Blackbird SR-72
Committe integration drink Ivo, Jef & Douwe interview with the VSV-Board
Get lucky! equations to success
Editorial
9 questions to... by Victor Gutgesell
Name: Winston
Dear readers, We are in the middle of the academic year 2013/2014. The second period has started and we all survived the first batch of exams. With the Christmas holiday to come, a New Year approaching and only one week of university left it might be difficult for some of us to still go to university every morning and not just go on their holidays already. This first issue of the Brake is here to make your time a little more bearable. This first issue of the Brake is for you to review the year and also to see what will happen in the future, so you can come back, looking forward to what will happen in Delft in 2014. The Brake is here for your entertainment as well as for your vision towards the faculty of Aerospace Engineering. Since about two months the BrakeCie, a committee of the VSV ‘Leonardo da Vinci’, has been working towards this very day in order to publish this issue and to present to you an issue of the Brake again after a one year pause. Enjoy reading, The BrakeCie
Table of contents 9 questions to Winston page 3 Committee integration drink page 4 From Leonardo’s boardroom Page 6 Equations to success page 8 Brake page page 10
Winston
Colofon Editor in chief Victor Gutgesell Brake president David de Jong Editors Bram Slangen Joeri Tober Lay-Out Rens van der Zwaard QQ-er Melchior Huijts
Working at the TU Delft since: Three years Function: Maintenance of AE-Faculty Favourite Airplane: F-16 How is your relation to the professors and teachers of the faculty? It differs for each person of course. I don’t work that closely with them, but there are some teachers I could have a nice chat with. For instance Jacco Hoekstra and Joris Melkert are nice guys and I also like Louis Kram and Eddy van de Bos from the drawing classes. What is the first thing you do when you come home? I take a shower; the first thing I do, is taking a nice warm shower. Next I turn on the television and watch some cooking programme. These programmes need to inspire me first before I can start cooking. Now you might think I love cooking, but that is not true. I can do it, but it is just not my favorit activity. But at a certain day you inherit your uncle’s pizzeria... Then I should run it the next day. I may not like cooking, but I like baking and pizzas are not made by cooking, but you have to bake them. Besides baking pizzas, I am very good at baking different kinds of cookies. If you would reincarnate, what animal should you be? A dog; dogs are lovable, cute and huggable. I am not an aggressive type of person. I am very calm and relaxed.
Which VSV-activities did you join? I went to the big party: Airbase. I went there with a female colleague. Everyone thought we were a couple, but we weren’t. And they also thought I was the DJ who was playing there. I passed through the whole party. Maybe I left just halve an hour before the end. Harry Potter or Twilight? Twilight; I watched the first two Harry Potter’s and I think they were funny. But after the second one it stopped. What is your favourite type of movies? Thrillers and horror movies; the most important aspect of a horror movie is the shock effect. The movie ‘Conjuring’ is a very nice example of a good horror movie with great shock effects. Aeronautics or astronautics? Aeronautics; space doesn’t interest me that much. I did like the launch of the DelfiN3xt. Together with some colleagues I watched the launch in the restaurant of the faculty. If we would give you a free ticket to a country of your choice, where would you go to? Brazil. I have never been there, and I want to go there to admire the statue in Rio de Janeiro. It’s one the world’s miracles and I think it would be unbelievable to just stand next to it.
Written by Joeri Tober 2
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e e t t i m m Co integration drink This November the 9th edition of the commission integration drink was held in the club Lorre. For the people who’ve never heard of it, this is the event where all the committees get to know each other a bit better after they’ve been installed. All the committees also show up in their brand new committee clothing. We had the pleasure to experience and to enjoy the night, as well as exclusively for the readers of the Brake write a report about this magical event.
At around eight o’clock the first committees arrived and of course the VSV board was already there. For some reason everyone got loosened up pretty quickly as a consequence of the happy hour. The SportCie was off to a good start by organizing a couple of drinking competitions and with that making dozens of beers disappear. This committee also organises the winter sport event, which is to happen in February next year. The SportCie arrived early. The Barco however showed up casually late. This committee is in charge of refilling your empty glasses in the Atmosfeer and at VSV events. They did not manage to get their outfit together in time though. Instead they had to wear a piece of A-4 paper that they duct taped to their shirts. Classy Barco. One of the commissions that did manage to get their outfit together in time was the EJWCie. They’re in charge of organizing the first year’s weekend. Dressed up as the Incredibles they were looking really good. Downside though was that their tight red might have been a little bit too revealing. *Memory Minutes, no guarantee of accuracy.
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At around 10 o’clock most committees had arrived and everyone was having fun. However the B1 commission responsible for the feedback to the professors was leaving already. They mumbled something about alcohol having a negative effect on their studying on their way out. They spent the entire evening calculating the amount of lift their propeller hats would be able to generate and said they haven’t had this much fun since the last exam period*. There was a majority of men present at the drink but luckily the Women With Wings were there to even the scales a bit. A common misconception is that the WWW only organize events for women. This is not true , men are allowed to come! Only thing is that they do have to wear a thong and bra to get in. Of course the BrakeCie was also present. They’re the committee in charge of the magazine you’re reading now. Wearing a golden chain with their logo and matching power ranger suits they had (arguably) one of the best outfits. If we have to give credit to another outfit it would be the one of the board members of the Atmosfeer. They literally looked like kings. Around midnight people started going crazy on the dance floor and luckily the FotoCo was there to capture it. Because even though most of us woke up with a hangover and can’t recall everything that happened. We’re glad we still got the pictures!
Written by David de Jong 5
From Leonardo’s boardroom Only a few people know exactly what the board members of the VSV ‘Leonardo da Vinci’ are doing in their boardroom every day. Some think that they are just playing Kerbal Space Program on their computer or playing with radio controlled helicopters. BRAKE wants to change this image by letting the students know that these people actually do something! In this first BRAKE of the year Bram takes an interview with the executive board: President Jef Michielssen, treasurer Ivo van der Peijl and secretary Douwe ten Brink. The readers of BRAKE know very little about your daily jobs. Can you tell them what you do on a normal day? Jef: “We always start together having breakfast. We just chat about people getting drunk the night before, the weather etc. After the rest of the board cleans the table (that is something the executive board never has time for. We are, of course, too busy with doing important things for the VSV) I begin working by checking my e-mails. In the same time I schedule the things to do for this day. Those things-to-do contain a wide variety of activities. I contact people from the aerospace world to discuss collaborations or to be able to organize some kind of excursion for the members of the VSV. Often, this contacting results in a very cool visit of a aerospace factory or institute. Another important task of the president is to answer questions of society members who can enter the boardroom any time.” Ivo: “As a treasurer my days are mostly the same. On a normal day I make financial balances and doing difficult calculations. To check if everything I’m doing is correct I’m reading the book ‘Bookkeeping for dummies’. Actually being a treasurer is all about making sure that there is no more money getting out of the VSV than that there is coming in. However, this is easier said than done. The members of the committees all have different budgets and they all have to fit in the general financial plan of the VSV. We, the executive board, are glad that such an important thing as regulating the money of this society is supervised by one of us and not by somebody of the “Islands”. This would be a real disaster for the VSV.” Douwe: “After breakfast I usually start with dividing the
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mails sent to the VSV among the board members. This is due to the fact all mails will first enter my inbox. Also the general schedule of the board is administrated by the secretary. Activities like meetings with CEOs of aerospace-related companies to help set up our symposium or interviews with BRAKE are all scheduled by me. At the moment I am also busy with the new website and with helping the Space Department organizing the symposium in March. As a board member I can get the people in contact with speakers or sponsors.” Who retrieves the first cup of coffee for the members of the board? Normally we play a little game which determines the person who has to get coffee. It is called “Hat of the king” and it’s about not being the last one who puts his hands above his head. The one who loses the game must get coffee or tea. We as the executive board are the only ones who drink coffee so we always start the game. Therefore the “loser” is most of the time somebody of the “islands”. This may sound unfair but the rest of the board normally has nothing important to do. This means that they have plenty of time to get a coffee for us. The board is divided in two” islands” and one “mainland”; why is this so? Jef: “Basically it is about the configuration of the tables in the boardroom. The biggest one is called “the mainland” and this is the table of the executive board. The smaller ones are called “the islands”. These desks belong to the rest of the board.” How often a day the word “Beer” is said in the boardroom and who is responsible for most of the times? “We do not really count but Michelle is talking about beer all the time. This is not only because she likes the drink but she is supervisor of the BarCo and the Atmosphere management as well.” (Beer is for some reason a big subject for these committees.)
What is the best part of being a board member of the VsV Leonardo da Vinci and what is the worst? Jef: “I especially like the variety of activities we do as the board. At one day we are visiting other study societies during their chaotic constitution drink and congratulate them and the day after we could be visiting one of our Members of Honour. This is of course very cool and instructive. However, I think that all of us find it sometimes difficult to be a board member. We are extremely busy and just having a drink with your girlfriend is sometimes not possible due to the schedule. We often have a 60 hour workweek!” Ivo: “As a member of the VSV-board you get the opportunity to visit Aerospace related companies. These kinds of activities give you another view at aerospace engineering in general. An academic engineer looks at an airport, for example, in a completely different way than somebody of Airbus does. Looking at such aerospace related subjects through this commercial ‘glasses’ is something you don’t learn in lectures. Douwe: “All these new experiences with the aerospace world is something which motivates me a lot to go studying again next year. Being one group for one year is also something very beautiful and valuable in your further life.”
Are there some specific events you are really looking forward to? Jef: “We are all looking forward to the symposium this March and to the launch of the new website! The skiing week organized by the SportCie is also something we are excited about.” Ivo: “For me personally I am really looking forward to the freshmen’s weekend of next August. Like every year this weekend is one of the best weekends of the year not only for the first year students but also for us as the board.” Is there something you want to say to the readers of BRAKE? Jef: “We really want to emphasize that we as the board are there for students of aerospace engineering. We have great contacts in the Aerospace world so if you want to organise an event or if you are looking for a cool internship we always want to help you wherever possible! Our ambition this year is to make the VsV a lot more transparent and you can help us a lot by just walking into the boardroom. It does not matter if you have issues with the university or if you just want to pick a sweetie out of the jar and have a little chat with us. (This candyjar can be found on Douwes desk just next to the door). The door of the boardroom is always open for aerospace students!”
Do you miss the lectures? Ivo: “NO!” Jef: “Not really...” Douwe: “I only miss the spare time you got being a normal student.”
Written by Bram Slangen 7
Equations to success With what speed should I drink beer to not sleep alone? This is what male students in Delft need. It’s a simple manual which clearly clarifies the relation between the chance of not sleeping alone and the speed of drinking beer. The result we are looking for should a be function of the drinking speed with respect to time.
Now that we know the ideal promille region, we should look at the function P(t) which describes the promille of alcohol with respect to the time. We get:
You should be able to derive this! (Highschool stuff people!)
Let us first link our conversation behaviour to different levels of alcohol in promille: 0.5 ‰ You feel relaxed You can have a conversation with a girl if she starts talking. 0.5 – 1.5 ‰ You are tipsy You feel confident to start a conversation with girls. 1.5 – 3.0 ‰ You are drunk Having a nice talk is very easy honesty is appreciated a lot. 3.0 – 4.0 ‰ You are very drunk You are still very honest, but you start repeating things. 4.0 ‰ You are too drunk Everyone thinks you are annoying, but you still think you (dangerous) are so funny. 5.0 ‰ Are you still alive? Even your best friend won’t talk to you anymore. After a huge amount of highly reliable experiments, we were able to compose a empirical graph of the succes rate of getting laid versus the alcohol promille. Using numerical approaches we found the next curve:
Where: P(t ) = Alcohol promille [ ‰ ] Rs(P) = Rate of succes [ - ] K = Smoothness factor (1 ≤ K ≤ 0) [ - ]
A number of observations can be made: - The Rate of succes is equal to 0.5K at 0 ‰ and 4.3 ‰. A promille higher than 4.3 causes a lower Rate of succes than being sober. - A maximum Rate of succes can be found at a promille of 2.8. - The domain of 2.0 ‰ ≤ P(t) ≤ 3.5 ‰ causes a 95%+ region. - For the graph we used K = 1, a typical smoothness for morphed power rangers.
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here: P(t ) = Alcohol promille when P(t) ≥ 0 [‰] T(t) = Drinking speed [ Beers/hour ] L = Specific liver constant [Wolkoff’s constant] Vb = Blood volume [ Liter ] t = Time [ Hours ] For a typical male TU student, we find: L = 1.3 Hours/beer Vb = 5.5 Liter
When we fill in these values for L and Vb and use P(t) = 2 ‰ and P(t) = 3.5 ‰, we get two functions T1(t) and T2(t) respectively. These are the functions we were looking for and they represent the minimum and maximum drinking speed.
Disclaimer: We are not responsible for all possible accidents caused by improper use of alcohol.
Written by Joeri Tober 9
BRAKE PAGE
Blackbird SR-72
Lockheed Martin has finally unveiled the long-awaited successor to the SR-71 Blackbird. They’re simply calling it the SR-72. The new airplane will be roughly the same size as the record-setting Blackbird, but will be able to fly twice as fast as the jet that still holds the speed records. The new spy plane will be capable of Mach 6 cruise speeds, making it the first hypersonic aircraft to enter military service should it be produced. Only the rocket-powered. The SR-71 Blackbird is legendary in aviation circles for its Mach 3 capabilities. It served as a spy plane for 35 years until its retirement in 1998. It still holds several records, including a flight from Los Angeles to Washington D.C. in 64 minutes, 20 seconds. The new SR-72 has long been rumored and debated, and is part of the U.S. Air Force’s plan for hypersonic capabilities that will allow fast reaction for gathering intelligence around the world. A Mach 6 airplane fills the gap between current surveillance aircraft that can loiter for long periods of time, but don’t have the ability to transit to a new area quickly. The SR-72 is also expected to have optional strike capabilities. Normal turbine jet engines have problems operating at speeds beyond Mach 2. The original SR-71 used
a complicated system of a movable nose cone on the engine, along with vents that prevented shockwaves from interfering with the flow, and slowed the air down enough so that it could be ingested by the engine. The new SR-72 will use a turbine-based combined cycle (TBCC) that will employ the turbine engine at lower speeds, and use a scramjet at higher speeds. A scramjet engine is designed to operate at hypersonic velocities by compressing the air through a carefully designed inlet, but needs to be traveling supersonic before it is practical to begin with. So far research projects from NASA, the Air Force and other Pentagon entities have not been able to solve the problem of transitioning from the subsonic flight regime, through hypersonic flight with a single aircraft. Lockheed Martin stated it has found a way to use existing turbine engines, and by lowering the operating speed of the scramjet, make a transition to hypersonic speeds possible. The aerospace company says it may have a scaled demonstrator of the SR-72 technology flying by 2023. That airplane would be smaller, about the size of the current F-22 fighter and would be optionally piloted. The SR-72 could enter service by 2030.
Written by David de Jong
Most aircraft are of course beautiful but there are some which will never become "Miss Atmosphere". This edition: A Boeing 707 with EL/M-2075 radar system. A nose job wouldn't be that bad in this case. If you look carefully there's a big similarity between this plane and one of the ugliest animals on this
Aerospace failure of the month
The aerospace failure of this month is of course the Boeing 747-400 Dreamlifter which landed on the wrong airfield in Wichita, Kansas. After the pilots obtained clearance to land at McConnel Air Force Base they started to descent and the plane headed for the landing strip.
After a successful landing the pilots had radio contact with air traffic control: Controller: Giant 4241 heavy, confirm you know which airport you’re at. Pilot: Well, we think we have a pretty good pulse. Controller: Giant 4241 heavy, it appears you are at Jabara. Pilot: Uh, say again? Controller: Giant 4241 heavy, we saw the plane on the radar and it appears you are at Jabara airport. It turned out to be that the pilots landed one of the largest aircraft of the world at Jabara Airport, a very little airfield just 13 kilometers from McConnel Air Force Base. Nobody was hurt so not a big deal you should say. However, because of the fact the longest runway of Jabara was just 1800 meters and a full loaded Dreamlifter needs at least 2800 meters to take off properly a problem arises. An aerospace engineer started the calculations to determine whether or not the aircraft would be able to take off with the cargo. A couple of hours later it appears that the engineer was a good one because the aircraft took off and performed a flawless landing at the Air Force Base 19 minutes later. Airtraffic control was delighted that the operation went without any serious trouble and posted a tweet afterwards: Congrats to the Giant 4241 pilots on getting that #Dreamlifter out of Jabara Airport…now don't come back, ya hear?
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An engineers best friend This past November was the 72nd anniversary of the invention of duct tape by Johnson&Johnson. With this article BRAKE wants to commemorate set anniversary. We all know that GLARE is cool. However, nothing beats duct tape! In 1942 US ground forces received this revolutionary tape to keep their ammunition dry. This tape was so well received by the ground forces that it was tried for other purposes. It was then found to be very useful for jobs such as keeping bleeding buddies alive or repairing tanks. In the nineteen fifties duct tape went commercial and quickly became part of any household's repair kit. Originally, its name was "duck tape" as it was waterproof like ducks. However, because it was the perfect material for repairing ducts of air conditioners, the name became "duct tape". Of course in aerospace engineering duct tape was and still is extremely important. Ever since the Gemini missions there has not been a manned spacecraft sent into orbit without a roll of duct tape in it. Actually, astronauts feel confident about their mission when there's duct tape nearby. It saved the lives of the astronauts of the apollo-13 mission when a CO2 scrubber was broken. In the days of the Vietnam War helicopter rotors have been balanced with the use of duct tape. Nowadays the members of the board of the VSV ‘Leonardo da Vinci’ repair their clothes with it. Many books have been written about duct tape and it has been the subject of many phrases like: "It ain't broken it just lacks duct tape" or more nerdy ones: "Duct tape is like the force, it has a dark side, a light side, and it keeps the universe together." Engineers can do a great job with duct tape but when in the possession of this sticky material almost anyone can say: "Trust me, I'm an engineer."
Apollo 13, CO2 scrubber
Written by Bram Slangen 11
WINTER 2014 VSV Activities
Tue 07/01
LVD Lunchlecture Paul Riemens (LvNL)
Tue 07/01
Pre-Wispo Drink
Wed 08/01
C1A Leiden-Delft Party
Wed 26/02
Lunchlecture Ed Bongers (Dutch Space)
Tue 04/03
Planetary Exploration Symposium
Wed 05/03
SportCie FIFA Tournament
Fri 14/03
Airbase
Tue 18/03
RVD Lecture Edward Breeuwer (ESA Galileo)
Tue 18/03
Algemene Leden Vergadering
March
The next Brake!