Friday, May 26, 2006, 09:01 PM
Today we poured concrete at the test site. The concrete truck arrived at 5pm, and by 5:30 the slab was full and the rest of the concrete was in a pile on the ground. We used the leftover concrete to fill the blast wall. After the slab was smooth and the wall was full, we mixed more mortar and added several feet to the blast wall (filled with cement, of course). As we were running out of light, we took off the wooden supports that were holding the test stand retaining bolts in place, smoothed out the cement and then Nate took measurements of the final bolt locations. We will use these measurements to drill holes in the support brackets of the test stand.
Here are some pictures from concrete day:
This is the final test stand slab (autographed):
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Saturday, May 20, 2006, 09:27 PM
Today we broke ground at the Gulf Coast Regional Spaceport. During the day we cleared the land, built the forms for the test stand, and laid down the first few feet of the blast wall. We had a big team at the site:
Ten students from Brazoswood High School
Seven Civil Engineering students from the University of Houston
One teacher, one parent, one bobcat driver, and five ASA engineers.
The University of Houston Civil Engineering students led the day's activities, teaching and showing the high school students how to level the ground, build and reinforce the form, and how to build the wall. Their team was crucial to the day's success.
Here is what the site looked like at the beginning:
Mr. Weaver's family company donated the use of a bobcat for the initial digging. This was a huge help. Thanks, Mr. Weaver!
Of course, some of the digging had to be done by hand:
In this picture, the UofH students are working with the BHS students to build the form:
Here the team is laying the foundation for the cinderblock blast wall:
Mixing mortar:
Starting the layers of cinderblocks:
Big action shot:
Here is what he test site looked like at the end of the day. It is ready for concrete, but we were exhausted. Pouring day is next week!
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Wednesday, May 10, 2006, 02:17 PM
Today we went over to Brazosport College and worked with Mr.Bailey, the welding teacher, and some of his more advanced students. Apparently shorts and t-shirts are not appropriate for welding, and since that was what all the our group wore, we didn't get to weld. However we did get to cut quite a few square steel tubes as well as plates.
Here is Nate about to demonstrate his newly found steel working ability. Ryan is standing by because it was often slightly easier to gauge the amount of sparks from the side. The amount of sparking was used to tell when enough pressure was being applied to cut the steel efficiently, without breaking the saw blade.
Ryan cutting with Nate acting as advisor.
Niko tackling yet another nice piece of steel.
We even let Theresa cut a few, under Mr.Bailey's close watch.
This is probably the coolest machine we found in the shop. It cut through what I think was 1/4" steel like it was nothing. Cut after cut it went down like it was punching holes in paper. Very cool.
The pros doing the welding we couldn't. They showed us two different types of welding, one used wire and the other sticks of metal.
Here is Mr.Morehead, Mr.Weaver, and Nate modeling some of the welding helmets. We used these to be able to see what the welders were doing when the torch was on. Some of the lenses were transitional and only got dark when they detected the bright light. The lenses changed so fast that you didn't see any welding light without them darkening first. Way cool. The others you had to flip up and down because you couldn't see with it down if the torch was off, and you would burn your eyes if you looked at the welding without the eye protection.
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