space | omega tau science & engineering podcast

Oct
5

By Markus

104 – Space Flight Dynamics

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(average: 4.80)

In this episode we talk to Rainer Kresken of ESA ESOC Darmstadt about orbital mechanics and space flight dynamics. We have obviously addressed this topic in earlier episodes, this episode really diggs down deeper, and helped me understand the concepts and the challenges much better.

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Aug
3

By Markus

100 – System Health Management

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(average: 4.62)

In this 100th episode of omega tau we talk to Dr. Stephen B. Johnson about system health management, a set of techniques and processes used to improve system dependability. The episode is based on a book Stephen co-edited, and as a consequence of Stephen’s background, we use aerospace examples in this episode. We discuss the fundamental concepts such as functions, states and the state vector, failures and faults. We then discuss the influence of complexity on failures, as well as human involvement. We discuss means to prevent failures such as fault isolation, redundancy and model adjustment. We conclude the three-hour conversation by looking at the future of systems engineering and system health management with a particular focus on formal methods.

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Jun
18

By Markus

097 – How Apollo Explored the Moon

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(average: 4.83)

This is the long-awaited follow-up to the first Apollo episode, once again with W. David Woods, author of How Apollo Flew to the Moon. In this episode we cover that part that we omitted in the first episode: the time on the moon. We talk about life support, the various scientific instruments and experiments as well as the technology and use of the lunar rover (about which David is actually writing another book).

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Apr
10

By Markus

092 – Building and Living on the ISS

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(average: 4.58)

This episode is a conversation with ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli about the construction of and life on the ISS. As part of the STS-120 shuttle mission, Paolo was involved in installing the Harmony Module onto ISS. Later he served as a flight engineer on board ISS, as part of Expeditions 26 and 27. In the episode we talk about his two missions and compare the experiences on the Shuttle, the ISS and the Soyuz.

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Jan
6

By Markus

084 – Die Ariane 5

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(average: 4.80)

In dieser Episode unterhalte ich mich mit Denis Regenbrecht vom DLR Raumfahrtmanagement über die europäische Ariane Rakete (inbesondere über die Ariane 5). Wir sprechen über die Historie (Ariane 1 bis 5), die Struktur und die wichtigen Baugruppen der Ariane 5 sowie den Ablauf einer typischen Mission.

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