CHATTANOOGA ENGINEERS CLUB
www.ChattanoogaEngineersClub.org

 

WHERE WE MEET THIS MONDAY ________________________________
We will be meeting for the next few weeks at the Read House in downtown Chattanooga.  We have met there a couple times now and are getting a feel for the location, meeting room, and the quality of food.  As the meetings continue to occur here, we would be interested in your comments about this location.  We will continue to park at the Days Inn on Carter Street (being sure to leave a notice on your dashboard).  A map showing the location of the Read House may be found at http://www..ChattanoogaEngineersClub.org/ReadHouse.gif .

 

NEXT WEEK_________________________________________________
Monday, August 25 - noon

 

Topic:  Internet II - Awesome Speed and Immense Possibilities - Dr. Clinton Smullen, UTC

Another Internet?  Why do we need another Internet?  Have we finished exploring the current Internet?  Dr. Clinton Smullen from UTC will provide the answers to these questions as well as remark on the goals of various next generation Internet efforts and emerging applications.  He will explain how these may affect the current Internet, and where Chattanoga fits into the picture.

 

Invocation/Pledge:  Jack Anderson


Menu:  Tossed Salad, Beef Burgandy w/carrots, onion and mushrooms on bed of pasta, steamed vegetable medley, and dessert.


OUR PREVIOUS MEETING_______________________________________

Lanny Upton, from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, told us we had recently celebrated the 1000th continuous days of having humans living away from earth (in orbit).  Crews have cycled through the space station performing construction and experiments during their stay since October 2000.  We intend to maintain a human presence in space from now on.  A single crew can stay anywhere from 3 to 6 months.  The Russian Soyuz (seats 3) and the American Space Shuttle (seats 7) have been used to ferry crews.  We are on expedition 7 now and expect expedition 8 to begin in the fall of this year.  The space station needs two to three more years of construction to achieve its full power to run the planned experiments.  The construction schedule is on hold while the analysis of the space shuttle Columbia flight is being conducted.  Payload continues to be completed and delivered for the next flight to the space station.  The parts now in space and those needed to complete the current space station design would fit nicely on a football field and will be ferried up a little at a time with replacement crews.  Experiments include melting materials in space to understand how the lack of gravity may affect them.  Crystal growth will be studied as well as just exposing some materials to the vacuum of space for extended periods of time.  Every three days the space station circles the earth.  When the full set of solar cell panels are set into place, the space station will appear as one of the brightest stars in the night sky.  The best technologies from each country have been used.  Canada developed the shuttle arm.  Russia developed the automatic docking systems.  The Italians used their experience in pressure vessel design to develop a pressure can used to transport materials.

 

This fall, watch for the launch of the first Chinese astronaut, as well as the Gravity Probe B.  Gravity Probe B is an experiment being developed by NASA and Stanford University to test two unverified predictions of Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity. The experiment will check, very precisely, tiny changes in the direction of spin of four gyroscopes contained in a satellite in a 650 km polar orbit. The gyroscopes will measure how space and time are warped by the presence of the Earth, and, more profoundly, how the Earth's rotation drags space-time around with it. These effects, though small for the Earth, have far-reaching implications for the nature of matter and the structure of the Universe.

 

http://samadhi.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/QuickLooks/gravpbQL.html

 

The complete meeting summary may be found at http://www.ChattanoogaEngineersClub.org/MeetingMinutes/CECMinutes081803.pdf 


Respectfully submitted by Judy Driggans

 

FUTURE MONDAY MEETINGS_____________________________________


September 1:  (NO MEEETING - Labor Day)

 

September 8:  Hybrid Lighting - Jeff Muhs, ORNL Engineering Science and Technology Division


September 15:  Responsible Use of the Internet in Education - a book by Aniekan Ebiefung, UTC, Mathematics


September 22:  Lego Competition Update - A prelude to what's coming up for their competition in December.

 

September 29:  FIELD TRIP - UTC's New Science and Engineering Building, Dr. Phil Kazmersky, UTC


October 6:  The Soldier of the Future - Oak Ridge National Laboratory


October 13:  (NO MEETING - Columbus Day)


October 27:  Technology-Based Economic Development - Greg Laudeman, GA Tech, Economic Development Institute

 

November 10:  Fusion Technologies - Stan Milora, ORNL

 

November 17:  Tennessee-Georgia Water Issues - speaker to be arranged by Sam Powell

 

QUESTIONS, SUGGESTIONS? ______________________________
If you have any questions or suggestions about program items please call Brad Baucom at 423-648-3582 or email him at baucombe@epb.net. You can find references to other Chattanooga Engineers Club members at our web site: www.ChattanoogaEngineersClub.org.