The first section of this module is about the basic factors that affect weather. The first is the radiation from the sun. This causes the air to heat up and rise, making air currents. Because of the way the Earth rotates around the sun, the amount of heat that each part of the Earth gets is different. In addition to the winds we feel everyday, there are winds that are at approximately 30,000 feet MSL. This is called the jet stream, which travels from the west to the east between 120-150 miles per hour. This affects mainly military and commercial aircraft, while at cruising altitude. The surface winds affect all aircraft during take off and landing, and private aircraft at cruising altitude.

The next section is about the main elements of weather, wind, temperature, and pressure. Wind is measured by miles per hour and the Beaufort Scale. The Beaufort scale makes a comparison of wind speed and affects on the surrounding environment. One way that wind affects us on the ground (besides blowing our stuff and hair all over the place) is by wind chill. Wind blows warm air away from our bodies, thus making us feel colder. Temperature is another thing that affects weather. Heat is basically the energy within a molecule or substance. Temperature affects airplanes, because heat causes the air to become thinner, which causes the engine to have a richer mixture. This causes the airplane to use much more runway than usual. High temperatures can cause heat stroke, heat exhaustion, and dehydration in humans. Cold temperatures can cause frostbite and hypothermia. Cold temperatures cause icing within airplane carburetors’ and on the body of an airplane. Carburetor icing can occur at temperatures as high as 70 degrees Fahrenheit. The last basic element of weather is pressure. Atmospheric pressure is measured with either an aneroid barograph or a mercurial barometer. In an airplane the atmospheric pressure must be entered into the altimeter, because it affects how high the altimeter thinks the airplane is.

The next section talks about the various types of clouds. Clouds affect airplanes in such ways as visibility, icing, and precipitation. Clouds keep VFR (the kind of flying were one looks outside of the cockpit for guidance) pilots grounded. If the clouds are thick enough, they can even keep IFR (the kind of flying where one only uses the instruments to fly the plane) pilots on the ground. A pilot should never fly anywhere close to thunder clouds. Thunder clouds and the things that go with them (lightning, hail, strong winds) will literally tear an airplane to pieces. Various science companies will fly airplanes into thunderstorms, very few make it out alive.

The last section talks about fronts and extreme weather. Fronts are the boundaries between two air masses. Two colliding air masses cause many of the weather changes we see every day. Extreme weather includes such things as thunderstorms, tornadoes, and hurricanes.

One of the displays that Squadron 56 went to go see was called the Robo-Dome. They had two 700-pound space robots that were used to practice synchronized flying in space. JPL was trying to make one giant telescope so that they could see life on other planets that are out of our current reach. To do this they need to make a very large mirror. The trouble is that the mirror is so large that it cannot be sent into space in one piece. To solve this problem the engineers at JPL made smaller mirrors that will be attached to several space robots and flown in synchronization. This is the reason for the Robo-Dome. Before NASA will launch the program into space, they need to be sure that the robots can be flown without crashing into each other. The Robo-Dome allows the engineers to practice flying the robots by using “stars” on the walls of the dome.

In the dome there is a large metal stage. The two robots go on top of that. To create a frictionless environment for the robots, the robots are attached to three disks each. Each disk has pressurized hydrogen coming out the bottom and making it float and frictionless. The amount of space between the bottom of the disk and the top of the stage is such that even a small piece of dust or a crumb would make the robot stick.

Some of the other things we saw were the micro-devices laboratory, solar telescopes, and the spacecraft fabrication facility. In the micro-devices laboratory all of the pieces of spacecraft and telescopes that need to be created in clean rooms, free of dust and other small particles, were created. The solar telescopes were used to look at the sun safely. They had special lenses or would project somewhere so that no one was looking directly into the sun. The spacecraft fabrication facility was used to make and measure several larger pieces of the spacecraft.

This was a great event for the senior members, cadets and their families that attended.  The squadron plans to visit JPL again during next year’s open house, and we hope that all cadets and their familes will be able to join us.

The hot air balloon was the oldest successful human-carrying flying device. Its first flight was maned by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d’Arlandes in France in 1783. The hot air balloon works because of buoyancy. Buoyancy in simply that the air inside the balloon is warmer than the air outside of the balloon, thus making it less dense than the cooler air and able to float above it. The basic shape of a hot air balloon is the envelope (which holds the hot air) connected to the basket (which hold the passengers, fuel, and burners). The envelope has vents that release hot air and regulate the altitude of the balloon.

The development of the hot air balloon also lead to the invention of blimps. The most famous of which, the Hindenburg, is known for its sudden mid-air explosion. These blimps were commonly used in World War I as bombers, scouts, and patrolers.

One cadet was surprized to find that some hot air balloon envelopes are as strong as steal. He hopes to see the military experimenting with this kind of aircraft.