One Small Step, Oh Heck, This Is Huge.

We, here at Life Explained (#lifeexplained) would like to congratulate our fellow genius scientists from the European Space Agency for landing a craft, an unmanned drone, on a comet.   At 5:03 local time, (local to Germany, not the comet, we are looking into what time it was on the comet, a fairly important question as their is the matter of overtime (time and a half) if it was after their regularly scheduled shift) the Philae Lander touched down, making history.  Bravo, European Space Agency.

This was an impressive feat, to be sure.  To quote James L. Green, the Director of NASA's planetary sciences division, "How audacious!  How exciting!  How unbelievable to be able to dare to land there."  Well put, Director Green, well put.

It was not without miscue, two harpoons that should have secured the lander to the surface of the comet did not fire, so Philea may not be secured properly.  Despite the problems it was a successful, extraordinary accomplishment, and we applaud the hard working scientists and engineers who pulled it off.

All of these space events, all of these daring firsts, all of the excitement, potential disasters and tremendous successes made us long for the old days, when Americans were leading the charge into space, putting men on the moon, orbiting, flying, landing in huge splashes of enthusiasm and excitement.  Before the dark days of government shutdowns, spending cuts, and the garroting of scientific research, and achievement.

In an effort to balance the field, a little, we, here at Life Explained, have taken it upon ourselves to fund a manned mission to a comet.  It was expensive, but we feel it was worth the money.   We cannot concede scientific glory and advances to the rest of the world without a fight.

Here is our first picture from the Steven Spielberg/George Lucas Mission.

Way to go, Doctor Dawg.

Safety, it is in the eye of the beholder.

According to Lifehacker.com there are two things you can do to ensure your next flight is healthy.

Wash your hands and use the overhead fan as a screen to keep airborne pathogens away from you.

Generally, I am just happy if they land safely.

Flying, Science and Magic, Working Together.

Next week we are going to climb into an airplane and travel. We have a destination, but, it is not that simple. We need to fly to another city, change planes and then we can go where we want.  Still, stopping somewhere while flying is not so bad, as long as they planned to stop, unplanned stops while flying is one of the worst ideas of all time. Really it is not the waiting, or the “intermediate destinations” that are so troubling, it is flying. To reassure myself I looked into the science behind flying.

Flying seems like a huge leap of faith, Maybe understanding the dynamics and forces involved will help. This is what I found.

When an airfoil (or a wing) is moving relative to the air it generates an aerodynamic force, in a rearward direction at an angle with the direction of relative motion. This aerodynamic force is commonly resolved into two components:

• Drag: is the force component parallel to the direction of relative motion,
• Lift: is the force component perpendicular to the direction of relative motion.
•  

That seems a little fuzzy, maybe there is a clearer description somewhere else. Here is something that might make a little more sense.

Apparently, it has something to do with magic. But, I finally understand what the old timers meant when they used to say “if God wanted man to fly he would have given him an improved drag coefficient, and increased lift capabilities.”  Sometimes old sayings are still the best.

Anyway, if we make it safely to our “final destination” I will let you know, right away, after the tears of joy subside.  If not, say nice things about me, even if you have to lie.