This is really bad but unfortunately not surprising

And we all know it’s not just SpaceX

Without a massive cultural shift in our field, aero will continue to suffer from a woeful lack of diversity that holds back the entire industry. We need to do better
I’ve got absolutely no clue how this type of culture could be allowed to exist at a company as successful and forward-thinking as SpaceX
The fact that I’m losing followers for this “take” also makes it clear that we have a serious problem

Glad I’m weeding out some creeps today
Cool cool cool, safe to say Elon isn’t abruptly prioritizing creating an inclusive culture where women and underrepresented groups will feel free to speak their mind

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More from @DrChrisCombs

15 Dec
For anyone wondering: Why do you tweet about @elonmusk so much?

Because like it or not, he’s the literal face of the aero industry right now.

That comes with responsibility, but he is a petty, immature child and it’s such a wasted opportunity. I’m sick of it. #ELON #SpaceX
He was the Time Person of the Year, he hosted SNL, he was in freaking Iron Man 2

He has a larger Twitter following than the President of the US, the NASA Admin, Tory, and Bezos combined

But instead of using that platform to get people excited about rockets he’s just a troll ImageImageImageImage
As someone that works every day to get people excited about aero and diversify our mostly homogenous field, it is so utterly disappointing

I imagine that for every crypto bro that’s a space tech fan because of Elon, there’s a girl that sees confirmation space is a “boys club” ImageImage
Read 5 tweets
14 Dec
Not my usual aero content but we often rely on cameras in wind tunnel testing. Camera f-number is calculated w a simple formula:
focal length / aperture diameter

As f-number ⬆️, image brightness ⬇️ & depth of field ⬇️

This is a good viz of the effect
Here’s a few other nice figures summarizing f-number

How do we get the common “f-stops” seen in the images (f/1, f/1.4, f/2, etc)?

These are powers of sqrt(2) so that light intensity changes by factors of 2 between f-stops (because intensity scales w area which goes as d^2)
Want the best of both worlds, or just have trouble deciding what you want?

Use a plenoptic lens, which relies on a “micro-lens array” to image the entire 4D light field. This enables refocusing, changing f-number, and slight tilt adjustments in post processing!
Read 5 tweets
19 Nov
MEASUREMENTS MEMES

The semester is quickly winding down & I figured the @UTSA students in my undergraduate Measurements & Instrumentation class could use some extra credit, so I had them make memes about the class!

Main rules were to keep it clean, relevant to the class, & fun
Needless to say, as this class involves a lot of circuits & statistics, not all of our Mechanical Engineering students are starting from the same place...
The math and statistics were not always easy
Read 12 tweets
1 Nov
One of the best low-speed tracking shots of a transient vapor cone I’ve seen, this time on a transonic F-35 at the Pacific Air Show last month #AvGeek

Incredible stuff from Patrick Coyne, who filmed this handheld on a boat!
🎥 instagram.com/p/CUku2KsJBO8/…
A similar shot from the same event (Blue Angels F-18 here), zoomed out to show some more perspective

From this view it’s clear how the vapor cone is just as much a visualization of local moisture content in the air as it is viz of expansion fans!

🎥 instagram.com/p/CUgxW47DTWu/…
Of course, if you’d like to learn more about vapor cones, check out my explainer thread here
Read 4 tweets
21 Oct
Hey @TelegraphNews the correct answer to your poll is "none of the above" because hypersonic speed isn't defined by Mach number, it's about changes in flow chemistry, heating, thin shock/entropy layers, etc.
@TelegraphNews One of my favorite graphics summarizing what truly defines hypersonic flow, from J. Anderson's "Hypersonic and high-temperature gas dynamics"
Hypersonics is definitely having a moment as part of the zeitgeist (seems to happen once or twice a year), but for everyone reporting on this stuff I wish the opening chapter to the Anderson hypersonic text were required reading

It's not too technical and is so informative
Read 8 tweets
30 Jun
I posted this thread on the @ReactionEngines SABRE combined-cycle engine 1 year ago and thought I would provide a quick update

As we predicted, the most immediate impact has been the spin-off of some of the subsystems

For example, the @ReactionEngines heat exchanger was recently integrated into the UK/@esa National Space Propulsion Facility
aerospacetestinginternational.com/news/engine-te…
There have also been recent successful tests of the HX3 micro tube heat exchanger and the hydrogen preburner subsystems

I’ll be honest this is really impressive progress in a COVID year IMO and exceeded my expectations
aerospacetestinginternational.com/news/engine-te…
Read 4 tweets

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