16.00  Intro to Aerospace Design

End of Class Note

Dear 16.00 Class,
The semester is over, and 16.00 grades will be posted soon. By now all teams should have received a copy of their final LTA reports with my comments as well as the grading sheet. If you have any questions about the comments, please let me know.

As we discussed in class, this was a learning experience for everyone, and you should all be pleased with your work, even if your vehicles did not always perform as well as you had hoped.

If you have not already done so, please fill out the online course evaluation forms. These are very valuable to the teaching staff as we prepare for next year's 16.00. We especially value suggestions on how to improve the class.

We look forward to seeing a lot of you in Course 16 classes in the coming years.
Best wishes for a great summer.

16.00 S17 over and out...

Announced on 22 May 2017  9:57  a.m. by Jeffrey A Hoffman

Slalom and Race Reports Posted

You can find your team's times on Stellar, in the LTA section.
Things got a bit chaotic as the day went by, and we did our best to keep score. If you think there are any errors, please let me know.
See you all in class tomorrow.

Announced on 17 May 2017  1:53  p.m. by Jeffrey A Hoffman

Final Day of Class Plans

Congratulations to all teams for lots of successful flights today. The progress since the first flight day was admirable - something you should all be proud of.
Everyone should be present on the last day of classes. We will have a final summary of the LTA project, with presentation of prizes (space swag).
The hangar mezzanine work area must be cleaned up and all LTA hardware returned to the TAs. This is part of the 16.00 course requirement, so please see to it. Also, remember that your final reports must be sent to me by 5 p.m. EDT Thursday. MIT does not allow professors to extend timelines for submitting work, because that could interfere with final exams. Please follow all the guidelines that are posted on Stellar.

Finally, I have most but not all of your peer evaluations. It's better to turn it in late than to get a zero, so if you have not turned ours in, do so ASAP.

Once again, congratulations for your LTA work, and we look forward to seeing you all one last time in class on Thursday. There will be a special surprise film clip!

Announced on 16 May 2017  2:47  p.m. by Jeffrey A Hoffman

Preps for Final Flight Day & Reminder about Peer Evaluations

We hope all teams are ready for the big race tomorrow morning. Same schedule as last week - we will try to be ready to start filling at 8:30. The weather looks good, so hopefully there will be no transport problems.
Results will be announced and awards given out in class on Thursday. Everyone should be present.
The final report from each team is due by the end of the day on Thursday. This gives you time to include a description of the race results.

Finally - remember that peer evaluations are due today. This is a required part of 16.00, so please submit on time. Let me know if there are questions or problems.

Good luck to all teams tomorrow!

Announced on 15 May 2017  12:39  p.m. by Jeffrey A Hoffman

End of Flight Day 2

We had some nice flying this morning. Most, but not all, teams made it through both courses at least once. We will try. to set up slalom courses next week to allow teams that didn't make it through today to try again. However, the priority is to race around the gym. We will have corner posts set up near the corners of the gym. It's four fairly long, straight lines with sharp ninety degree turns, which in this case will be towards the left. Many teams found that to get through the slaloms you had to use short bursts of power. In the straightaways, there will be a premium on stable, straight flight at high speed. Think about this if you are going to do any redesigning.
Quite a few teams suffered from leaks. One observation is that because many teams lacked lifting margin, you had to fill your balloons totally full. This puts a strain on the heat seals and will exacerbate any small leaks. Please test your balloons in the lab using the vacuum pump exhaust. You should be able to fill your balloons as tightly as some were filled today, then seal them off and see if they hold pressure for a few hours. If not, make repairs. Also, remember that safe transport is part of successful operations. Some teams thought their balloons might have been damaged by repeated rolling up for transit. Please make plans for transport in case of bad weather next week. It's New England...
Remember to keep trac of all changes to your balloons and vehicles, since this is an important part of your final reports.

Also, please remember to fill in and return the peer evaluation forms.

On Thursday I will talk about space walking, both from an engineering point of view and sharing some of my own EVA experiences. That will be the last class lecture. The last day of classes will be a recap of the LTA project and presentation of awards.

Announced on 09 May 2017  10:40  p.m. by Jeffrey A Hoffman