SFA
Physics, Astronomy and Engineering News
Volume 100 - Woohoo!           January 5, 2004

NASA Rover Success!

On January 3rd, the Mars Spirit lander successfully entered the Martian atmosphere protected by heat shields, descended with the aid of a parachute, and then bounced a kilometer along the surface of Mars on its airbags. "What a night," said Steve Squyres, Principal Investigator for Spirit. "Spirit has shown us her new home, Gusev Crater." This crater is thought to be a dried-up bed of a crater-lake. The images are starting to make it back to Earth.

Raw Images
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html

Cool Animations
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/video/animation.html

Color pictures are expected shortly. The rover will leave the lander in about 8 days.

Watch NASA TV Online for updates
http://www.nasa.gov/ram/35037main_portal.ram
 

SPS at SFA Wins National Award

The Stephen F. Austin State University Chapter of the Society of Physics Students (SPS) has won another Outstanding Chapter Award, this time for the year 02-03. Congratulations to Ali and his SPS students. On behalf of the department, congratulations, and thanks for putting SFA in the regional and national spotlights.
 

SFA Robot Rovers

On December 11, 2003 the Engineering 215 and Physics 262 class demonstrated their robot rovers Each year students in the electronics course build small vehicles as part of a class project. The goal of this team project is to learn how to make the best use of a battery and DC motor in to order cover 50 feet. In 2003 the SFA Robot Rovers were required to autonomously detect and avoid obstacles. In 2004, the SFA Robot Rovers will be required to go to Mars and send back images.

Animations, Images, and Event Rules
http://www.physics.sfasu.edu/astro/courses/phy262/VehicleProject/SFARover.html.
 

Contributors Links

Video of a Huge Arcing Power Substation(?) - Can someone explain this to me?
http://observe.phy.sfasu.edu/courses/ast105/lectures105/99-Interesting/Arcing.mp2

Amazing Biped Walking Robots (videos!)
http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~iba/misc/p3/

"This is a picture of our Taiban, New Mexico site." - Jennifer Morrow, SFA Alumnus
http://www.physics.sfasu.edu/astro/img/wind.jpg

10 Reasons to Put Humans Back on the Moon
http://www.space.com/news/moon_top10_031208-1.html

More on Dark Energy
http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0312/12darkenergy/

Seeing the Universe Again for the First Time
http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1129_1.asp

"For a broad list of summer science opportunities check out the new physics student website" - Zone Councilor
http://www.compadre.org/student

Aliens Cause Global Warming
http://www.sepp.org/NewSEPP/GW-Aliens-Crichton.html

Marsbound: Western Europe's first attempt to land a science package on the surface of another planet
http://skyandtelescope.com/news/article_1131_1.asp

Dancing Purple Hippo
http://www.stud.ntnu.no/home/alexann/

The Physics of Santa and His Reindeer
http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/physics.asp

Here are some (late) physics Christmas carols for the holiday season.
http://www.wesleyan.edu/physics/misc/physcarols.htm

Interactive Christmas Card
http://web.icq.com/shockwave/0,,4845,00.swf

 

Department News
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   *  Engineering at SFA

Thanks to John McClain, Brain Thomas, Larry Luther and others for the links and information above. Feel free to send any interesting links that you find. This email message is sent to students, alumni, faculty, staff and friends of the department. If you would like to be removed from the emailing list or are getting multiple copies of these newsletter, then feel free to reply to this message with your request.

Clear skies,
Dan Bruton
astro@sfasu.edu