss is evident | Derive the rate of loss also | Error estimation | 3cm per year accuracy (Example error of 0.4 gigaton/year when measuring 13 gigaton/year - around 5%) | Comparing satellite vs aircraft measurements | Subglacial lake | Operation IceBridge | Airborne Topographic Mapper | No penetration with laser sensor | CryoSat (omega tau 46 - NASA TC4 Project) | Satellite passes every 11 days

TIDEx Campaign

00:42:01

Darwin Glacier | 700m-1000m ice thickness | Study stress in ice | Elasticity | Viscoelasticity | Ice sheet modelling | Flux | GPS (DGPS - Differential GPS | GPS base station and along the glaciers - 2 weeks) | Tiltmeter for precise height (pRES to measure ice thickness - 1mm accuracy) | TIDEx blog | Christian Wild's TIDEx blog | Team of 4 | University of Canterbury | Gateway Antarctica

Preparation

00:53:26

Christchurch | Antarctica New Zealand | Ross Island | Scott Base (NZ) | McMurdo Station (USA) | C-17 | Terra bus | Terra bus | Snow coach | Encounters At The End Of The World (2007) | Ski-Doo

Harsh environment

01:02:15

Chill factor | Temperatures around -12°C to -2°C | Sun always up | 9 hour work days | Crevasse (Steep inclines - runaway sledges) | Survival bag | VHF radio | Iridium satellite phone | Twin otter | Scheduled communication | V thread/anchor | V thread/anchor | 45 knot wind speed

]]> 243 - Formal Specification and Proof https://omegataupodcast.net/243-formal-specification-and-proof/ Mon, 10 Apr 2017 05:17:37 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=3100 02:02:51 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Formal Specification and Proof 243 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Benjamin Pierce Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Bastian Hundt

The increasing complexity of software requires increasingly sophisticated means of ensuring its correctness — “just” testing is not necessarily good enough, depending on the domain in which the software is used. Formal specification, verification and proof is a field with a long tradition in computer science that is gaining more (practical) relevance these days; and in this episode, we cover the basics. Our guest is Benjamin Pierce, professor of computer science at UPenn. We discuss the nature of (good) specifications, how verification and proof is different from testing, and where and how these techniques are successfully used today.

For further details, you might want to check out Benjamin’s (free online) book Software Foundations.

Introduction of Benjamin C. Pierce

00:02:14

Benjamin Pierce at the University of Pennsylvania | Benjamin's Book, Software Foundations | SPLASH Conference

Intro to the topic

00:03:09

Critical infrastructure | Complexity | Modular programming | Compiler | C programming language | C++ programming language | Buffer overflow | Correctness | Semantics | Unit-Testing | Formal specification | Test coverage

Formal Specifications

00:26:12

Formal Specifications | x86 | SMT solvers | SAT solvers | Proof assistants | Induction

Dependent types

00:58:54

Dependant types | Curry–Howard correspondence | Haskell programming language | Generalized algebraic data type

Other uses of Formal Specifications

01:05:14

Model based testing | Csmith | POSIX | TCP Protocol Stack | PowerPC | ARM architecture | OmegaTau about domain specific languages (german) | Interpreter

Testing vs. Proofs

01:16:19

Regular expressions

Program vs Specifications

01:24:44

Bubble-Sort | Quick-Sort

Real-World examples

01:29:43

CompCert C | SIL4Linux | CertiKSOS | CakeML | Verified TLS | HACMS

DeepSpec

01:43:44

DeepSpec Project | DeepSpec Webserver

End

01:59:07

]]> 242 - Satellite Testing at ESTEC https://omegataupodcast.net/242-satellite-testing-at-estec/ Fri, 31 Mar 2017 18:46:25 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=3088 01:24:13 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Satellite Testing at ESTEC 242 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Mark Wagner Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Andy Joiner

This is the last episode recorded during my visit to ESA‘s ESTEC last fall. I get a tour of the Test Centre with the head of the section, Mark Wagner. We discuss the various test stands and facilities, including the thermal vacuum facility, the large space simulator, the thermal vacuum chamber, the vibration facilities, electromagnetic testing and acoustic testing.

Introduction

00:02:13

Mark Wagner | Head of section for test facility and test methods (ESTEC - Space Research and Technology Centre) | Environmental testing | Qualify design | Acceptance testing | Structural thermal model | Validate assembly

Clean room

00:04:10

Clean room | ISO 8 | Prevent contamination | Ensure repeatability (Vibration test - frequency sweep)

VTC1.5 Thermal vacuum facility

00:05:38

Solar simulator | 25kW xenon discharge lamp | 20 solar constants | BepiColombo Mercury mission | Flux | Sunshield | Autonomous test facility | Thermal radiation | 1.5m diameter x 3.5m long | Ideal for component testing

Large space simulator

00:10:14

(Large space simulator - LSS) | 121 focussing mirrors | 19 x 25kW xenon lamps | 8-9 solar constants over 3m diameter | 2 solar constants over 6m diameter | Solar orbiter | Infrared lamps | Air venting | Corona effect | Electrodynamic Shaker (Footprint run - facility self-test) | Eigenfrequency | 160kN (16 Tonnes) force per actuator (LEAF - Large European Acoustic Facility) | Shaker 2kHz max | Acoustic 20kHz max | Avoid overstressing during tests | On-board sensors | Strain gauge | Accelerometer | Surface microphone | Integrity check | Low level frequency sweep before vs after | Regular calibration | Center of gravity | Moment of inertia | Spin-stabilisation | Dynamic balance | BepiColombo | Sentinel-2B | Galileo | 2-3 weeks to test | Some automation of tests | No direct acquisition of satellite data by the test facility | Cooled with high pressure water | Nitrogen purged to prevent ozone formation in bright light | Roots pump | Turbomolecular pump | Cryogenic panels to trap remaining molecules | Outgassing | 10e-7 millibar considered good | Bake-out

Phenix thermal vacuum chamber

00:47:58

Phenix thermal vacuum chamber | 4m diameter 10m long | Thermal gradient testing | Preparation area | Container cleaned | Opened | Environmental stabilisation | Health checks | Functional checks | Instrumentation added | ETS operates facility | ESA owns facility

Hydra vibration facility

00:54:15

Hydra vibration facility | 20 tonne test table | 8 x 680kN hydraulic actuators | Six degrees of freedom | Envisat (ATV - Automated Transfer Vehicle | Approx. 100Hz +- 7cm displacement) | Reaction wheels

Electromagnetic testing

01:02:25

Maxwell test chamber | Electromagnetic compatibility | Faraday cage | Absorber cones | Auto compatibility test | Susceptibility test | Electrostatic discharge | 40m high | Anechoic chamber

Large European acoustic facility

01:06:43

Acoustic test facility | Standing wave | Diffuse field acoustic testing | Concrete with epoxy | Acoustic modulator | 156dB max noise level

Micro vibration test facility

01:11:04

Laser interferometry | Seismometer | Voice coil actuators | Micro Newton accuracy | Feed-forward | Negative-stiffness | Flight spare | Typical test 2-3 months | Some test for years

]]> 241 - Electric Propulsion of Spacecraft https://omegataupodcast.net/241-electric-propulsion-of-spacecraft/ Sat, 25 Mar 2017 08:03:46 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=3079 01:38:42 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Electric Propulsion of Spacecraft 241 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Jose Gonzalez del Amo Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Andy Joiner

During my visit to ESA‘s ESTEC last fall, I talked to Jose Gonzalez del Amo, who is the head of the Electric Propulsion Lab. We discussed the basics of electric propulsion, the pros and cons compared to chemical engines, different engine styles and their use cases, as well as the work ESA performs in the lab.

Introduction

00:03:15

Electric propulsion | Jose Gonzalez Del Amo | Head of Electric Propulsion Section | ESA Propulsion Lab Manager (ESA - European Space Agency) | Chemical propulsion | Aerothermodynamics | Numerical modelling | Chemical rocket propellant | Bipropellant | Oxidizer | Reductant | Thrust | Solar panels | Ion engine | Rocket equation | Specific impulse (exhaust velocity / g) | Chemical exhaust velocity typically 3000m/s | Ion engine exhaust velocity typically 30000m/s | Thrust = mass flow rate x exhaust velocity | Higher exhaust velocity requires less mass for same thrust (GTO - Geostationary transfer orbit | GEO - Geostationary orbit) | Transfer 4000kg satellite from GTO to GEO requires approx. 2000kg chemical or 300kg electric propellant | Transfer takes approx. 2 weeks using chemical vs 3-6 months using electric propulsion | Launch 2 satellites for the price of 1 with electric propulsion | Electric propulsion still requires chemical propellant | Solar sails | Xenon | High atomic mass | Low valance energy | Easy to ionize | Easy storage

Electric vs chemical propulsion

00:10:34

Save propellant mass | Station keeping | Inter-planetary travel enabler | BepiColombo | Controllability | LISA | Gravity waves | Dark matter | Lagrange point | Solar pressure | Laser interferometry | Accelerometer | GOCE in low orbit (NGGM - Next Generation Gravity Mission) | 200km separation | Low absolute thrust of electric propulsion | SABRE rocket engine | Flywheels (reaction wheels) | Station keeping | Magnetic moment | Euclid | Thrust ranges (1μN - ~2mN (LISA)) | Ion engine 1mN to 20mN (GOCE) (Station keeping 40mN - 80mN (Telecoms)) | Orbit transfer 5kW: 250mN | Dual purpose engines | Off-the-shelf products vs custom build

Engine types

00:27:36

Electrostatic | Ion Engine | 30000 m/sec exhaust velocity | 30 W/mN | FEEP | Electrothermal | Resistojet | Arcjet | Electromagnetic | Hall effect thruster | 20000 m/sec exhaust velocity (80mN - 250 mN thrust) | 20 W/mN | Used for many years | Magnetoplasmadynamic thruster | OneWeb | 900 satellites | Low orbit for good latency | Hall effect/ion engine | Deorbit | Hall effect thruster | Ion thruster | Kaufman (ion thruster) | RIT (ion thruster) | Plasma | Helicon thruster | Monte Carlo simulation | Empirical modelling

In the lab

00:57:00

Vacuum chamber | Roots pump | Turbomolecular pump | Cryogenic panels | Adsorb | Data acquisition | Plasma diagnostics | Langmuir probe | Plasma potential | Double charged ion | Seismic block 280 tonnes | Measure thrust using a balance | Passive isolation | Capacitive displacement sensor | Laser interferometry | Active isolation | Valve testing | Water hammer | Investigate engine interference with satellite operation | SMART-1 | 375Kg satellite with Hall effect thruster | 18 months from GTO to moon using 85Kg propellant

ESA

01:09:05

Originally design & manufacture | Currently supporting industry testing & experiments | Satellite project support & verification | Liquid metal propellant for FEEP | Graphite ion impact zone | 4x better erosion coefficient compared with stainless steel | Water cooled to freeze ions | Change engine control parameters to optimize efficiency when eroding | Qualification tests can last 20000 hours (> 2 years) | Typical tests last 5 hours to 2 days | Plume characterization | Balances to measure center of mass | Development of diagnostics | Team of 10

Esoteric propulsion

01:23:17

Bending space-time | Miguel Alcubierre | Time to market | Nuclear-thermal propulsion | Nuclear-electric propulsion | Project Daedalus | VASIMR | Antimatter propulsion | Budgets | Nonmilitary work | Propellant storage | ECR | ESA Funding (GSP - General Studies Program | TRP - Technology Research Programme | GSTP - General Support Technology Programme) | Advanced Concept Group | Ariadna

]]> 239 - The Saturn V Launch Vehicle https://omegataupodcast.net/239-the-saturn-v-launch-vehicle/ Sat, 11 Mar 2017 23:24:24 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=3059 02:27:52 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones The Saturn V Launch Vehicle 239 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: David Woods Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Stefaan Rillaert

David Woods has a new book out, so of course he has to talk about it on omega tau :-) His recent book is about the Saturn V launch vehicle, i.e., this time it is about the rocket, not about the spaceship. In this episode we dive into lots of details that we did not cover in the two Apollo episodes (episodes 83 and 97) — make sure you have listened to those before you listen to this one.

Introduction

00:05:34

David Woods | David's book, NASA Saturn V Manual (OT83 - How Apollo Flew to the Moon | OT97 - How Apollo Explored the Moon) | Apollo Flight Journal | Launch vehicle | Space vehicle | Rocket equation | Saturn V | N1 rocket

Overview stages

00:11:07

Saturn V stages | Multistage rocket | Orbit insertion | Saturn I | Saturn IB

First stage

00:21:19

First stage : S-IC | F1 engine | Rocket engine | F1 thrust chamber | RP-1 Kerosene | Turbopump | Apollo 11 Saturn V Launch Camera | Presentation about the fuel cycle used on the engine for going to Mars | Elon Musk on going to Mars | SpaceX Falcon 9 | Manned Orbiting Laboratory | Hypergolic propellant | Jeff Bezos' recovery of (parts of) F1 engines

Engine second and third stage

00:59:16

J2 engine | Hydrogen | RL10 engine | Episode on the Apollo Guidance Computer | Liquid-propellant rocket | Space Shuttle main engine

Second stage

01:16:04

Second stage : S-II | Problems with stage 2 in 'Stages to Saturn' | Ullage motor

Third stage

01:26:20

Third stage : S-IVB

Guidance and control

01:34:37

Control system | Saturn V Instrument Unit | IMU | Gimbal | Saturn Launch Vehicle Digital Computer | About the computer in 'Stages to Saturn' | Embedded system | Magnetic-core memory

Apollo flights

01:47:46

Saturn V Flight Manual | Lunar Rover Manual | Retrorocket | All-Up testing | Pogo oscillation | Apollo 6 | Apollo 13

Interesting sidelines

02:13:59

O2/H2 Burner on the S-IVB stage | S-IVB stage impact on the moon | Audio recording of a Saturn V launch with the microphone at the PA system | Apollo Flight Journal

]]> 238 - Societal Complexity, Part II: Today's Perspective https://omegataupodcast.net/238-societal-complexity-part-ii-todays-perspective/ Sun, 05 Mar 2017 10:25:12 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=3053 01:11:37 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Societal Complexity, Part II: Today's Perspective 238 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Paul Arbair Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Pascal Becker

In October 2015, Joseph Tainter was my guest in omega tau 184 to discuss his concept of increasing complexity and eventual collapse of societies. In this episode, our guest Paul Arbair discusses these concepts in the light of today’s rising populism in several countries. The episode is based on two articles Paul wrote on his blog: one on Brexit and one on Trump.

Introduction of the Guest

00:04:10

Paul Arbair | Thinktank

Western World

00:06:58

Brexit, the populist surge and the crisis of complexity (omega tau 184 – Societal Complexity and Collapse) | Georg Monbiot | Trump and the Autumn of Democracy | Diminishing returns

Complexity in Society

00:15:23

US tax system | Paul Kirchhof | Einkommensteuergesetzbuch | Eliminate two regulations for every one enacted

Technology / Technology Advancement

00:37:31

Rebound effect | Jevons paradox | Elevator pitch

Complexity from a Political Point of View

00:52:30

Lawrence Lessig | John Michael Greer

]]> 237 - Synthesizers https://omegataupodcast.net/237-synthesizers/ Sat, 25 Feb 2017 08:10:44 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=3048 03:28:41 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Synthesizers 237 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Rutger Vlek Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Jochen Spalding

Late 2016, during a trip to the Netherlands, I visted Rutger Vlek of River Creative Technology in his home studio to record an episode about synthesizers. We talked about the basics of sound generation, various enveloping and filtering techniques, sound design, the different fundamental approaches of sound synthesis, as well as a couple of classic synths. Rutger illustrated lots of approaches with samples from some of his many synthesizers.

Introduction of the Guest

00:02:27

Rutger Vlek | River Creative Technology | Rutgers Band | Sony Aibo | University of Groningen | Tinnitus | Dynamic range compression | Noise gate

Not gonna solve Tinnitus today, let's talk about synthesizers!

00:10:54

Low-pass filter | Frequency | Decibel | Pitch (music) | Fundamental frequency | Timbre | Sine wave | Equal-loudness contour | Sound Envelopes | Pitch contour | Spectral density | Shepard tone | Shepard tone example | Dream Theater | Electronic oscillator | Nord Modular G2 | Triangle wave | Sawtooth wave | Square wave | Low-frequency oscillation | Robert Moog | Voltage controller | Envelope generator | Voltage-controlled amplifier | Voltage-controlled oscillator | Crystal radio | Voice stealing | Beat Frequency | Amstrad CPC | Dubstep | Voltage-controlled filter | Don Buchla | Band-pass filter (Video: Psychedelic jam session - KORG ms-20, TR-8, analog four, line6, volca - (BURG - The saucer people)) | Zener diode | Vacuum tube

Sounddesign & Input devices

01:19:30

Yamaha DX7 (Video: Modular Synths - Benge explains creating a sequence on a modular syntheziser) | Roland | Hammond organ | Music sequencer | Convolution | Vocoder | Pitch wheel | Haken Continuum | Linnstument (Aftertouch - Keyboard expression) | Theremin

Garbage collection

02:58:14

Roland D-50 | Interpolation | ARP 2600

Analog vs digital

03:17:11

]]> 236 - Space Flight Software https://omegataupodcast.net/236-space-flight-software/ Sat, 18 Feb 2017 08:28:44 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=3032 01:47:34 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Space Flight Software 236 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Maria Hernek Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Markus Voelter

Last fall I visited ESTEC, ESA’s space research and technology center. In this first of three episodes, I talk with Maria Hernek, who heads the Flight Software Systems section. We talk about the challenges of space flight software, the development processes used by ESA and its vendors, as well as means of ensuring the required quality attributes. This episode can be seen as a continuation of the conversation with Andreas Wortmann in the OHB episode.

Introduction Maria and Departments

00:02:40

Maria Hernek | Flight Software Section | Telecom Satellites | Navigation Satellites | Deep Space Missions | Galileo | EGNOS | Work Share with Vendors | Systems Engineering vs. Software Engineering

Development Process and Standards

00:08:20

Agile | Incremental Development | Scrum | Agile vs. Contracting | Assembly, Integration and Test | Assembly, Integration and Verification | Risk Management | ECSS Standard | Coding Guidelines | ECSS E40 | ECSS Q80 | Verification vs. Validation | Redundancy | Runtime Monitoring | Engineering Handbook | Java

Systems Engineering and High-Level Structure

00:19:40

Data Handling | AOCS System | GPS | Star Tracker | Central Data Management Unit | Rosetta Mission | Leon Processor | EOC 32 Processor | Sparc Instruction Set | Radiation Hardening | System-on-a-Chip | VHDL | ASIC | Redundancy | Hot/Cold Redundancy | CRC Checking | Reconfiguration Module | Watchdog | Single point of failure | Cross coupling | Design Drivers

Software Architecture, Communication and Operating System

00:33:27

Simulink | AOCS Mode | Telemetry | C | Instrument Software | Data Compression | Geostationary | On-Board Software | CAN Bus | Mil Std 1553 Bus | Deterministic Bus | System Integration | Bandwidth | Spacewire | TTCAN | Task | Deadline | Realtime Software | Multitasking | Non-Determinism | Cyclic Scheduler | Preemptive Scheduler | ARTEMS | Task Scheduling | Process Isolation | Inter Process Communication | VxWorks | QNX | Ada

Timing and other Analyses

00:53:46

Worst-case execution time | Interrupt Routine | Hierarchical Analysis | Prototyping | Bus Load Analysis | Runtime Monitoring | Utilization | Graceful Degradation | Safe Mode | Fail Safe | Fail Operational | Kopernikus Satellite

Testing and Verification

01:06:24

Unit Testing | Integration Testing | Test Coverage | Hardware in the loop testing | Non-Functional Properties | Formal Verification | mbeddr Project | Design-by-Contract | CBMC | DeepSpec project | Benjamin Pierce | Hypervisor

Tools, Languages, Qualification and Interfaces

01:16:52

Simulink | UML | Grady Booch | Layers Pattern | Driver | Ada | C | gcc | Scade | Tool Qualification | Interface Control Documents | Telecommand | MISRA-C | ASIL Levels | ATV

Maintenance

01:37:40

Maintainability | Patching | Code Generation | Reverification after a Patch | POLARSYS | ESOC | Outro and Call for Applications | Job ad 1 | Job ad 2

]]> 235 - A Walk in the Woods with Miami Rick and the Big Boeings https://omegataupodcast.net/235-a-walk-in-the-woods-with-miami-rick-and-the-big-boeings/ Sat, 11 Feb 2017 09:41:30 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=3027 01:53:49 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones A Walk in the Woods with Miami Rick and the Big Boeings 235 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Rick Ruiz Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Markus Voelter

Rick Ruiz is a pilot for Atlas Air where he flies various versions of the Boeing 747 freighter. Previously he flew the 767 and the 777 for LAN Chile, primarily cargo as well. Rick is also a crew member of the Airline Pilot Guy podcast, where he is known as Miami Rick. In this episode, we stroll through the woods around Landstuhl, Germany, where I visited Rick while he was on a layover. We geek out about flying the Big Boeings.

Introduction Miami Rick

00:04:16

Airline Pilot Guy | Delta Connection Academy | LAN Chile | Boeing 767 | Airbus 320 | Landstuhl | Ramstein AB | Boeing 747 | Frankfurt Hahn | Travis AFB | Atlas Air | Localizer | ILS | Tacan | VOR | WAAS

Different 747 Freighter Variants

00:14:00

Boeing 747-400 BCF | EVA Air | Boeing 747-8 F | Boeing 747 LCF "Dreamlifter" | Opening Nose | MD-11F | Ram Air Pressure

Benefits of being an A&P Mechanic

00:21:40

E&E Compartment | Exhaust Gas Temperature | Quick Rerference Handbook | Loadmaster

Interesting Destinations

00:26:08

Old Quito Airport | Glide Slope | PAPI | Go Around | TOGA Button | Vertical Speed Mode | DME | Bank Angle Advisory | Cold Weather Operations | ACARS

Differences between the 747 Variants

00:40:52

Northwest Airlines | Mode Control Panel | PACK | IOE | Fly-by-Wire | Power Control Unit | Control-Wheel Steering | Flare Assist | Common Rating | GE Nx Engine | Ice Crystal Icing | LCD Screen | CRT Screen | EICAS | Electronic Checklist | Vertical Navigation System

The 777

01:07:11

TAC Thrust Asymmetry Compensation | N1 | N2 | EPR | ERV | RVR | FPA Flight Path Angle Mode | Nixus Project | Fly-by-wire vs. Classic | Stick vs. Yoke

The 767

01:22:16

A medium-sized airplane | Base Check | Rick's Learning to fly | IOE | Becoming a captain on the 767 | Becoming an FO on the 777 | Seniority | 767 Routes at Atlas

Trips, Layovers and Wrap-up

01:35:59

Bidding for Lines | Part 117 Rest Requirements | Size of the Fleet | Osan AFB | British Caledonian

]]> 233 - Bio-Inspired Systems at EPFL https://omegataupodcast.net/233-bio-inspired-systems-at-epfl/ Sat, 28 Jan 2017 07:24:20 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=3009 01:19:41 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Bio-Inspired Systems at EPFL 233 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Darja Dubravcic Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Kalpana Goel

Last fall I visited EPFL for a programming languages workshop when I saw a poster on bio inspired systems. Darja’s name was on the poster because she coordinates the programme; I sent her an email and asked if she wanted to talk a bit with me about this field while I am at EPFL. Her calendar had some free time, and so we met. In the episode we discuss why it makes sense for system designers to look at biology and nature as an inspiration and then explore lots of examples that are currently being researched at EPFL.

]]> 231 - The Future Circular Collider https://omegataupodcast.net/231-the-future-circular-colliders/ Sun, 15 Jan 2017 08:04:33 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=2987 01:42:32 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones The Future Circular Collider 231 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Michael Benedikt, Frank Zimmermann Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Bastian Hundt

Particle accelerators are the backbone of today’s particle physics research and help us understand the smallest building blocks our world is made of. To understand this deeper, more powerful accelerators are needed, beyond what is possible with today’s LHC. The world’s physics community is continuously running studies to explore science questions and evaluate the required accelerators; one of those the studies is the Future Circular Collider study led by CERN. In this episode we discuss the science questions as well as the core engineering challenges with the two leaders of the FCC study, Michael Benedikt and Frank Zimmermann.

Vorstellung Michael Benedikt und Frank Zimmermann

00:01:58

FCC study at CERN | LHC

Circular Particle Accelerators and Colliders

00:02:58

Particle physics | Einstein relation | Particle-wave duality | Kinetic energy | Lorentz Force | Synchrotron radiation | Hadron | Lepton | RF-Cavities | Linear colliders | ILC | XFEL | Luminosity | Phase space | Superconducting-magnets

FCC Variants and Fundamental Physics

00:20:08

FCC-hh proton-proton collider | FCC-ee electron-positron collider | FCC-he lepton-hadron collider | Standard Model | Top-quark | Higgs-Boson

Costs and Challenges of Colliders

00:32:38

Tradeof between radius and magnets | Tevatron | HERA | RHIC | LHC-Upgrade | Synchrotron radiation | Klystron | Data Acquisition

Lessons Learned from LHC

00:50:13

Availability

Challenges for FCC-hh and FCC-eh

00:58:08

Synchrotron radiation | Radiation damping | Optics and Beamdynamics | Magnetic lenses | Machine Protection | Quench Protection | Collimation / Filtering | Beam Dumping

Risk Minimization and FCC Roadmap

01:26:53

High Luminosity LHC

End

01:36:18

Dark-matter | Dark-energy | Physics beyond the standard model

]]> 229 - (Ant-)Arctic Sea Ice https://omegataupodcast.net/229-ant-arctic-sea-ice/ Sun, 01 Jan 2017 09:38:10 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=2972 02:12:17 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones (Ant-)Arctic Sea Ice 229 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Walt Meier Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Tim Jurik

The sea ice in the arctic and antarctic regions of the earth is an especially sensitive indicator of the earth’s climate, and in particular, the current overall atmospheric temperature of the planet. It was recently reported to have reached a new low. Our guest, NASA’s Walt Meier explains why this is the case and which processes govern the increase or decrease of the ice. We then discuss how the ice mass is measured based on satellite and how its thickness is estimated based mostly on in-situ measurements. We cover climate modeling and its connection to sea ice and conclude with an outlook on future research.

Introduction

00:02:33

Walt Meier | Nasa Goddard | Cryospheric Sciences Lab | Operation Icebridge

Sea Ice and Climate Change

00:09:15

Albedo | Melt Ponds

Modeling/Simulation

00:27:11

Overview of Ice Observation History

00:38:19

Forcing Mechanisms for Sea Ice Change

00:45:42

Sensing and Data Collection

00:49:50

Passive Microwave Sensing | Active | Submarine Sonar | Radio Altimeter | Ice cloud and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat & ICESat-2) | Cryosat | Cryosat-2 | Capillary Wave | Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) | Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS) | Public Data Sets

Greenland Ice

01:44:01

Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE)

Data Acceptance

01:48:23

Expected Areas and Focus of Research

01:52:51

]]> 226 - Tidal Power https://omegataupodcast.net/226-tidal-power/ Sun, 11 Dec 2016 08:43:16 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=2955 01:35:39 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Tidal Power 226 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Pieter de Haas Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Andy Joiner

Tidal power refers to extracting electrical energies out of the tide streams in oceans. Various techniques exist. Tocardo is a provider of axial turbines, and our guest, Pieter de Haas, is their CTO. In this episode we talk about tidal power in general, siting, the design and engineering of Tocardo’s turbines as well as the overall economic and technical trade-offs in making the turbines work over the long run.

The podcast recommendations page I mention on the show is here.

Introduction

00:04:53

Marine current power | Tocardo International BV | Video showing Tocardo turbines | Pieter de Haas | Types of tidal power | Renewable energy | NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) | Community wind energy

Tidal stream generators

00:14:08

Horizontal axis turbine | Francis turbine | Vertical axis turbine | Far field effect | Mass spring effect | Wake | Power = force x velocity | Turbine | Rotor | PTO (power take-off) | Generator | Housing/Nacelle

Installation site

00:21:31

Tide | Tide prediction | Tidal currents | Ebb and flood | Ebb and flow | Lunar cycle | Spring and neap tides | Electrical grid | Weather effects | Direct drive | Permanent magnet generator | Frequency converter | Hydraulic Brake | Semi-submersible | Orbital wave motion | Feed-in tariff | Ocean current | Off-the-grid | Distributed generation

Environment

00:44:36

Sea creatures avoid strong currents | Tip speed 20m/s vs 80m/s in wind turbines | Increase speed for efficiency when currents deter creatures | Fixed pitch turbine for reliability instead of variable pitch | Speed is measured by frequency converters | Speed is controlled by frequency converters by varying amount of energy harvested (Balance efficiency vs reliability - aim for reliability and minimise risk) | Numerical modelling | Model for energy output, reliability & engineering cost | Over-engineer | 60 tones thrust load | 150 tonne-meter torque | Economic engineering | Emerging technology | Rare-earth magnet | Superconductivity | Cost of energy increasing | Future turbine cost reduction expected | Extreme fatigue | Material curve | Currently 35% efficient | Efficiency currently acceptable | Bi-blade patent | Blade direction is flipped by reverse-powering the generator as a motor

Maintenance

01:10:00

Aim for zero maintenance of underwater components | Remote monitoring and reconfiguration | Predictive maintenance | Annual inspection initially | Ducted turbine

About Tocardo

01:14:39

10 turbines currently running & connected to the grid | Turbines running up to 8 years so far | All running in the Netherlands | Type T1 6m blade diameter 110kw | Type T2 10m blade diameter 235kw | Mission is to manufacture and service turbines | 25 employees

Development

01:19:36

Prototypes | Floating venturi turbine | Ring generator | Three blades | Two blades | Supply chain | Base load | Commercial pilot project

]]> 224 - Flying the F-15 Eagle https://omegataupodcast.net/224-flying-the-f-15-eagle/ Sun, 27 Nov 2016 08:06:38 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=2799 02:20:23 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Flying the F-15 Eagle 224 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Jeff Fellmeth Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Markus Voelter

When I was young, in the 80s, I was extremely interested in military airplanes, I more or less grew up with three iconic fighters: the F-15, F-16 and F-18. I want to thoroughly cover those airplanes on omega tau, and this episode on the F-15 is a great start. I talk with Jeff Fellmeth, a former F-15A/C/E pilot about the airplane, avionics, trainings, missions and the units he has been a part of. We also talk a little bit about related topics, such as the Bronco and gliders.

Intro

00:03:46

F-15 Eagle | OV-10 Bronco | AT-38 | APG Podcast | F-16 Fighting Falcon | F-18 Hornet

Development, History, Role, Training

00:04:44

Air Superiority Fighter | F-100 Super Sabre | F-14 Tomcat | F-111 Aardvark | Interceptor | Dogfight | BAe Lightning | MiG-21 | F-4 Phantom | HOTAS | Fly-by-Wire | Chaff | Flare | Dogfight | Master Arm Switch | F-86 Sabre | Canopy | Flaps | Slats | F-22 Raptor | Air brakes | Landing the Airplane | Aerobraking | Control Augmentation System | Tailslide | Auto Roll | Barlel Roll | Line Replaceable Unit | APG-63 Radar | AIM-54 Phoenix Missile | Israeli F-15 that lost the wing | A-4 Skyhawk | Mid-air collision

Differences between A, C and E Models

00:27:30

Head-up Display | APG-63 Radar | AIM-7 Sparrow | AIM-9 Sidewinder | AIM-120 AMRAAM | Pulse-Doppler Radar | Track-while-Scan | MSIP | Radar Warning Receiver | Switchology for Radar Modes | Conformal Fuel Tanks | Backseater | APG-70 Radar | Frequency Hopping | Transponder | IFF | Forward Looking Infrared | LANTIRN pod | Electronic Countermeasures

Flying the Airplane, Refuelling, AWACS

00:47:31

Control Forces | Air-to-Air | C-141 Starlifter | MD-80 | Boeing 767 | KC-135 Stratotanker | Kleine Brogel Airbase | HF Radio | Tanker Track | MARS Military Assumes Responsibility for Separation | AWACS | E-3 Sentry | JTIDS | Mountain Home AFB | Autopilot

Autopilot

01:03:11

Altitude Hold Mode | Heading Hold Mode | Control Wheel Steering Mode | Terrain Following Radar

Engines

01:07:00

F100-PW100 Engine | Thrust-to-weight Ratio | Variable Nozzles | FADEC | Afterburner Blowout | Streak Eagle

Jeff's Transition to the Airlines and Glider Talk

02:04:16

Yaw String | Rudder | Alexander Schleicher Segelflugzeugbau | Schweitzer 2-32

]]> 219 - Flying the V-22 Osprey https://omegataupodcast.net/219-flying-the-v-22-osprey/ Mon, 17 Oct 2016 14:50:14 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=2741 01:05:54 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Flying the V-22 Osprey 219 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Gast: Seth Cannon Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Markus Voelter

The V-22 Osprey is the first operational tilt rotor aircraft. After not always problem-free development and test period, it is now used successfully with the USAF and the USMC. In this episode we talk to a V-22 pilot, Maj. Seth Cannon of the 7th SOS in RAF Mildenhall about the aircraft, some of its systems, and, primarily, about how it is flown. I met Seth Cannon in Bayreuth, where one of the 7th SOS had to land because of problems with a gearbox. Read the story here. This is also where I took the pictures below.

Introduction of Seth Cannon

00:04:58

7th SOS | RAF Mildenhall | 352nd SOW | Flugplatz Bayreuth

Classification and Designation

00:05:48

V-22 Osprey | Bell/AgustaWestland AW609 | T-38 Talon | Crew Licensing | Crew Background | UH-1 Huey | MH-60 | C-130 | T-1 Jayhawk | AV-8B Harrier | OV-10 Bronco

Systems, Cockpit, Missions

00:10:28

T-406 Engine | Speed | Crew | MH-53 | CH-46 | CH-47 | Head-up Display | HUD Monocle | AH-64 Apache | Night-Vision Goggles

Flight Controls, Fly-by-wire

00:22:21

Fly-by-Wire | Cyclic Stick | Collective | Throttle Control Lever | Constant Speed Rotor | Tilt Rocker Switch | Auto-Hover | Autopilot | Terrain-Following Radar

Flying the Ospey

00:32:20

Taxiing | Translational Lift | Center Gravity | Hot and High | Rolling Take-off | Rolling Landing | Low-Level Flying | Air-to-air Refuelling | C-130 | KC-10

Contingencies

00:54:35

Outro

00:57:40

]]> 218 - A Life in Apollo https://omegataupodcast.net/218-a-life-in-apollo/ Fri, 07 Oct 2016 18:33:42 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=2738 01:17:40 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones A Life in Apollo 218 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Gast: George Knudsen Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Alexander Grote

George Knudsen started working in 1958 on the Redstone missile, and moved on to working on the Atlas ICBM. Later he worked on the Saturn 5 launch vehicle, where he was responsible for the fuel tanks. He was on the launch team at Cape Canaveral for various Apollo missions. In this episode with talk with George about his work in this fascinating period of science and engineering history.

]]> 216 - Airbus History https://omegataupodcast.net/216-airbus-history/ Tue, 20 Sep 2016 18:43:40 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=2727 01:40:10 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Airbus History 216 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Gast: Alan Pardo, David Bauser Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Kalpana Goel

This is the second episode recorded at my trip to Airbus in Toulouse and we take a trip down memory lane, covering some of Airbus’ history. The first part of the episode is a recorded presentation (with some Q&A) with Alan Pardo, head of Marketing Communication at Airbus Toulouse. We cover the development of Airbus in general, and the Toulouse factory in particular. The second part is a walk through the Aeroscopia museum in Toulouse with David Bauser. Before his retirement he has worked for Airbus on the A-300 and the Concorde. We discuss those two airplanes, plus some general anecdotes from his time at Airbus.

Introduction of Alan Pardo

00:02:07

Toulouse Airbus Facility

00:02:47

Google Maps Link | Airbus | A320neo | ATR Turboprop | DC-10 | Concorde | Airbus A300 | Factory-Tour Finkenwerder | Beluga | A320 | Fly by wire | A350 | A330neo

Advance Material to build Planes

00:26:07

Airport Navigation System

00:33:32

Airport Navigation System | Cobot | Air Traffic Management

Introduction of David Bouser

00:44:17

Airbus A310 | Airbus Website: A600 | Boeing 767 | Airbus Website: Flying controller, Fly by wire

uselage, Seating/Cargo Design in A300

01:01:07

Asymmetry of lift

Financing, Furnishing, Maintenance

01:13:07

Global level discussion

01:20:37

]]> 212 - The Tornado ADV https://omegataupodcast.net/212-the-tornado-adv/ Mon, 01 Aug 2016 18:32:44 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=2689 01:50:16 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones The Tornado ADV 212 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Dave Gledhill Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Bastian Hundt

During his career in the Royal Air Force, Dave Gledhill has been flying as a navigator in the Tornado ADV. After his career he wrote a book about this airplane, and its (not always problem-free) introduction into service with the RAF. In this episode we talk about the airplane, about his flying, about some of the challenges during its development and introduction into service, and how they were overcome to make the F.3 a capable interceptor after all.

Introduction of David Gledhill

00:04:30

Tornado Book by David: "Tornado F3" | omega tau 172 "Chasing Bears with the Phantom"

Tornado F3 Overview

00:05:50

Tornado aircraft and variants | Tornado ADV | Reheat / Afterburner | Fly by wire | Foxhunter Radar | Sidewinder Missile | Supercruise | Eurofighter Typhoon | Variable-sweep wing | External Tank | F-4 Phantom II | Track while scan mode of radar | Dogfight | Su-22 Fitter

Flight Controls

00:27:10

Speedbrakes | Thrust reversal | Aerodynamic braking / landing | Aerodynamic stability

Battery failure with engine spool up

00:33:30

The cockpit of the Tornado ADV

00:37:05

Skyflash missile | Identification friend or foe (IFF) | Chaff | Flare | Radar homing and warning receiver (RHWR) | Tactical data link

Duties of the navigator

00:48:40

Crew resource managment (CRM) | Link 16 | Situation awareness | Joint Tactical Information Distribution System (JTIDS) | AWACS | GPS | Inertial navigation system

Foxhunter Radar

00:55:30

Pulsed-Doppler radar | AMRAAM | Continous-wave radar | Radar details | Semi-active radar homing | Quick reaction alert (QRA)

Tornado F2

01:10:05

Mirage F1 | Radar cross-section

Bosnia Sortie

01:23:20

Electronic countermeasures | Towed decoy system example | EA-18G "Growler"

Operational Conversion Unit (OCU)

01:29:30

Her Majesty's Birthday

01:36:30

Time in the Ministry of Defense

01:39:00

Time after Flying

01:41:30

Air warfare center | Exercise red flag

Books and End of Episode

01:43:47

Books by David on amazon.co.uk

]]> 211 - Farnborough 2016 https://omegataupodcast.net/211-farnborough-2016/ Wed, 20 Jul 2016 19:31:20 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=2682 02:52:36 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Farnborough 2016 211 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Gast: Adeline Riou, Simon Smith, Christopher Benn, Geoff Barnes, Adam Dissel, Tim Mallins, Jason Sutcliffe, Ryan Nugent, Tony Flynn, Jack Cronan, Micah/Scoop, Steve Armson, Mark Faulds
Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: –

This is my report from Farnborough International Airshow 2016. The episode contains 13 short interviews, as listed below. I had an absolute blast in Farnborough, especially because I met the APG crew and participated in the epic live recording of APG 229.

I want to thank all those who donate(d), which helped make this trip possible. Once again, I forgot to do that in the show … sorry for that.

Here are a few of the pictures I took. If you want more, just google; the internet is full of them.

Powder Metallurgy - Adeline Riou

00:04:36

Metal Parts - Simon Smith

00:13:15

Helmets - Christopher Benn

00:21:48

Ejection Seats - Geoff Barnes

00:30:48

Reaction Engines - Adam F. Dissel

00:45:26

Tyres - Tim Mallins

00:55:26

Jet Engines - Jason Sutcliffe

01:01:54

Hercules - Ryan Nugent

01:15:43

A400M - Tony Flynn

01:30:39

F-35B - Jack Cronan

01:52:15

F-18E - Micah

02:06:00

Oil Spill 727 - Steve Armson

02:18:36

P-8 - Mark Faulds

02:38:45

APG Live Recoring and Epilogue

02:47:03

]]> 210 - A350 Flight Testing https://omegataupodcast.net/210-a350-flight-testing/ Wed, 13 Jul 2016 15:34:05 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=2670 02:04:47 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones A350 Flight Testing 210 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Gast: Peter Chandler, Pascal Verneau
Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Kolja Dummann

This is the first of several episodes from my trip to Airbus Toulouse: we cover flight testing of the A350. We have two guests. First, we speak with Peter Chandler, a test pilot at Airbus, about envelope expansion, the relationship between simulation and the real airplane, and test flying in general. Our second guest is Pascal Verneau, a test flight engineer. We discuss his role in flight testing, as well as some special equipment installed in (some of) the testing aircraft.

Introduction Peter Chandler

00:01:57

Test pilot Peter Chandler: "I'm very lucky" | ETPS | U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School | United States Naval Test Pilot School | Flight envelope

Test Airplane vs. Production plane

00:07:42

Role of testflights

00:13:52

(omega tau 138 – Fly-by-Wire im A320) | FADEC | A320neo | Sharklet | Rolls-Royce Trent XWB | Hawker Hunter | Dassault Mirage IV | Ground proximity warning system

Expanding the flight envelope

00:39:32

The A 350 Cockpit

00:57:17

Peter Chandler visits the A350 cockpit | Electronic flight bag | A350 Head-up display | Synthetic vision system

The test fight

01:17:47

Pitot-static system (“Family flight” – Five A350 XWBs together in flight)

Test Flight Engineer Pascal Verneau

01:36:17

Pascal Verneau: "It's a passion" | Airbus A340-600 Rejected Take Off Test Flight | A380-861 MSN 0004 F-WWDD ‘VNO’

]]> 209 - Satellite Development at OHB https://omegataupodcast.net/209-satellite-development-at-ohb/ Mon, 04 Jul 2016 06:06:43 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=2661 02:42:31 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Satellite Development at OHB 209 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Gast: Christian Pauly, Matthias Tausche, Andreas Wortmann, Ingo Engeln
Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Tim Jurik

In this episode we get a peek into how OHB System AG in Bremen develops satellites — mostly based on the Galileo navigation satellites. We speak with Christian Pauly about systems engineering, with Mathias Tausche about manufacturing and integration, with Andreas Wortmann about the software on the satellites, and with Ingo Engeln about the company as a whole.

As a background, you may want to listen to omega tau 26 about satellite buses. omega tau 204 on Planet Labs’ small satellites may be interesting as a contrast.

Systems Engineering: Christian Pauly

00:04:00

Galileo | GLONASS (Russian) | BeiDou (Chinese) | Differences between Galileo and US Air Force GPS | European Space Agency (Measuring Satellite Orbits - Laser Retro Reflectors) | S-Band | Galileo Open Signal Interface Control Document

Project Status, Discussion of Galileo generations and operation, Propulsion

00:11:40

Soyuz | Ariane | Hydrazine | Electrical Propulsion

Role of OHB and Satellite Components

00:29:05

OHB | Atomic Clocks | Reaction Wheels

Collaboration with ESA, Requirements, Tools, Process, Verification, Tradeoffs, Analysis

00:41:30

Space Engineering

Integration: Mattias Tausche

01:12:39

Integration, Construction/Assembly, Testing | Optimizing Process, Procedures and Testing

Software: Andreas Wortmann

01:48:14

Platform and Payload software | Control, Telemetry | Testing, Coverage Analysis

Company: Ingo Engeln

02:19:09

Brief overview of OHB and growth from 15 to 1,200 people | Summary of projects and responsibilities

]]> 204 - Earth Observation at Planet Labs https://omegataupodcast.net/204-earth-observation-at-planet-labs/ Mon, 09 May 2016 18:41:14 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=2553 01:22:41 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Earth Observation at Planet Labs 204 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Ignacio Zuleta, Creon Levit Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Kolja Dummann

Planet Labs is building small, inexpensive satellites, mostly from consumer-style components, for large-scale, continuous earth observation purposes. As a silicon valley startup, they pride themselves in doing things differently than then “big aerospace companies”. In this episode, I am talking with Ignacio Zuleta and Creon Levit about small satellites, satellite constellations, phones, optics and earth observation.

Guests introducing themselves

00:02:39

What planet lab does

00:05:22

Telescope

00:11:17

Diffraction | Reflective vs. refractive | Hubble Space Telescope | Full frame CCD

The satellite

00:24:32

PhoneSat | Differential Drag

The products

00:46:29

Landsat | Sentinel Satellite | Continuous integration | TED: Tiny satellites show us the Earth as it changes in near-real-time | Open California | Planet Labs Art | George Zisiadis, artis at Planet Labs

]]> 202 - Aviation Incident Reporting at CHIRP https://omegataupodcast.net/202-aviation-incident-reporting-at-chirp/ Fri, 22 Apr 2016 17:15:06 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=2535 01:48:30 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Aviation Incident Reporting at CHIRP 202 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Ian Dugmore Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Alexander Grote

As we have mentioned before on omega tau, aviation prides itself on a pervasive safety-culture that leads to a low accident rate. An important building block of this culture are incident reporting systems, where members of the community can confidentially report issues, risks or incidents, which are then followed up on, with the goal to resolve them. CHIRP is the organisation that handles this task in the UK. In this episode we talk to Ian Dugmore, the Chief Executive of CHIRP about the general idea, and about a few (typical) incidents reported to CHIRP.

Introduction of Ian Dugmore and CHIRP

00:01:00

Aviation and Maritime Confidential Incident Reporting | Whistleblower

Incident Reporting Process

00:06:10

Civil Aviation

00:11:40

Civil Aviation Authority | Safety Culture | International Civil Aviation Organization | iOS-App | Android-App | Incident and accidents in aviation

Air Transport

00:27:27

Standard operating procedure | Standard operating procedure in aviation | Commercial pressure | Crew resource management (SERA - Standardised European Rules of the Air) | European Aviation Safety Agency

Cabin Crew

01:01:45

Unruly aircraft passenger

General aviation

01:07:00

General aviation | Micro light | Pre-Flight Checklist | Just Culture

Critical Incident Reporting Systems worldwide

01:24:20

(Australia - Confidential Reporting Scheme (REPCON) | Canada - Confidential Reporting (SECURITAS) | China - Sino Confidential Aviation Safety System (SCASS) | Japan - Aviation Safety Information Network (ASI-NET) | Korea - Korean Aviation Safety Hindrance Reporting System (KAIRS) | MACAU - Macau Confidential Reporting System (MACCARES) | SINGAPORE - Singapore Confidential Aviation Incident Reporting (SINCAIR) | Spain - Safety reporting system | Taiwan - Taiwan Aviation Confidential Safety Reporting System (TACARE) | USA - Aviation Safety Reporting System | USA - Aviation Safety Reporting System(Wiki) | Germany - Luftfahrt Bundesamt | Germany - Vereinigung Cockpit (unitl 1992) | Germany - EUCARE, TU Berlin (unitl 1999))

Ian’s time in the military

01:24:45

Omega Tau Phantom espisode | Tornado | Terrain-following radar | Mach Loop | UAV | ROZ

]]> 200 - Port Towage and Tugs https://omegataupodcast.net/200-port-towage-and-tugs/ Thu, 31 Mar 2016 10:24:51 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=2516 02:27:38 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Port Towage and Tugs 200 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guests: Lex van der Schaaf, Andrey Volkov, Arno Jacq, Jan Luursema, Baldo Dielen
Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Stefaan Rillaert

In this 200th episode of omega tau we cover a topic that has been on our list for a long time: harbour tugs. We start out with a conversation with Lex van der Schaaf, the COO of Port Towage Amsterdam, who gives us a general introduction to port towage. Markus then joins Arno, Jan and Andrey on their tug Thetis for a day of towing in the port of Amsterdam. In the last conversation, Markus speaks with Baldo Dielen about the design of modern tugs, using the EDDY tug as a representative example.

Part 1, Introduction (Lex van der Schaaf)

00:02:04

Lex van der Schaaf LinkedIn profile | Lex van der Schaaf at Port Towage Amsterdam | Towing | Tugboat | Pilot | Jetty | Azimuth thruster | Voith Schneider Propeller | Caterpillar engines | Bollard pull | Draft | Berth | Aztec Maiden salvage | Episode on Ship Salvage

Part 2, On the tug, helping Frio Murmansk

00:31:05

Frio Murmansk | Tug Thetis | Mooring | Flag of convenience | Winch

Tug into Amsterdam

01:03:12

The engine and the equipment on board

01:08:23

Stern | Propeller | Aft

Bulk Trident out of the 'haven'

01:24:32

Part 3, Tug Design with Baldo Dielen

01:33:57

Baldo Dielen | EDDY Tug | Maiden towage EDDY Tug | Types of tugs | Bow thruster | Bollard | Variable-pitch propeller | Variable Pitch Propeller vs Fixed Pitch Propeller | Wake | Marine propulsion | Diesel-electric transmission | Platform supply vessel (PSV) | Schottel | Schottel propellers | Jones Act

End of the episode

02:24:22

Küchenradio Episode 386 with Jens Alers on Schifffahrt

]]> 199 - Mass Spectrometers https://omegataupodcast.net/199-mass-spectrometers/ Sun, 20 Mar 2016 08:52:45 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=2513 02:21:55 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Mass Spectrometers 199 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Alexander Makarov Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Bastian Hundt

Mass spectrometers are devices for measuring the mass-to-charge ratio of molecules and ions. They use many different measurement principles and are used in various areas of science. Our guest Alexander Makarov works as a Director Global Research for Thermo Fisher‘s Life Sciences Division and has invented the Orbitrap principle used widely in modern mass spectrometers. We talk about mass spectrometry in general, the different measurement principles, engineering challenges, the invention of the Orbitrap, use cases for mass spectrometers and the different machines sold by Thermo Fisher.

Introduction of Alexander Makarov

00:01:18

Thermo Fisher | Alexander Makarov

Introduction to Mass-Spectrometers

00:06:59

Mass Spectrometers | Mass | Electromagnetic field | Ionization | Mass-To-Charge ratio | Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization | Electrospray Ionization | Deconvolution | Carbon-13 | Isotope analysis | Ernst Rutherford | Isotope-ratio mass spectrometry

Description of a Mass Spectrometer

00:27:48

Signal Processing < | Electro ionization | Chemical ionization | Gas chromatography | Liquid chromatography mass spectrometry | Quadrupole mass analyzer | Targeted mass spectroscopy | Time-of-flight mass spectroscopy | Ion optics / Electrostatic lens | Ion trap mass analyzers | Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance

Orbitrap

00:55:08

Orbitrap | Spark ionization | Ion trap | Chaos theory | Nonlinear system | DNA

Requirements for commercial Mass Spectrometers

01:10:48

Linear Response | Accuracy and prescision | Resolution in a mass spectrometer | Dynamic range | Quantification | Quantitative analysis

Challenges of modern Mass Spectrometers

01:32:38

Tour of the Factory / R&D

01:43:33

Electron Multiplier | Collision Cell

End

02:19:28

]]> 198 - Ship Salvage https://omegataupodcast.net/198-ship-salvage/ Wed, 09 Mar 2016 19:34:27 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=2480 01:30:55 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Ship Salvage 198 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guest: Bram Sperling Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Stefaan Rillaert

When ships have an engine casualty, run aground or have a fire on board they need to be salvaged or their wreck removed. Specialised companies, like Ardent, focus on salvaging ships or removing wrecks. These tasks are sometimes challenging from an engineering perspective, and always interesting from the business side. In this episode we talk with Ardent‘s Bram Sperling, a senior salvage master, about both these aspects of salvage and wreck removal operations.

Introduction

00:01:06

Bram Sperling and Emma Maersk | Ardent | Svitzer | Salvage master | Marine salvage

Reasons incidents at sea

00:05:11

Listing | Car carrier listing 50 degrees

Emergency response versus wreck removal

00:10:28

Svitzer video gallery | Constructive total loss | Shipwreck | Wreck removal | Protection and indemnity insurance | Bulk carrier wrecked by hurricane in Mexico | Nairobi International Convention on the Removal of Wrecks | MV Flinterstar total loss off the coast of Belgium

Salvage contracts

00:19:55

(No cure - No pay) | Arbitration | Lloyd's Open Form

Preparation of salvage operation

00:29:51

ITT, invitation to tender | Naval architect | Oil Pollution Act | Oil Pollution Act and Ardent | Preparedness contract | Tugboat | Winch

Salvage operation

00:46:42

Lightering | Crane vessel | Floating sheerleg | Anchor handling tug supply vessel | Anchor handling tug in action | Ship stability | Port and starboard | Different types of merchant ships | Barge

Hoegh Osaka salvage

00:56:53

Bram Sperling and the Hoegh Osaka car carrier | Hoegh Osaka | Hoegh Osaka in Southampton | Salvage operation of the Hoegh Osaka | SOSREP in the UK | Cars driving off Hoegh Osaka

Republica di Genova salvage

01:06:11

Republica di Genova in Antwerp salvage video | Republica di Genova photos (scroll down) | SMIT/Boskalis | Mammoet Salvage | Titan Salvage merger with Svitzer into Ardent

Costa Concordia removal

01:15:09

Costa Concordia disaster | Micoperi | Micoperi partnership with Titan Salvage | Documentary on the raising of the Costa Concordia | Concordia wreck removal project website

CP Valour removal

01:18:49

Svitzer video CP Valour wreck removal | CP Valour removal article on Maritime Journal

Baltic Ace removal

01:22:37

Baltic Ace | Baltic Ace Removal | Smit Boskalis article on Baltic Ace

Salvage master job

01:23:25

Solicitor | Persian gulf tanker war

]]> 197 - The European XFEL https://omegataupodcast.net/197-the-european-xfel/ Thu, 25 Feb 2016 20:21:37 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=2475 01:57:24 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones The European XFEL 197 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guests: Joachim Schulz Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Pascal Becker

The European XFEL is an x-ray free electron laser currently being built in Hamburg. In this episode we talk with Joachim Schulz about the project itself, the design and construction of the laser and the experiment hall, as well as about some of the science that is expected to be done with XFEL once it is finished.

Intro

00:02:13

Joachim Schulz | European XFEL

XFEL

00:02:48

Angström | X-Ray tube | Synchroton | Coherent effect | Free electron laser | Laser | Plasma | Cavity | Undulator | Total reflection | DESY | LCLS | International Linear Collider (ILC) | LHC | ESRF (Synchroton Radiation Science at ESRF - omega tau 011)

Engineering

00:30:53

Tunnel | Flash | Tesla Test Facility

Instruments

00:52:17

Overview | SQS | SCS | FXE | Jitter | MID | SPB/SFX | EMBL@XFEL | HED | Wendelstein 7-X | XBI

Daily Work

01:47:10

]]> 196 - Lasers https://omegataupodcast.net/196-lasers/ Sat, 13 Feb 2016 10:45:45 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=2459 01:15:45 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Lasers 196 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guests: Fabian Reichert Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Alexander Grote

In this episode we cover the fundamentals of lasers with our guest, Fabian Reichert, who works at the Center for Free Electron Lasers at DESY in Hamburg. We cover various ways of how laser beams are produced and what distinguishes lasers from other light sources. We also cover a few application areas of lasers as well as techniques for pulsing lasers.

Introduction of Fabian Reichert

00:00:51

General properties of laser light

00:01:51

Laser | Beam divergence | Gaussian beam | Wavelength | Linewidth | Cohorence | Phase | Spectral line

Laser Construction (general)

00:13:41

Spontanious emission | Absorbtion | Stimulated emission | Gain medium | Optical resonator (mirrors) | Optical pumping

History of the Laser

00:24:01

Ruby laser | Ruby laser (publication) | Fiber-optic communication

Laser Construction (specifics)

00:27:11

Lanthanide | electron laser | gas laser | Helium-neon laser | Dye laser | Fiber laser | Semiconductor laser | Excimer laser

High Power Lasers

00:36:41

Quantum defect | Optical fibre | Thin disk laser

Pulsed Operation

00:40:21

q-switching | mode locking | mode locking (images)

Applications

00:45:11

Laser pointer | non linear frequency generation | Medicine | Laser cutting | Airborne Laser | Laser projector | Alignement

Outro

01:13:10

]]> 195 - Flying the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft https://omegataupodcast.net/195-flying-the-shuttle-carrier-aircraft/ Fri, 05 Feb 2016 18:19:36 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=2377 01:29:42 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones Flying the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft 195 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guests: Arthur C. “Ace” Beall Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Kolja Dummann

The tail numbers NASA 911 and NASA 905 were used for the two Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, converted Boeing 747s that carried the shuttle between the landing sites and the launch complex at Kennedy Space Center. Our guest in this episode is Ace Beall who flew the SCAs for several years. We talk about operations, modifications on the airplane, the flight characteristics with and without the shuttle as well as some anecdotes from Ace’s time on the SCA.

Once again, I forgot to mention those of my listeners who suggested questions. I’m doing it here instead: Robert Kunov, Pieter Johnson, Bert Daanje, Thomas Tröndlin, Rob Thomasson, Jürgen Starek, Mathias Menzer, David Liaromatis, Georg Holderied, @schnassn, @alphadash0, Davide Sivolella and Evan Stanbury.

Here are two videos (number 2, number 1) I want to specifically link to, because it covers the Shuttle approach and landing tests, which we mentioned in the show:

Ace Beall introduces himself

00:02:38

SOFIA | Northrop T-38 Talon | Lockheed C-141 Starlifter | Boeing KC-135 | Aero Spacelines Super Guppy | Grumman Gulfstream I

The Shuttle Carrier Aircraft

00:05:18

Boeing 747 | Shuttle Landing Facility | Space Shuttle thermal protection system | Flight planning | Hypergolic propellant | Attach Fittings | Kelly Field Annex | Shuttle alternate landing sites | Grumman Gulfstream II | Lockheed C-5 Galaxy | Boeing C-17 Globemaster III | Tip fins | "Attach orbiter here. Note: black side down." | Fuel Inerting system | Evaluation of Fuel Tank Flammability and the FAA Inerting System on the NASA 747 SCA | Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center

Flight Characteristics

00:50:33

Bank angle | Takeoff segments | Tail cone | Space Shuttle Enterprise | Antonov An-225 Mriya

Outro

01:26:50

]]> Das Jahr The Year 2015 https://omegataupodcast.net/das-jahr-the-year-2015/ Tue, 29 Dec 2015 13:11:01 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=2347 01:43:11 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones 2015 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Gäste/Guests: – Hosts: Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Shownoter: –

This episode is German and English. Forward to the second chapter (or to 59:50) to get to the English part.

Dies ist kein Interview, sondern ein Rückblick auf 2015. Nora und Markus besprechen was gut lief und was nicht so gut lief, bedanken und bei ein paar Leuten, besprechen einige Ergebnisse der Hörerumfrage und blicken kurz auf das kommende Jahr.

This is not a regular interview show. Instead, it is a review of 2015. Nora and Markus look at what went well and what did not, thank a few people, discuss some results of the recent listener survey and briefly talk about the coming year.

Deutscher Teil

00:00:30

English Part

00:59:50

]]> 191 - String Theory https://omegataupodcast.net/191-string-theory/ Tue, 22 Dec 2015 09:53:29 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=2339 02:43:07 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones String Theory 191 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guests: Alexander Westphal Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Alexander Grote

String Theory is currently one of the most important theories in fundamental physics, with applications to a variety of subfields including black holes and cosmology, nuclear physics others. This episode is an introduction to the core ideas of the field, as well as to some of its applications. Our guest is Alexander Westphal of Germany’s particle physics lab DESY. He does a wonderful job of introducing the very abstract topic in a way that could be understood by non-physicists, at least to some degree.

Once again I forgot to mention those of you (listeners) who suggested questions, so I am doing it here: Stefan Hacker, Brent Knickerbocker, Christopher Schuster and David Liaromatis.

Introduction of Alexander Westphal and overview of the standard model

00:03:15

Desy | Standard Model | Quantum field theory | Special relativity | Quantum chromodynamics | Quantum electrodynamics | Electroweak interaction

Limits of the standard model/ Gravity

00:09:05

Radiative corrections | Pertubation Theory | Uncertainty priciple | Quantum fluctuations | General relativity | Quantum gravity

Origin of string theory

00:15:45

Particle zoo | Strong interaction | Gauge theories | Quantum chromodynamics | Illustration of string (theory) vibration

Transtition to string theory

00:20:35

Spin | Graviton | Kaluza-Klein Theory | Manifold | Cakabi-Yau Manifold | GUT | Holography | Black hole | Neutron star | Entropy | Spacetime | Spacetime duality | bosonic string theory | super string theory | M-theory | AdS/CFT correspondance | Soliton | cosmology inflation | cosmology inflation illustration | Scalar field theory | Planck scale

Research in string theory today

02:03:15

Research of Alexander Westphal

Outro

02:40:15

]]> 190 - SOFIA Part 2, The Flights https://omegataupodcast.net/190-sofia-part-2-the-flights/ Tue, 08 Dec 2015 18:20:35 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=2320 06:55:48 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones SOFIA Part 2, The Flights 190 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guests: Jochen Eislöffel, Maria Kapala, Robert Peterson, Nick Veronico, Charlie Kaminski, Randy Grashuis, Steven Laney, Ace Beall, Chris Farinha, Ken Bower, Bill Vacca, Bill Wohler, Christopher Trinh, Oliver Zeile, Christian Fischer Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Tim Jurik, Stefaan Rillaert

SOFIA is an airborne observatory, a Boeing 747SP modified to carry a 2.7m infrared telescope in the back of the fuselage. In late October 2015, I had the opportunity to fly on SOFIA during science missions 248 and 249. This episode captures these two flights. The episode is a mix between interviews with scientists and aircrew, recordings from the intercom system and some narration by me. The list of guests can be seen above.

I suggest you listen to Episode 189, SOFIA Part 1 first, if you have not done so, because it explains the details. There is also a video that contains lots of photos about the flights. This episode is 7 hours in length, so the download may take a while.

Introduction

0:00:30

Jochen Eislöffel - Scientist

00:05:32

Schmidt Plate | Palomar Observatory

Maria Kapala - Scientist

00:29:22

Andromeda Galaxy | H.E.S.S. site in Namibia

Robert Peterson - Safety Briefing/Egress Training

00:46:27

NASA Public Use Aircraft Operations

Nick Veronico - On-Plane Safety Briefing

00:57:15

Charlie Kaminski - Flight Briefing - Flight 1

01:03:00

Randy Grashuis - Flight Briefing - Flight 2

01:21:49

Engine Startup, Taxi, Takefoff, Departure, Climb

01:26:59

Steven Laney, Safety Tech, Lead Mechanic

01:59:44

Ace Beall, Pilot

02:06:01

NASA Armstrong | International Standard Atmosphere | FADEC | Autothrottle | NASA Dryden/Johnson | C-141

Chris Farinha, Flight Engineer

02:21:64

GE Test Bed | Engine bleed air | Leading edge device | ForeFlight | Coffin Corner | High speed stall in swept wing | Lockheed Electra | C-130 | Evergreen aviation (note the (ex)owner of the company founded a museum near Portland Oregon that houses among other things the Spruce Goose and an SR-71) | Evergreen Supertanker

Ken Bower, Flight Planner

02:44:56

Charlie Kaminski - Mission Director

3:13:02

Cryogenics | Cryogenics on SOFIA | South Pole Infrared Explorer (SPIREX) | Cosmic microwave background | Altazimuth mount | Flight plan | Cosmic ray

Bill Vacca - Lead scientist pipeline and DCS

3:29:28

SOFIA Data Cycle System (DCS) | Data reduction | Overview of the SOFIA Data Processing System | The Challenge of Data Reduction for Multiple Instruments on SOFIA | Dither | FITS file format | Error bar | Chop-nod | Interactive Data Language

Bill Wohler - Interface software engineer

3:44:35

Bill Wohler | SOFIA Mission Control Subsystem Software | Interface Control Document (ICD) | KOSMA | Kepler spacecraft | Kepler Data Analysis Tools | Kepler Data Processing Handbook

Fifi Handover Intercom

4:03:05

Christopher Trinh - Astronomer

4:12:42

Christopher Trinh | SOFIA Instruments | Star formation | Planetary nebula

Oliver Zeile - Telescope Engineer

4:35:30

Oliver Zeile | Infrared telescope | SOFIA telescope | Characteristics of the SOFIA telescope | Fibre optic gyroscope | Guiding a Telescope | SOFIA Guider Cameras | Star catalogue

Christian Fischer - Instrument Engineer

5:41:50

Far Infrared Field-Imaging Line Spectrometer (FIFI-LS)

Landing

5:48:49

Visual flight rules (VFR) | Instrument landing system (ILS)

Science and flight reports

6:21:10

General aviation

Jochen Eislöffel - Scientist

6:26:18

Jochen Eislöffel

Maria Kapala - Scientist

6:30:39

End of the show and Domingo

6:35:20

Domingo's Mexican & Seafood Restaurant

]]> 189 - SOFIA Part 1, Basics https://omegataupodcast.net/189-sofia-part-1-basics/ Mon, 30 Nov 2015 14:27:22 +0000 http://omegataupodcast.net/?p=2310 02:48:50 Markus Voelter, Nora Ludewig Science and Engineering in your Headphones SOFIA Part 1, Basics 189 full How do scientists uncover phenomena and explain their connections? How do engineers design machines, methods and infrastructure? At omega tau, experts give detailed answers. Over the last ten years, we have produced over 350 episodes in which we dug deeper, until we ran out of questions. Join us on our journey through the world of science and engineering: the closer you look and listen, the more interesting things get. Guests: Alfred Krabbe, Thomas Keilig, Christian Fischer, Dörte Mehlert, and Zaheer Ali
Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Tim Jurik

SOFIA is an airborne observatory, a Boeing 747SP modified to carry a 2.7m infrared telescope in the back of the fuselage. In the context of the preparation for my SOFIA flights, I visited the DSI in Stuttgart several times during this summer to record interviews with various DSI people about SOFIA. This episode covers these interviews, plus a recording of the visit of the instrument labs in Palmdale. The guests and topics are Alfred Krabbe, Head of the DSI, on the history and some of the science; Thomas Keilig, CEO of DSI, on the airplane and the modifications; Christian Fischer, Project Engineer of FIFI-LS, on the instrument and some of the science; Dörte Mehlert, Education and Public Outreach, on education and the flying teachers programme; and Zaheer Ali, head of the science and mission operations laboratory, on that lab.

Introduction

00:00:30

Alfred Krabbe

00:03:22

Project History, Overview of aircraft and telescope | German SOFIA Institute/DSI (Deutsches SOFIA Institut) | German Aerospace Center (DLR) | Universities Space Research Association (USRA) | Scientific Objectives | Black Holes, jets | FIFI-LS (Far-Infrared Field-Imaging Line Spectrometer) | Plan for future, funding discussion, challenges | Prior airborne platforms | C-141 Kuiper Airborne Observatory | Lear Jet | Concorde | Airborne astronomy history

Thomas Keilig

00:48:36

Telescope discussion | Airplane modifications | 747 SP | L-3 Communications (formerly Raytheon) | Cockpit modifications/avionics upgrade | MCCS and flight testing | Mission control and command system | Interaction between science instruments, telescope, door and autopilot)

Christian Fischer

01:17:46

FIFI-LS (Far Infrared Field-Imaging Line Spectrometer) | Interstellar medium | Overview of instruments | Red shift | Blue shift | Chop and Nod | Scientific observations/goals/targets

Dörte Mehlert

02:06:40

Education and Public Outreach | Educators interested in applying to the German program should contact Dörte Mehlert at mehlert@dsi.uni-stuttgart.de

Zaheer Ali

02:22:30

Tour of SOFIA Science lab

Summary

02:45:55

]]>