It's been a tough semester for everybody, so to lighten the mood and provide some extra credit points I posted a meme challenge to my fluid mechanics class
The submissions were BRILLIANT
Sit back and enjoy this nerdy fluids meme thread. Our @UTSA students rock #AcademicChatter
There were so many hilarious submissions (over 100!!) so I unfortunately can't highlight them all, but there are some that literally made me LOL
This one is a bit niche perhaps, but it was the perfect mix of educational, weird, and original that it made me laugh harder than perhaps all the rest
Not sure if this counts as a meme, but it's a cinematic masterpiece and history lesson all in one from Stanley Ngo (plus I'm a sucker for Rick & Morty content)
We had many that struck a great balance between educational and funny!
But fluid mechanics can be a rough ride, particularly during a pandemic (credit top-right to @NasKhalil3)
And while I did my best, class structure was not always ideal
Because even in the best of times, learning fluid mechanics is no easy task
In particular, the Navier-Stokes equations can be...intimidating
At least the students realize there is a good bit of utility provided by this daunting set of equations!
Particularly when you make some simplifying assumptions
Because after a while the Navier-Stokes equations start to look not-so-bad...
Overall though, the class certainly (and understandably) preferred to approach things with Bernoulli
Even if the derivation itself was a bit unwieldy
We also had this category that I would summarize as "unflattering Zoom screen grabs" 😂
And while I thought I knew all the memes, there were a handful that...opened my eyes (credit bottom-right to Tanner Maul [instagram @MaulTanner])
Admittedly there were times during the semester I felt like this
But at the end of the day I'm glad my students have accepted that as an engineer, there is ultimately no escape from fluid mechanics
I hope you all enjoyed these half as much as I did!
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Aside from the fact that you can't just wave a wand and get to Mars in 3 years (there's only one more launch window between now and then: Q4 2026)
You simply CANNOT close NASA Ames
That site has a concentration of some of the most in-demand test infrastructure in the world. Stuff we (sadly) will probably never build again. Would set US defense and space testing capability back decades just to score some political points (California BAD! NASA engineers LAZY!)
Take for example the National Full-Scale Aerodynamics Wind Tunnel Complex
Comprised of the two largest wind tunnels in the world. Basically the only places you can test aircraft at full scale
40 ft x 80 ft and 80 ft x 120 ft wind tunnels. Absolutely INSANE
There's the arc jet complex
This is really the best way we have to test thermal protection materials for space and defense applications
Wanna go to Mars? You need these
There are fewer than 10 high-throughput arc jets in the US. Ames has 4
So, if I understand correctly, it sounds like GE has successfully tested a turbine-based combined-cycle engine that incorporates: 1) gas turbine; 2) rotating detonation engine; 3) ramjet; 4) scramjet 🤯
As we approach what may be a historic Starship flight test, this Reuters report is really, really bad
No excuses: as arguably the number one launch provider *in the world* the safety culture at SpaceX has to be better. They should be setting the standard (in a good way)
If we are going to continue giving them billions annually in taxpayer dollars, they can’t keep treating workers like disposable meat puppets
And yes before you ask these numbers are much worse than industry averages
This is an absolutely total systematic failure that goes beyond SpaceX—NASA has some explaining to do about how they allowed SpaceX to operate in their own backyard allowing a > 20% injury rate
If you're ever frustrated by someone with a PhD acting like a know-it-all outside their niche field of study, just remember that Albert Einstein tried to design an airfoil but it performed so poorly during testing it's flight characteristics were compared to a "pregnant duck"
HT to @milan_tomicc for reminding me of this the other day
For a bit more technical insight, bottom line is that Einstein designed this entirely using Bernoulli theory.
Stall at 12deg AoA @ 92 L/D
He later confessed he was "ashamed" and "this is what can happen to a man that thinks a lot but reads little"
Am I being unreasonable in thinking that "clearing the launch pad" (that everyone knew would be destroyed) is a bit of a low bar for arguably the most successful launch company *ever*?
There are tons of insanely smart, hard-working, talented people there
NASA needs Starship to put boots on the moon
So I expect more than what we got yesterday
When some brand new startup or a university rocket club sends their rocket into a death spiral at T+4min we all pat them on the back and say "space is hard" and "you'll figure it out"
I hold SpaceX (and NASA) to a much higher standard. SpaceX is better than this. It wasn't ready