BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk// X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:From teddies in space to a soft landing on Mars - Edward Moore\, C ambridge University Spaceflight DTSTART:20111205T184500Z DTEND:20111205T210000Z UID:TALK34776@talks.cam.ac.uk CONTACT:Publicity Officer\, IMechE Beds &\; Cambs area DESCRIPTION:Ed Moore will describe how Cambridge University Spaceflight’ s experiments with low cost access to space led to a new method for testin g parachutes for landing on planets.\n\n*Cambridge University Spaceflight* is a student society aiming to lower the cost of space access. It is wor king on rocket launching technology that will reach space for under £1000 a launch\, and is conducting many interesting experiments along the way. \n\nIn 2008\, Cambridge University Spaceflight launched four teddy bears 18 miles into space under a helium balloon. Parkside and Coleridge commun ity colleges designed spacesuits for the ‘teddynauts’\, and their phot ographs made national newspapers.\n\n_‘Six Minutes of Terror’_ is how engineers describe the process of Entry\, Descent and Landing on Mars. He at shields\, parachutes\, retro-rockets and airbags must all deploy in seq uence in mid-air. Any snag will lead to mission failure. Simulating this is difficult and real hardware testing is essential. But Mars’ atmosph ere is one hundred times thinner than Earth’s\, and re-creating it in a wind tunnel would be hugely expensive. Cambridge University Spaceflight d evised and successfully demonstrated a cost effective method to test parac hutes in a Mars-like environment. The resulting paper won Best Student Pa per from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.\n\n*Ed Mo ore* graduated in Engineering at Cambridge University in 2010. Whilst a s tudent he was president of Cambridge University Spaceflight. His interest s are in signal processing\, control and systems design. He now works in the space industry.\n\nRefreshments served from 18.45. Talk starts at 19.0 0. Ends at 21.00 following questions and discussion.\n\nFree to attend. A ll welcome. Suitable for GCSE and A-level students. No need to register. LOCATION:Seminar Room 3\, Alan Reece Building\, Institute for Manufacturin g (IfM)\, 17 Charles Babbage Road\, Cambridge CB3 0FS END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR