Author Topic: the Advanced Concepts Community  (Read 9888 times)

Offline GI-Thruster

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the Advanced Concepts Community
« on: 08/09/2009 03:48 am »
I just wanted to take a moment and post a note for the sake of the Advanced Concepts community here at NSF.  I'm sure there are those who think there shouldn't be any advanced concepts here.  I appreciate the nuts and bolts mentality and agree that fringe stuff though dramatic, is seldom useful.  It almost always goes wrong one way or another.  However, it is useful to vet the stuff needing vetting and certainly there is stuff worth considering that is out of the box material.

One consequence is that NSF inspires.  I just want to share that our friend Sith has just gotten his acceptance to the local university into the electrical engineering program, and he wrote me privately to say that he credits NSF and this sub-forum in particular, with inspiring him to go to university.  Good for you Sith, good for everyone who inspired you and congratulations.

Now time for the hard work. . .

Offline Sith

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Re: the Advanced Concepts Community
« Reply #1 on: 08/09/2009 06:06 am »
Wow, thank you, GI!

Yes, I got inspired by a lot of people, including you and Star-Drive. And thanks to this forum and especially to this section, I made my final decision - studying electrical engineering. After all the future is electric.

Nothing is easy. Hard times approach and hard work is the answer.

One more time thank you all for being here and for sharing ideas and concepts for the future of spaceflight.

Offline D_Dom

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Re: the Advanced Concepts Community
« Reply #2 on: 08/10/2009 08:17 am »
 Inspiration is a wonderful thing. Free and open communication is another. This internet forum has an amazing capability to share information. Advanced Concepts has taught me just how much hard work is required in electrical engineering. I am trying to finish undergraduate studies and have started thinking about continuing with graduate work. My attempt to understand the topics being discussed so freely on this forum influences that decision.
 Many years of hands on the hardware experience with spaceflight cannot replace outside the box thinking found within this forum. Einstein said that imagination is more important than knowledge. Never give up, the struggle for understanding will not be easy. Open lines of communication with those who have been there and done that will make it easier. The combination of inspiration and perspiration is unbeatable.

edit:added Einstein reference
« Last Edit: 08/10/2009 08:35 am by cygnusX1 »
Space is not merely a matter of life or death, it is considerably more important than that!

Offline hec031

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Re: the Advanced Concepts Community
« Reply #3 on: 08/10/2009 01:18 pm »
Admittedly I have my own ideas on breakthrough propulsion physics, however this is not the right place to share those thoughts. Still I do think this might be a good place to talk about the bigger picture of continued innovation. There is a desperate cry for something new and better. A lot of people assume that it will just happen. Nothing just happens.

Look, it takes both radical thinkers and institutional thinkers to make even the most fringe science possible. I have years of experience trying to push fringe science forward and I can tell you from experience that the two sides have to work together to make things into reality. It’s only crazy until it’s proven right, then it’s just foresight.

Only the people that can find a balance between fringe thinking and objective institutional science can succeed in turning things into reality.

In a lot of cases it takes a lifetime to turn a new radical idea into the science of tomorrow. It’s not an easy road and if I new then what I know now, I probably would have invented the next pet rock, instead of working on breakthrough propulsion physics.

Offline Star-Drive

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Re: the Advanced Concepts Community
« Reply #4 on: 08/10/2009 10:24 pm »
Hec031:

"It’s not an easy road and if I knew then what I know now, I probably would have invented the next pet rock, instead of working on breakthrough propulsion physics (BPP)."

I feel your pain!  It takes at least ten years working in the BPP field just to be considered an amateur by its serious participants.  And that’s AFTER you’ve gotten your BS degrees or their working equivalents in Physics, Electrical, Mechanical, and Aerospace Engineering that are all required to understand and practice in this many faceted BPP topic!   And even after eleven years of working and trying to teach in the BPP field, I find that when I try to present the required BPP theory needed to understand the proposed theoretical conjecture and experimental data to back up the theory, all in the typical half-hour presentation constraints of most conferences, most if not all of the audience are walking out the door with that “Deer in the headlights look”, muttering under their breaths, “God that was some brain scrambler!”  And that quote folks was from a NASA propulsion PhD from MSFC that I happened to follow out the door at the end of my Woodward mass fluctuations and Mach-Lorentz Thruster presentation at the 2006 AIAA Technical Symposium at JSC!!   Even after we have a working and experimentally verified theory of gravinertial space drives in hand, the task of educating the current batch of aerospace engineers in these G/I black arts is not going to be easy…
« Last Edit: 08/10/2009 10:25 pm by Star-Drive »
Star-Drive

Offline hec031

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Re: the Advanced Concepts Community
« Reply #5 on: 08/10/2009 11:58 pm »
Star-Drive,

Woodward is a good guy. He's the kind of guy that will get us places.

You just reminded me to ask someone about this work.

Oh don't waste your time with NASA. Try NRO, they are ok, but watch the reps from the Aerospace corporation, they try to kill everything.

Millis likes Woodward, but he has no money. However he knows the people that do have funding for this kind of work, he's a gate keeper.
I never told you that.
 

Offline Jim

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Re: the Advanced Concepts Community
« Reply #6 on: 08/11/2009 12:01 am »
Try NRO, they are ok,
 

They don't like the oogie boogie as much as NASA

Offline hec031

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Re: the Advanced Concepts Community
« Reply #7 on: 08/11/2009 12:08 am »
You have to talk to the right guy. Try Pete. He is high on the R&D chain. I can't tell you the rest of his name. There is protocol here, sorry.

Offline hec031

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Re: the Advanced Concepts Community
« Reply #8 on: 08/11/2009 12:13 am »
Before this goes any further, let me suggest that if anyone wants to talk we should do so directly, via email or private massages. No sense in making the rest of the forum uncomfortable.

Offline GI-Thruster

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Re: the Advanced Concepts Community
« Reply #9 on: 08/11/2009 05:37 am »
hec, this is all kind of you but both Pete and Millis are on Woodward's broad distribution mailing list.  They get weekly updates of all the work at Fullerton as well as periodic updates from Paul down at JSC and the work overseas as well.  The list also has several USAF folks and others in the right places to funnel funds should they be convinced by the data.  This is one thing that irks me about the lack of response to this last year's work.  It makes no sense to me unless there is already a USG gravinertial program.

And Pete's a sensible guy to be sure.  ;-)
« Last Edit: 08/11/2009 05:41 am by GI-Thruster »

Offline hec031

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Re: the Advanced Concepts Community
« Reply #10 on: 08/11/2009 11:16 am »
GI,

You are probably right.


Offline abuzuzu

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Re: the Advanced Concepts Community
« Reply #11 on: 08/14/2009 02:50 am »
Good for you Sith
An early welcome to the profession.

Never forget if it was EZ it would not be EE

Its going to be hard

There are going to be times you wished you picked something else.

There are going to be entire weekends completed entirely to homework problems.

Forget the college social scene.  You don't have time for it and besides any fool can get drunk, you have something better to do.

Here is some advice.
Go to class   Do the homework

yeah I know this is obvious but a lot of students try to do otherwise.

When you get a home work assignment,  don't wait till the professor covers the material before attempting the homework,  rather read ahead and try to do it yourself early.  You might well fail but the effort will not be wasted.  In class when the prof covers the material you will be ready to take full advantage of the lecture because you will have questions in place.


If you like get in touch with me outside NSF,  I offer my assistance, meager as it might be from a distance.

I have a long and varied career as an EE including two years as an EE prof.  I know the secret hand shake!

Best Wishes....bruce







Wow, thank you, GI!

Yes, I got inspired by a lot of people, including you and Star-Drive. And thanks to this forum and especially to this section, I made my final decision - studying electrical engineering. After all the future is electric.

Nothing is easy. Hard times approach and hard work is the answer.

One more time thank you all for being here and for sharing ideas and concepts for the future of spaceflight.

Offline abuzuzu

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Re: the Advanced Concepts Community
« Reply #12 on: 08/14/2009 03:00 am »
cygnusX1
I just offered long distance EE assistance to Sith.  If I can do anything for you let me know.

By the way grad school was the best experience of my life-  worked like a dog-  but it was great.

You might consider a break between undergrad and grad school.
this would allow you to recover from school burn out
Get a job and learn what engineers actually do.  it is not quite the same as the impression you get in school.

Earn some money, pay off some bills, buy some toys.
Learn everything you can and when the rate of learning new things starts to slow down go looking for a grad school assistantship.

Hang in there with your studies.  The junior yeear is the worst.  Get past that and the worst is over...

Bruce

Offline GI-Thruster

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Re: the Advanced Concepts Community
« Reply #13 on: 08/14/2009 06:00 am »
Sith, don't take the offer above for granted.

Bruce is a PhD, and here in the States that means more than it does in Eastern Europe or anywhere in Europe for that matter.

If we're to scrape ourselves off this planet, we need this sort of confidence in the next generation and neglect concerning nationality.

We're all pulling for you!

Offline Sith

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Re: the Advanced Concepts Community
« Reply #14 on: 08/14/2009 05:08 pm »
Good for you Sith
An early welcome to the profession.

If you like get in touch with me outside NSF,  I offer my assistance, meager as it might be from a distance.

I have a long and varied career as an EE including two years as an EE prof.  I know the secret hand shake!

Best Wishes....bruce

Thanks, Bruce, I appreciate your offer :)   When I got trouble, I'll know who to ask for help ;)


Sith, don't take the offer above for granted.
I won't, for now, and besides - it is still to early, we haven't started yet, but the time emerges

Bruce is a PhD, and here in the States that means more than it does in Eastern Europe or anywhere in Europe for that matter.

If we're to scrape ourselves off this planet, we need this sort of confidence in the next generation and neglect concerning nationality.

We're all pulling for you!
Ok, GI, thanks for the tip. I'll keep that in mind too ;) :)

Offline engstudent

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Re: the Advanced Concepts Community
« Reply #15 on: 08/22/2009 02:36 am »
good luck Sith
I was interested in advance space propulsion and a major in physics or electrical, before I decided to do mechanical/aerospace.
” …All of this. All of this was for nothing – unless we go to the stars.” - Sinclair

Offline Sith

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Re: the Advanced Concepts Community
« Reply #16 on: 12/07/2010 03:44 pm »
Study is going well for now.
I was thinking if I reach Master degree level successful, what should it be - again do electrical or try nuclear engineering elsewhere? My own opinion is that since Bussard reactors are going to be the future, it sounds exciting to be anywhere near this new tech ;) 
What advice could you give me, guys?
« Last Edit: 12/07/2010 03:44 pm by Sith »

Offline Jim

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Re: the Advanced Concepts Community
« Reply #17 on: 12/07/2010 03:57 pm »
My own opinion is that since Bussard reactors are going to be the future

Don't pin your future on this.  It might not pan out.

Offline mlorrey

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Re: the Advanced Concepts Community
« Reply #18 on: 12/07/2010 11:38 pm »
My own opinion is that since Bussard reactors are going to be the future

Don't pin your future on this.  It might not pan out.

Even if polywell doesn't pan out, some sort of fusion tech will have to, or we are just stuck on this rock permanently. Nothing else changes the game sufficiently to make space travel affordable for anybody but governments and superrich individuals and corporations.

Sith,
After your EE, I'd suggest focusing on high energy power systems (mass drivers, lasers and particle beams, ion and plasma drives, and yes, polywell, pinch and other fusion tech all require this sort of training, as does ME thrusters of the type that will go beyond merely impulse drives), with a greater focus on more advanced physics.
VP of International Spaceflight Museum - http://ismuseum.org
Founder, Lorrey Aerospace, B&T Holdings, ACE Exchange, and Hypersonic Systems. Currently I am a venture recruiter for Family Office Venture Capital.

Offline Sith

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Re: the Advanced Concepts Community
« Reply #19 on: 12/08/2010 06:35 am »
Me and a colleague of mine have a plan. We're going to build a Tesla coil somewhere around Q1 of 2011. Will upload pics after we're done. The experience that we will gain will help us to boost in that direction, mlorrey. And yes, I'll keep that in mind, thx! ;)

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