Posts tagged HD
CU Boulder sends high school students experiments into space
Sep 11th
The two winning experiments — one of which tests the ability of spiders to learn how to catch prey in the low-gravity of space, and the other which investigates how nutrients and compounds affect virulent bacteria growth in space — were announced in March. The contest is sponsored by YouTube, Lenova and Space Adventures with the involvement of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Japanese Space Agency.
“We took the ideas of the two winning experiments and transformed them into actual experiments that could be conducted in space,” said Stefanie Countryman, the business manager and outreach coordinator for BioServe Space Technologies, a NASA-sponsored center located in CU-Boulder’s aerospace engineering sciences department. The CU team also manifested the payload on an unmanned Japanese HTV rocket, conducted safety verifications and trained the astronaut flight crew on using BioServe hardware aboard the International Space Station, or ISS, for the project.
The global initiative sponsoring the contest is a new program known as YouTube Space Lab. YouTube Space Lab is one component of YouTube for Schools, a program that allows educators to access YouTube’s broad library of educational content from inside their school network. The contest generated more than 2,000 entries.
The student winners are Amr Mohamed, 18, of Alexandria, Egypt, who developed the idea for the spider experiment, and Dorothy Chen and Sara Ma, both 16, of Troy, Mich., who created the idea for the bacteria study. BioServe completed all of the mission integration and operations work for the two experiments and hand-delivered the loaded space flight hardware to the Tanegashima National Space Flight Center in Japan for launch to ISS on July 21.
The live, 45-minute YouTube Space Lab program stream from ISS, slated for 8:30 a.m. MDT on Sept. 13 will be hosted by Bill Nye “The Science Guy” and will include Mohamed, Chen and Ma. The winning experiments — selected by a panel that included British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, two NASA administrators, European Space Agency and Japanese Space Agency astronauts and Cirque de Soleil founder Guy Laliberte — will be performed by NASA astronaut Sunita Williams.
Countryman, who also will be part of the YouTube Space Lab live stream as she describes the role of BioServe in the project to Nye, said she was surprised by the sophistication of some of the experiments entered in the contest. “Seeing the level of intellect, not only from the top two winners but from six regional winners, makes us feel confident in the next generation of scientists and engineers,” she said.
Countryman said BioServe worked closely with Paula Cushing at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and MaryAnn Hamilton of the Butterfly Pavilion in Westminster, Colo., to obtain the jumping spiders and analyze their behavior. BioServe designed, developed and built the flight habitat for the spiders. Once aboard ISS, the habitat will be placed inside a BioServe-built device known as a Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus, or CGBA.
In addition, BioServe worked with AgraQuest in Davis, Calif., a company that manufactures and sells the bacteria strain B. subtilis, which will be used in the experiment by Chen and Ma. BioServe researchers worked with the students to design the experiment, which included 48 fluid processing devices carried in six Group Activation Packs built by BioServe and which have flown on dozens of space missions.
BioServe also developed an HD camera system to record high-resolution still images and HD video of the spider habitat, which included both the arachnids and their food, fruit flies, Countryman said. One of BioServe’s CGBA devices on board ISS is providing power for the lighting system of the spider habitat and thermal control for both experiments, said Countryman.
As part of the contest, 14- to 18-year-olds, either alone or in groups of up to three, submitted videos describing their experiments to YouTube. All experiments submitted to the contest had to involve either biology or physics. People tuned into the YouTube Space Lab event can vote for their favorite experiments, Countryman said.
“For decades, one of our major thrusts at CU-Boulder’s BioServe Space Technologies has been to provide educational opportunities for hundreds of thousands of K-12 students around the world,” said Countryman. “This has been another opportunity for us to work with students on space payloads, a unique project that we hope will help steer many students from around the world into careers in the sciences.”
BioServe is a nonprofit, NASA-funded center founded in 1987 at CU-Boulder to develop new or improved products through space life science research in partnership with industry, academia and government, said BioServe Director Louis Stodieck. Since 1991 BioServe has flown payloads on 40 NASA space shuttle microgravity missions and additional payloads on several Russian and Japanese space vehicles.
YouTube, a video-sharing website, is a subsidiary of Google. Lenovo, a global company headquartered in Morrisville, N.C., is the world’s third-largest PC maker. Space Adventures, headquartered in Vienna, Va., provides flights for private citizens into space, including trips to the ISS.
To watch the winning experiments being performed on ISS go to http://www.youtube.com/spacelab. For more information on BioServe visithttp://www.colorado.edu/engineering/BioServe/.
Ronnie Hults #42 beats Dan Savage and Bruce Yackey Colorado National Speedway video
May 8th
FROM COLORADO NATIONAL SPEEDWAY NEWS:
photos by Joe Starr
It was a night of thrills and spills at CNS as cars wrecked and a past champ returned to the oval for a Mother’s day race that most moms won’t soon forget!
Gillett Veterinary Clinic Late Models
Starting Top 5: 12, 74, 27, 42, 31
40 Laps
The Late Models didn’t disappoint, putting on a show for the ages as #12 Bruce Yackey, #74 Dan Savage and #42 Ronnie Hults shuffled back and forth in an epic battle for the lead. Yackey’s time in 1st was short lived but not easily given up as “Speedy” Ronnie Hults and “The Savage Man” Dan Savage ganged up on the multiple time CNS Late Model championship winner and passed him 25 laps to go in the 40 lap event. #90 Frank Denning spun out in turn 2 bringing on caution and a double file restart. The leader Dan Savage opted to take the outside on the restart. It was a wise tactic against Hults who has a penchant for taking down competitors via the outside. Savage took the lead but Hults found his groove on the inside and pulled up for an old fashioned drag race. Not a moment after Ronnie snagged the lead, Grazier and Fisbeck got together bringing on caution. The fate of Dan Savage seemed sealed when Ronnie opted for the outside on the restart. Racing resumed and Hults shot to a 5 car length lead but contact between hard charger #66 Darren Bucklen and #27 Roger Avants sent Avants careening into the wall between turns 3 and 4. A pile up ensued and severe damage to the #27 and #66 machines ended the both drivers chances at winning the feature. Racing resumed with Hults back on the outside of row 1 and subsequently back into the lead. Hults took the win followed by Dan Savage, Bruce Yackey and #55 Jesse Runkle.
Pair-A-Dice Sportsman
Starting top 5: 43, 6, 49, 84, 98
30 Laps
Lee Kemmit took the win for his qualifier and wowed the audience again at the Sportsman Main Event, quickly moving to the front of the field from a start in 5th place. Nearly half way through the 30 lapper, Kemmit approached and flawlessly weaved by lapped traffic. The Sportsman finished out their race in style, with a yellow free race. Kemmit took the win followed by his teammate #6 Tommy Roe, #42 Stan Griffin and #8 Jeff Walbaum.
Snap-On Tools Pro Trucks
Starting top 5: 32, 09, 27, 11, 26
30 Laps
#32 Mark Neff maintained the lead through the first 6 yellow laden laps of the Pro Truck Main Event. #34 Rudy Vanderwal took Neff down at lap 7 but some crazy antics by multiple drivers along the back stretch brought on the 19th yellow flag of the event thus far. #07 Chris Leaf took a black flag and the rest of the gang lined up for a restart. After green flag racing resumed, with some fancy moves, #11 Jace Hansen maneuvered past #34 Rudy Vanderwal, Mark Neff and #27 Roger Avants for the lead. With 5 laps to go, the top 4 leaders had 10 car lengths between them, Hansen in 1st followed by, Vanderwal, Avants and Simonson. Hansen held on for the win.
NTC Trucking Super Stocks
Starting top 5: 02, 13, 09, 39, 3
25 Laps
#13 Jason Morris took down #02 Darrell Smith as they made their way around the oval in lap 1. Slowly but surely, 2010 champion #46 Rick Lothert navigated his way past Jack Nugent and Michael Cox for 2nd place. #19 Scott Miller showed equal skill as he made his way from a start in 8th place, taking 3rd behind Lothert. At lap 11 Lothert and Miller advanced single file past Morris, taking 1st and 2nd respectively. Soon after, a battle raged for 2 place between miller, #39 Jack Nugent and Jason Morris. Behind Lothert, Miller seemed the favorite leading the pack of 2nd place hopefuls until the final lap when Nugent rocketed past Miller taking 2nd by only a few inches. Lothert took the win.
Whittar Racing Trains
As always, the train race was a hoot! You’ve Gotta Be Here to see the insanity for yourself!
Saturday Night May 7 2011 Race Results for Colorado National speedway
LATE MODEL MAIN EVENT
1 42 Ronnie Hults
2 74 Dan Savage
3 12 Bruce Yackey
4 55 Jesse Runkle
5 39 Jack Nugent
6 54 Joe James Jr
7 7 Adam Deines
8 99 Brian Murphy
9 33 Emett Grazier
10 66 Darren Bucklan
11 84 Matt Zwingelberg
12 15 Douglas Cox
13 31 Rick Smith
14 90 Frank Denning
DNF 27 Roger Avants
DNF 23 Davin Fisbeck
17 91 Chris Atkinson
DNF 14 Mark Bybee
DNF 71 Nick Brimlee
DNF 68 Chris Leaf
DNF 12x Jace Hansen
SPORTSMAN MAIN EVENT
1 98 Lee Kemmit
2 6 Tommy Roe
3 43 Stan Griffin
4 8 Jeff Walbaum
5 84 Bruce Borchardt
6 26 Bear Lynch
7 02 Rick Hunt
8 49 Dennis Pobanz
9 46 Eric Blackard
10 41 Dale Reeder
11 45 Grant Simpson
12 58 Jeff Webb
13 13 Eric Potts
14 72 Gary Cagle
15 00 Steve Maas
16 9 Dalton Hewitt
17 3 Wade Grove
18 40 Jason Trujillo
19 29 Jan Oxley
20 28 Alan Carter
21 27 Wendi Lewis
DNF 55 Craig Holmes
DNF 2 Nicholas Martinez
PRO TRUCK MAIN EVENT
1 11h Jace Hansen
2 34 Rudy Vanderwal
3 27 Roger Avants
4 09 Justin Simonson
5 06 Adam Hilton
6 36 Matt Burton
7 04 Bobby Durand
DNF 32 Mark Neff
DNF 26 Bear Lynch
DNF 84 Bruce Borchardt
DNF 07 Chris Leaf
DNF 60 Jonathan Lindberg
SUPER STOCK MAIN EVENT
1 46 Richard Lothert
2 39 Jack Nugent
3 19 Scott Miller
4 13 Jason Morris
5 3 Michael Cox
6 15 Troy Witthar
7 77 Kevin Keller
8 7 Ethan Penrod
9 05 David Rothrock
10 72 Hans Brewster
11 61 John Humphrey
12 8 Ryan Moser
13 02 Darrell Smith
14 90 Kyle Patee
15 23 Harry Livermore
16 24 Dave Coblentz
17 95 Todd Finley
18 25 Kathy Calkins
19 43 Rob Sears
20 11 Steve Maas
21 66 Tom Sr Evans
22 14 Brian Bradford
23 09 John Patee
DNF 99 Ryan Raley
DNF 75 Emilio Abeyta
DNF 49 Cole Whitford
DNF 18 Chris Pinelli
TRAINS MAIN EVENT
1. 22
2. 67
3. 37
4. 52
5. 43